by San Lazaro
San Lazaro La Despedida (PBS feature record)
By their own admission, San Lazaro’s new album – La Despedida – is not glamorous. And that’s a good thing. It’s raw, gritty, no frills Latin - the sort of sounds you could expect to hear spilling out on the streets of New York’s El Barrio back in the day. The album sees San Lazaro power their way through salsa dura, Afro-Cuban rumba, Peruvian cumbia, Cuban son and Chilean folk music, with a smidge of psychedelia thrown in for good measure. And speaking of psychedelic, check out the cover art. It’s a hallucinogenic post-apocalyptic masterpiece that looks truly magnificent on the gatefold LP.
La Despedida might be an album about breaking up, but if breaking up sounds this good, who in their right might would want to stay together? Go get yourself a copy!
Review by Emma Peel (Switched On)
Screaming Females Rose Mountain (Featured on The Breakfast Spread
Ahead of their debut Australian tour New Jersey's Screaming Females have reissued their outstanding 2015 LP Rose Mountain . Vocalist/guitarist Marissa Paternoster's chops as a blazing guitarist are well-known, having been included among Spin magazine's 100 greatest guitarists of all time – and yet Screaming Females are so much more than than a vehicle for her impressive playing. On Rose Mountain , Screaming Females continue to recall some of indie rock's finer traditions – all loud/quiet/loud dynamics and fuzz-driven lead breaks – without ever being overly nostalgic and falling back on 90s tropes. Comparisons to J Mascis and Corin Tucker are right on the money.
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