Music Reviews

“los_activos”

Los Activos

Hasta Los Huesos

Tinder

As the story goes, Los Activos are a group of youths selected from a flamenco workshop established to keep said youths out of trouble in the industrial burg of Huelva, Spain. As the music goes, it’s simultaneously genuine and forward-thinking. Stripping down flamenco to its complex, rhythmic core, Los Activos then reconstruct it with unusual percussion, traditional guitars and instruments, leaving some of the genre’s more esoteric influences in plain sight.

Hasta Los Huesos is a headphone nut’s dream, as the percussion is recorded crystal clear, and those bass hits really massage the mastoids. The music will not appeal to everyone – those who think of flamenco as something akin to cat mating, only less enjoyable, should just bypass this one. However, if you’re intrigued by the thought of some weird-ass rhythms and vocal ululations, this is your disc. Tinder Records, 619 Martin Ave., Unit 1, Rohnert Park, CA 94928; http://worldmusic.com/tinder


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