Los Thuthanaca originally came from nowhere to take over last year pitchfork’s Album of the Year with their self-titled debut. Since it wasn’t available on streaming, it largely flew under the radar. I honestly forgot about it until pitchfork ranked it number one on its year-end list. However, looking back, I’m not entirely sure how. loss snout It feels like nothing else. It’s joyous, jagged, and sounds like it’s being emanated from a broken Bluetooth speaker in your neighbor’s backyard – it’s brilliant.
Follow-up EP Waka Reduces motion and smoothes out some sharp edges. It utilizes blow-out speakers and a sonic palette similar to sampled traditional Bolivian instruments that are equal parts pluriphonics and psychedelic rock. But Waka Shoegaze is equally indebted. Its chord progressions and melodies are more melodic, drenched in guitar fuzz and echo. There are horns and keys that peek through the mix like half-forgotten memories of other songs.
Brother-sister Chuquimamani-Condori and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton present an auditory interpretation of the Aymara creation story of the first sunrise over the course of three songs lasting just 18 and a half minutes. If you purchase Waka on Bandcamp, the download includes a PDF created in collaboration with Chama Native America that tells the story in the Aymara language.
Appropriately, the EP feels like a world emerging from darkness. The opening track “Kuta (Capo-Kullawada)” begins with a low synth drone and chirping crickets, followed by an Eno-esque guitar riff and loping distorted drum line. “Wara Wara (Capo-Kulwada)” is beautiful, but also terrifying. The Wall of Sound is oppressive and shocking in the way you might expect the first burning rays of sunlight to be to those who already existed in the eternal night. It finally reaches the cathartic pinnacle that many musicians spend their entire careers chasing as horns, keyboards, growling vocals and asymmetrical guitars all collide in a chaotic inferno.
By comparison, “Ay Kavkinpachasa? (Kapo-Kullawada)” is a soothing comedy, despite its undeniably dense arrangement where individual instruments become increasingly difficult to pick out. There are sounds like accordion, fiddle, and keys fighting for the same sonic real estate, and stuttering guitars finally take over just as the EP ends.
For those who found the group’s self-titled record a little too scandalous, this EP provides a more accessible introduction to their unique sound. los snout’s Waka Now available on Bandcamp.
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