A stylistic mish-mash of styles, cultures, and sounds, Radio Zumbido create the perfect documentary soundtrack for a film that does not exist. My first thought on a quick sampling of this disc was old Bomb Squad era Public Enemy.
Not there was a real similarity in content or attitude with the Bomb Squad, but the dense fog of samples and loops are nearly impossible to isolate yet coalesce together into a compelling mix. Radio Zumbido is Juan Carlos Barrios (and in this case, "and friends"), who consciously avoided samplers in favor of analog tape loops, keyboards, guitars and percussion (all played by Barrios). It's surely this approach that leads to the human, organic feeling that pervades the album. There was an intent to be "lo-fi" and it works very well.
While in some ways this could be considered "world music" it lacks the distinct cultural exploitation often inherent in that genre. Instead of simply loading up on native instruments and foreign language vocals, the album instead allows those elements of the surrounding culture to seep into the mix while still maintaining its own edge and style. Recorded at various times in Barcelona and Los Angeles, the sounds of the surrounding Latin culture permeate the album, but it never feels insincere. In some ways parallels could be drawn stylistically to Beck's Guero album, but in this case the Latin elements are far more natural and less forced.
The album is all over the board in regard to style and genre, from the massive hip hop drums and wah-wah’ed guitars on the opener "Revuelta" that wouldn't sound out of place on a Beastie Boys release to the minimal 8 bit melodies of "Tun," the disc manages to scurry across a little bit of everything yet still feels like a coherent body of work. In contrast to the more experimental type pieces, "Dolorcito" and "Radio Frontera" feature prominent guitar melodies with an Eagles/Southern California type twang mixed with some dubby percussion loops and effects.
There is a definite theatrical mood to the album, one of a documentary that instead of singling out a culture to study on its differences, it focuses more on the universal qualities that everyone shares, regardless of geography or ethnicity. While one can question if such a documentary could actually exist, at least we have the soundtrack to it.
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