Los Bitchos: Talkie Talkie
Via City Slang
Out Now
The diverse and varied nationalities that make up Los Bitchos get together once again to make their second album, which promises to be an evolution in the band’s sound. MK Bennett listens in.
Los Bitchos, which is by any measure a spectacular band name, play surf music the way that Momma used to make it, presuming your mama was South American. They don’t just play surf music, they are an international band with international influences, the band members are Swedish, Australian, Uruguayan and English, so the early releases are heavy with surf but also consciously or otherwise, the childhood cultures of all the musicians will sit in the music, either in the background or more obviously the instrumentation, the arrangements, the tone or intonation.
They are noted as playing a version/their version of Cumbia, a style of music popular in Latin America. At the same time, the name Cumbia is believed to have its Etymology in the Bantu “to dance”, with Bantu being an African language and another possibility, this time in the South American, Tupi-Guarani derivation Cumbi meaning “Murmuring, Noise”. A significant and historical cultural weight that also breaks down to Noisy, Murmuring dance music, which seems entirely appropriate.
There are other factors at play too, as what previously sounded to the untrained ear like surf/garage rock has evolved into something different in any case, a sort of European art dance afro-pop yacht rock, with occasional prog elements. It’s an expansive thing musically, with some intriguing titles, which may have some thematic link like quotes from Tarantino films or similar or may be a product of William Burroughs’s cut-up technique that Bowie loved so much.
Hi!, an upbeat track with the most vocals on, though these are mostly shouted out exclamations rather than lyrical stanzas. Like a technically proficient Slits meets Vampire Weekend, it’s an excellent summery track, the sound of ice cracking in a glass while the strawberries take root in your fridge. Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie is an upbeat instrumental where the Doobie Brothers meet Wes Montgomery at an aquarium. Your milkman has something new to whistle.
Don’t Change is Chic meets the Boys Of Summer, while Yes or King Crimson arrive late to the party. Technically beautiful, it hits an excellent stride towards the end. Kiki, You Complete Me, Yacht Rock extraordinaire, similar to Don’t Change but with some lovely fills and riffs and a brief interlude of Spy Catcher, short, sweet and inventive.
Road is fittingly a journey, with fabulous upfront bass, a snaking lead line from the guitar, tempo changes that could lead to a dance, and an Indigenous call to arms with Jazz embellishment close to the Bo Diddley beat. 1K! is a little more Surf based, with the tremolo-heavy main rhythm, reverb soaked and missing the ocean. The bass slithers, and the background yelps make it sound joyous, walking on air in your best summer get-up.
La Bomba is a South American party, including the high disco drums of Amii Stewart and other more subtle instrumentation, it’s another wonderful feel good song and makes time for a breakdown of handclapping and chanting and letting the rhythm section go for it. Open The Bunny, Wasting My Time (Con Air, surely?) has a light reggae tilt and a West Indian barbecue vibe. And the slinkiest of guitar lines a la Catch A Fire via a Jazz club.
It’s About Time starts like a 90s grunge anthem, with a deep heavy bass, The Breeders or ESG, like an Imaginary Mancunian surf band, waves of mutilation via A Certain Ratio or The Durutti Column, South American drums and instrumentation. The bass line is the star here though. Naughty Little Clove is 70s Disco meets 80s R& B, with some high grade High Life thrown in, all squashed into a shiny tin with ‘Nile Rodgers’ written on the label.
Tango And Twirl moves from a light Mediterranean feel to Spanish guitar to Indie, reverses the order and goes again, the guitar almost dancing on air as it bounces across the chord progression, while the rhythm section blows up a diverse mix effortlessly once again. Let Me Cook You, yet another great title, could be The Shadows covering early Pixies, or vice versa, with some particularly breathtaking Dick Dale type playing. The levels of technical perfection reached here are stunning, when the band locks in sync it is almost Prog Rock in its shock and awe brilliance.
It’s hard to think of a happier sounding record than this, it has an air of deep joy living inside it that is impossible to resist and the myriad influences coalesce magically to form something that might seem simple on the surface but acts as a beacon, a Bat signal to come and dance the world away.
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All words by MK Bennett, you can find his author’s archive here plus his Twitter and Instagram
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