Peace & Rhythm presents the brand new double 12”
LP by Los Terrificos. Taking inspiration from Latin,
African, Caribbean, North and South American sources
as diverse as the “narco corridos” of Mexico and afrobeat,
not to mention Cowboy Western film soundtracks, surf,
psychedelic Amazonian cumbia, dub, electronica, funk,
Andean folk, even disco, this record is wide ranging yet
cohesive. Evocative of wild landscapes, dramas big and
small, it’s also a concept story album, perhaps unlike
anything in Latin-oriented music today.
Jake Fader, one of the two principal members of the band,
says the record “is a soundtrack that has no film (yet). It
is a diverse album that is not a traditional representation
of any of the many genres it is influenced by. The only
real rules were that the songs had to be a little freaky
and mysterious.” Go South spins an engaging if fanciful
narrative through a series of musical vignettes and also
via an extented story in the interior spread of the gatefold.
According to the notes, the LP was made “in memory
of victims of violence and greed, especially south of the
border, and those that cross borders everywhere in order to
persue a better life.”
As the other primary member of Los Terrificos, Ray Lugo
(Kokolo, The Boogaloo Destroyers), explains it, “it’s
full of reflections on life and the triumphs and struggles of
the central figure in the album, ‘El Gordo’, a character not
unlike many in the Latin world who makes choices that
affect people near and far.” ‘El Gordo’ is a drug kingpin who
goes on a vision quest to try and come to terms with the
destruction he has wrought, and the question at the end of
the record is: does he find redemption, or oblivion? It’s an
open-ended conclusion that is as intriguing as the music,
and will leave fans craving more (stay tuned!).
Go South has a unique, dynamic hybrid ‘narco-delic’ sound
that leaps out of the speakers (having the vinyl on 45 RPM
helps). Ray Lugo sums it up thusly: We discussed how
long the process of making an album can sometimes be
and thought it would be fun to try to write, record and mix
an album within 30 days. We chose the sounds of South
America because we had been listening to a lot of super
funky music from Peru, Colombia and Panama. Jake was
working on the music score for [a] documentary...and this
played a key role in the cinematic feel to the album. We
wanted it to sound fresh, not over-planned and above all to
share the fun we had making it with the listener.
