Portland-based Y La Bamba just keep getting better. This is no doubt a result of the artist behind the project, Luz Elena Mendoza, settling into her perch as a supreme storyteller and musician. Her vocals are craggy and beautiful, at once full of introspection and splendor, compelling you to move, emote, love. They’ve dropped not one but two albums this year—the full-length Mujeres back in February, and the Entre Los Dos EP in September. Where Mujeres feels expansive, the mostly Spanish Entre Los Dos is a bit looser. “Ocativo” plays like a piano ballad unspooling while “Las Platicas” retains a surf-rock, groovy sensibility. by Jas Keimig