Vinyl Review: Carmelo Torres Y Los Toscos Eponymous

Carmello Torres Y Los Toscos

If there's something you'd like me to listen to, the best way to  get it in my ear holes is to send it to me on vinyl.

So, today we are taking a break from underground metal, but still kind of heading south...

San Jacinto, Colombia or thereabouts anyway.

In the northern reaches of Colombia..a man created a legacy.

Obviously, that's James Rodriguez...

But being as this isn't a blog about the glorious game of soccer, we're talking about a musician who became a legendary in the Cumbia Music scene and that's Carmelo Torres.

This would be a great time to tell you what an expert I am in the field and how Cumbia music speaks to me ever so strongly, that I have a large collection of Cumbia records and tapes, but that would be a lie.

Apart from the Very Be Careful, there's no experience with Cumbia in my life.

It's really only appropriate to tell you what I hear when I've spun this album and it's taken a few spins to really get it down.

Even though I am a Spanish speaker, it's very hard for me to get the messages down when someone is singing them. I also have great problems in names. Both are difficult for me.

So, there's really no point in my trying to give you the deep, folklorish meanings behind these songs, but with tracks entitled (translated) My Machete, The Nightdress, and Anthropology, it might be a bit difficult for me to unpack them anyway.

It's fast and eclectic. The guitar and bass intertwining with the accordion and effects are just intoxicating.

It would take ages to really explain to you what's going on in these songs, but Torres sings and plays the accordion, along with a myriad of percussion instruments, and other stringed instruments.

It's upbeat and feels affirming...and again, I can't really understand the words. (Something that's a personal failure of mine, but apart from Spanish singing being hard, Torres is Colombian and the dialect and accent I understand best is Mexican...so it's extra hard.)

This is SSA-002.

This is the second album put out by San Saba Records and it exists to bring Carmelo Torres y Los Toscos into North America.

It's worth your time to give them the opportunity.

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