Los Bitchos have always sounded like a very good party happening somewhere you desperately want to be, so a whole album built around inviting their mates in makes perfect sense. Los Bitchos & Friends Vol 1 lands in November, and new single ‘Holding Cell’ brings Ambrose Kenny-Smith of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard along for the ride.
‘Holding Cell’ still has everything we want from Los Bitchos: guitars galloping off in several directions at once, irresistible rhythms and that sense that the whole thing might burst its banks at any moment. Kenny-Smith’s vocal slots into the chaos without taking it over, becoming another instrument rather than suddenly turning Los Bitchos into a conventional vocal band.
“It’s been interesting to bring forward the use of voice as a texture rather than saying, ‘This song is about my boyfriend, or my mum, or despair, or whatever it is people write about’.”
Quite right too. Lyrics are terribly overrated when you have guitars this good.
The album’s guest list also includes Sinkane, Adrian Quesada, Chicha Libre and Kit Sebastian, with the band treating collaboration less as a gimmick and more as an extension of what they have always done: nicking brilliant ideas from all over the world, chucking them together and seeing what dances.
“When you meld all of these things together, you get the most amazing creative and artistic results.”
‘Holding Cell’ is a very persuasive case for opening the door and letting your friends mess with the furniture.
Los Bitchos & Friends Vol 1 is out 13 November via GREAT! Records in association with !K7 Music.
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