More about: Los Bitchos

Musical savants and casual listeners alike will find something spectacular in Let The Festivities Begin!, the debut album by pan-continental London four-piece Los Bitchos. Whether a seasoned cumbia listener or someone who rarely enjoys anything instrumental, Friday's (4 February) release is bound to become a turntable staple — and rich pickings for party playlists. 

From the opening bars of 'The Link Is About To Die', Los Bitchos set out their stall as an outfit who put profound stock in rhythm. The multi-layered affair starts strong as one of the album's stand-outs, Serra Petale's guitar slaloming down a mountainside of party rhythms which present new scenery upon every listen.

The album continues as a Los Bitchos show: tequila-fuelled, the sounds of cumbia, spaghetti western, samba and '80s cine-fodder pinwheel out from Let The Festivities Begin!, with cuts you'd be less likely to play on their own — such as 'I Enjoy It' and 'Tropico' — nevertheless playing their part in making up an immersive experience.

So easy is it to be mesmerised by the good-time world music of Los Bitchos that you may find yourself listening through over and over, the album an auroboros of swirling instrumental. So layered are the songs on this album that you'll be hard-pressed to see through them to the bones of the song: indeed, each track gives such a full, ornamented impression as to make finding its centre near impossible. 

Of course there are standouts: single and track three 'Pista (Fresh Start)' is a shot of revelry: cumbia-cum-funk surf vibes sound like the Beach Boys if they'd hailed from Colombia, while 'Las Panteras' gives a more restrained and sensual take on the apex of a party. 'Good to Go' meanwhile, starts out like Lee Hazelwood's 'Cherry Wine' before embarking on a scavenger hunt of percussive motifs and 'Tripping at a Party' evokes a pool bar in the throes of dusktime debauchery.

One of the most delightful things about Let The Festivities Begin! is the profound feeling of good living that emanates from it: listening to it has all of the pleasure of a solitary cigarette smoked after a filling meal, with none of the repercussions. It is pure joy.

Let The Festivities Begin! arrives 4 February via City Slang Records.

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More about: Los Bitchos