Los Bitchos - Let the Festivities Begin! (2022) [24bit FLAC]

Produced by Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, the multi-national group fuses Argentine cumbia, Peruvian chicha, and Turkish psych into a giddy sound that leans unabashedly retro.

Los Bitchos’ Let the Festivities Begin! is retro, wide-reaching, and as festive as the title promises. The London group’s debut, produced by Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, resembles the soundtrack to an early-’70s gap year, an amalgam of influences and instruments that runs decidedly groovy. Here, we coast on vibes and guitar licks, navigating a surf-rock odyssey by way of Argentine cumbia, Peruvian chicha, and Turkish psych. Happily, its disparate parts turn out to be as cohesive as they are giddy. And if it never amounts to much more than that, so what? Better a good trip than a navel-gazing one; better a quick romp than a slog through the cerebral.