The best music always seems to be created by artists who are coming from left field, impossible to pinpoint, but authentically themselves.
So it is with Latinx foursome Combo Chimbita, the band who span more genres and textures in one album than many do in an entire career. Mixed and recorded in Puerto Rico, IRE is a drop of the good stuff.
Nino Lento es Fuego’s wild guitar playing, Dilemastronauta on drums and synth/ bass player Prince of Queens more than possess the musical chops to match their eccentric rock star monikers. And singer Caroline Oliveros’ voice soars, every time.
Whether the trippy swathes of psychedelia melding with traditional carnival music on La Perla; intense, scratchy hip-hop jams on Memoria or Oya‘s meditative but narcotic swim through honey, it’s an unrelenting cocktail of exciting ideas and influences.
Rooted in activism, with particular emphasis on keeping the traditional storytelling of elders alive; while focussing on the rights of marginalised queer, poor and trans communities, they’re a party with a conscience. Could do with more of that these days.