TREMENDOUS SOUL:

Musician's music tapestry of Miami (JORDAN LEVIN, 4/25/05, Miami Herald)

Javier García is not afraid of heights, or of taking chances, musical or physical. [...]

García, 30, has invented a musical narrative for Miami on 13, as sweet as kissing your honey on the beach to a swaying reggae beat, as danceable as a 3 a.m. Cuban jam session. And as eclectic as García himself, the son of a Cuban father and an Irish mother, born and raised in Madrid, who came to Miami at 15 and discovered himself and his musical identity. [...]

García's flavor attracted Gustavo Santaolalla, the producer of Juanes and Molotov, who produced 13 and signed García to his label. He has ''great songs, great sensibility, incredible sense of rhythm,'' says Santaolalla from his Los Angeles home. ''A lot of spirit, tremendous soul that projects in everything he does.'' Santaolalla also believes García's music is the next step from the Afro-Cuban pop sound that has dominated Latin music in Miami.

''He shows you Miami from a different angle,'' Santaolalla says. ``He does have an Afro-Cuban influence, but there's rock and soul and ska and reggae and cuarteto [Argentina's hyped-up dance music], and yet he is Miami too.''