Review | Los Bitchos – Let the Festivities Begin!

Label: City Slang

Prior to listening to this album, I had not heard of London-based pan-continental band Los Bitchos, so did not know what to expect at all. Their Spotify “About” section describes their music as ‘having the fiesta of your lives under a giant piñata’, which perfectly describes the feeling of Los Bitchos’ debut album ‘Let the Festivities Begin!’. 

Sitting in the abnormally large kitchen hatch at my dad’s house I pressed play on ‘Let the Festivities Begin!’ for the first time. Not until about a song and a half into the funky bass heavy, Afro-Latin dance music inspired album did I realise, that to my great surprise, Los Bitchos are an instrumental band – I guess you cannot judge a book by its cover, or whatever the music alternative of that would be. 

The few vocals that are included on this album on the latter half of second song ‘I Enjoy It’ are reminiscent of Mac Demarco, whilst still encapsulating the feeling of summer with the Latin guitar that is featured throughout the album. 2021 single ‘Las Panteras’ really stood out, as the middle eight features what feels like a more indie Two Door Cinema Club influence, which somehow both juxtaposes and compliments the song and album as a whole. The other singles released on the run-up to this album ‘Pista (Fresh Start)’ and ‘Good to Go!’ capsulise the emotion of ‘Let the Festivities Begin!’.

This album encapsulates a summer vibe that has a refreshing optimistic feel. It’s not hard to imagine it being played at a picnic in a park surrounded by friends and good food or echoing across the fields of a music festival, everyone dancing, dressed in wild glittery outfits.