Hot Soundtracks Worth the Price of Admission

You have to hand it to a rock en espan~ol soundtrack that opens with one of the least fashionable but most compelling names in the genre. “Star Maps,” compiled by the movie’s co-star Lysa Flores, a singer-songwriter herself who has two tracks on the album, gets off to a rollicking start with La Portuaria’s “Dios,” a crunchy slice of rock ‘n’ roll with mystical overtones.

It’s soon obvious that “Star Maps” is a dream compilation from somebody who’s up to date on the most exquisite delicacies of Latin pop, rap and rock.

A story of broken Hollywood dreams and male prostitutes, “Star Maps” is helped by the presence of some gritty, high-energy music. The first four songs on the album exemplify the angrier side of rock en espan~ol, from the exuberant rap of Mexico’s Control Machete to the ska revival with social commentary of New York’s King Chango. The second part of the program balances this hypertension by presenting more introspective, poppish material, including two Anglo nuggets: vintage numbers by Nick Drake and Big Star.

Perhaps the biggest revelation is Juana Molina, an Argentine songwriter whose “Rara” (“Strange”) is a stark, moody bit of confessional pop that brings to mind a darker Suzanne Vega. Her album (not available in the U.S.) was produced by Gustavo Santaolalla, who also collaborated on this wonderful, idiosyncratic sampler.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).

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* Excerpts from these albums and other recent releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: https://www.latimes.com/soundclips