It never ceases to amaze me that Frikstailers came out of La Pampa, a mainly agricultural province in central Argentina, so detached, in all senses, from the wannabe first-world urban porteños. But I guess it makes sense, their music is nothing like what you hear in the big city, it’s something from outer space! And I guess when you grow up as a talented avant-garde musician surrounded by corn and cows, that’s where your mind spends most of its time.
Even though they’ve been thrown in the same bag of the neo-cumbia movement, thanks to their Zizek affiliation, the Frikstailers make music that’s way beyond any labeling. Yes, there are some subtle cumbia elements for the very attentive listeners. But by the time they make it to the song, they’ve been digitally processed, chopped down to minuscule pieces, and rearranged in unpredictable patterns. And the results are as sonically intriguing as they are contagiously dancy.
Bicho De Luz is the title of their new four-track EP (well, actually three and a remix), out now on ZZK Records, and the title goes great with their fluorescent alien-on-acid aesthetic, but I think it might also refer to those tiny creatures that come out every hot summer night in La Pampa.
Buy Frikstailers’ Bicho de Luz . Also catch them on tour, dates below.
TOUR DATES
Sept 25 @ Chicago World Music Festival, SmartBar, Chicago IL w/ El G
Sept. 26 @ Beauty Bar, Austin, TX w/ El G
Sept. 27 @ Red Devil Lounge, San Francisco, CA w/ El G
Sept. 28 @ The Echo, Los Angeles, CA w/ El G
Sept. 29 @ The Crocodile, Seattle, WA w/ El G
Oct. 1 @ Coco 66 New York, NY w/ El G
Oct 2 @ VIA Festival, Iron City Brewery, Pittsburgh, PA w/ El G