Cavernicola
No Fun Records
One just can't get enough of Los Peyotes! Fuzz, surf guitar, pure caveman garage rock all the way; teeth necklaces included! Luckily, not only did they release Introducing Los Peyotes(Go here to read the review), a fine collection of recordings from 2001 to 2008 on Dirty Water Records, Their 2005 dubut Cavernicola has been reissued and available for the first time outside of Argentina by No Fun Records! Additionally, it is the first time Cavernicola! is available on vinyl. The opening "I Caveman And You" is garage punk in all its frenzy: A simple blues base, a farfisa, lots of fuzz, and lead screamer David Peyote singing like an obsessed madman driven by only a basic urge to get with a girl. Primitive indeed! "Fuego" (Arthur Brown) is a little more basic, but Victor "La Pantera" takes lead with an all out '60s organ and enough swirls of it to make anyone spin in a frenzy. "Cry Baby" is slow and shares more of a '60s garage tone taken from The Seeds with plenty of fuzz. "Mocker" intoduces an older, basic garage rock sound with harmonica, but the tempo changes are impressive and Rolando Bruno's guitar ranging from tight and surfy to full garage punk chords is nothing less than impressive. In fact, everyone in Los Peyotes sound like garage rock/punk experts that it's really hard to make distinctions on who takes lead roles because everyone is loud and taking the lead. This is kind of a rare thing since great garage rock is all about the beat, being noisy, and having fun, but Los Peyotes deliver the '60s can of goods better than most. Although there's an overemphasis on Electric Prunes style fuzz is on "Satanic Rite", one could equally say that the organ sets the mood or that Pablo Bam Bam lives up to his name by taking every opportunity to play along with each musical part instead of just the beat, which was also something said often about Keith Moon.
One of the two songs on Cavernicola that made it onto Introducing... was "El Humo Te Hace Mal", which effortlessly encourages crowd participation to sing along, but the song also has guitar that's closest to surf guitar with lots of tremolo and David screams and howls his way in perfect time, even down to the first refrain, where his cough really sounds like it belongs in the song! Inevitably, debut albums have their share of covers. Among those on Cavernicola is the Mancini/Lord Sutch "Jack The Ripper", which is the best take on the the song to date with it's ghoulish laughs, fuzz, and Oscar Hechomierda's almost punk bass intro. "Te Pegare" has a Latin beat hint as well as some fancier flamenco style electric guitar playing, but it's still garage rock in all its troglodyte glory of howls and beats, while "The Brotherhood" is a nothing less than primitive r & b garage punk. In fact, that's what one always gets with Los Peyotes. They're proof that '60s garage rock is here to stay and they do it better than most. I'm sure every garage band started off trying to play "Wild Thing" and "The Witch", so it's no surprise that Los Peyotes would have one of those songs on their debut. The tempo is faster and the vocals are desperate, but it's in a slightly higher key than the original and it's a lot more fun to sing along to, even if some of they lyrics are indecipherable from the original song, which only make it sound more fun. Also, there's a b movie type, eerie keyboard track at the end of the cover that further illustrates the band's mastery of all things '60s garage punk. The bonus track is another Sonics song, Psycho. The addition of Farfisa on the song give it a good '60s go-go groove and is more than an honorable interpretation.
For all the cliches and standard instruments, look, feel and sound that epitomizes '60s garage rock and punk, Los Peyotes are it. They're authentic but sound never serious, which makes the music loud and fun. If anything Cavernicola is proof that the best garage rock and punk is being made today. Their stuff is simply essential in its mix of '60s garage like The Seeds, The Electric Prunes, some darker elements that lean towards The Fuzztones and other '80s neo garage acts, and some loud and lonely r & b. Los Peyotes are just too fucking good for anyone to pass up. Additionally, it's got great cover art and the inside cover painting of the band is worth the price alone for the vinyl version. However, Cavernicola on vinyl is selling pretty fast right now.
Fuego
Jack The Ripper
When I Arrive
Cavernicola is a available directly from No Fun Records as well as Get Hip Distribution
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