spanish pop/electronica/rockesque album.
he's the guitarist for an extremely popular spanish rock/pop group, the name of which escapes me, and this is debut solo album.

most of the album i don't prefer, but i thouroughly enjoy a song from the debut called 'Cuentame', the song of which was aired multiple times a day for months on spanish MTV. not that a video airing on spanish MTV proves musicians have quality but spanish MTV is a lot more inviting to obscure bands and wider based music than is regular ol' usa MTV.

Babasonicas album Jessico is also fantastic.

Who else... Gustavo Seranti (spelling probably mangled).

There are several more but I'll have to dig up the band names.

Oh yeah! Santos Innocentes - they're like a Latin version of Pegasi 51, hard gothy-rock without any of the American gothy-rock pretensions.

"Forget about the much-hyped, little heard "rock en espanol" genre. Plastilina Mosh have something much cooler to offer: call it "Beck en espanol" - INTERVIEW MAGAZINE

In my opinion, some don't miss recent artists are the amazing Manu Chao (who is from France/Spain and very popular in Latin American). Very high energy, very catchy. He really captures the spirit of the Clash in his music too.

Also, on the edgy rock end, there's Cafe Tacuba (who are great, imo), Plastalina Mosh, to name a couple from Mexico.
On the hugely popular Mexcican front Los Tigres Del Norte and Jaguares come to mind.

For hip-hop, Molotov and Control Machete are both worth checking out.

For Cuba, the Orishas combine hip-hop with Cuban traditions. They're really good. Based in Paris, I think.
I don't know if the Buena Vista stuff qualifies for what you are looking for, but it's all worthwhile.

Brazil: I could help you take out a second mortgage on your house with recommendations here. Caetano Veloso (try "Estrangiero" if you can find it, first). The new Tribalistas disc (which brings together Marisa Monte, Carlinhos Brown, and Arturo Antunes) is very good and easy to find.
Better yet, get David Byrne's Brazilian compilations - they're excellent - a really good place to start.

Of course, Juanes cleaned up at the Latin Grammys this year, and his new record is produced by Gustavo Santaolalla, who is a brilliant and multi-faceted producer. But the record sounded like pretty standard pop stuff from what I could tell.