Released through We Are Time, Sancocho Trifásico (2025) brought the band wider international recognition. Drawing from Latin American folklore, ancestral rhythms, and cultural memory, the album embraces tradition while pushing into new territory through improvisation and genre-bending arrangements. Celebrated by Tigre Sounds for its ancestral memory and diasporic pulse, the record received coverage and airplay from CBC, KEXP, CiTR, and international music media.

Their fourth album, LABORATORIO TROPICAL (2026), released through We Are Time, ventures into a more expansive, unpredictable, and emotionally nuanced musical landscape. Moving between Caribbean and Amazonian rhythms, psychedelic cumbia, and unexpected sonic textures, the record explores migration, nostalgia, heartbreak, resilience, and the search for authenticity in an increasingly unstable world. Recording began at Montreal’s Sud Ouest Studios with William Poulin before continuing at Vancouver’s Afterlife Studios, where John Raham shaped and mixed the album. Mastering was handled by Grammy and seven-time Latin Grammy Award-winning engineer Adam Ayan. The result transforms personal and collective experiences into music that is as introspective as it is irresistibly danceable.

Having performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Calgary Folk Fest, Winnipeg Folk Fest, Sled Island, MIXTO, and JUNOFest, alongside an artist residency at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, Empanadas Ilegales continue to build their reputation for electrifying live performances where hypnotic grooves, collective improvisation, and playful musical chaos collide. Their shows invite audiences to abandon expectations, surrender to the rhythm, and become part of an experience that transcends musical and cultural boundaries.