Money Chicha
Echo En Mexico
Vampisoul
“Chicha” music is an offshoot of Cumbia that brewed up from the streets of Peru in the 1960s, mixing native sounds with fuzzed-up guitars playing psychedelic riffs and a strange sort of surf music. (A good overview of the South and Central American rock scene of the ’60s can be found on Los Nuggetz– well worth your time.) And so is Echo En Mexico, the debut record from Austin’s Money Chicha. These 13 instrumental cuts would be a perfect soundtrack to a late Friday into Saturday block party- as long as there was plenty of rum involved.
“Lamento En La Selva” starts it off, with loping, heavy fuzzed guitars over a wicked backbeat that hits the funk and never lets up. Half of Money Chicha’s players are credited with some form of percussion, and they make a hellish groove that alternates between driving rhythms and laid-back Latin-jazz influenced smoothness (think Willie Bobo).
This is a dynamic, pulsing record that skips between intense drum breakdowns and trippy guitar, with dub overtones and an irresistible party mood. Peru via Austin sounds pretty fine on Echo En Mexico!
