"...classical violinist Javier Chaparro, whose many years with the Austin Symphony and as guest soloist with orchestras around the world haven't prevented him from making a graceful and lovely album of original pop songs in a variety of latin styles. Born in Lima, Peru, Chaparro has lived in Austin since the 1980's and was inspired by the Austin songwrwiter culture to try his hand at writing his own songs...Chaparro delves into samba, cumbia, waltz, ballad, rumba, and Mexican polka and is sure-footed in each, though he seems most at home in the sambas, where his gentle vocal sits comfortably with the nimble rhythms and glancing melodies despite a vibrato and a skosh wider than most. Except for "Cachetito Polka" and the comic "Mil Pretextos", the dominant mood is romantic and the lyrics sentimental, verging on cloying at times, but they're in Spanish, where sentimentalism rarely sounds wrong. There aren't many debut albums as fine as this.

“1. Adele 2. Leonard Cohen *******3. Javier Chaparro and Salud******* 4. Black Keys 5. Heartless Bastards TX 6. Gotye 7. Ruthie Foster TX 8. VA/Clark: This One’s for Him TX 9. Dr. Dog 10. Civil Wars 11. Ben Kweller TX 12. Gary Clark Jr. TX 13. Omar & the Howlers TX IS 14. Paul McCartney 15. Shearwater TX 16. Van Halen 17. Lana Del Rey 18. Tennis 19. Air 20. Chris Isaak”