Some music is difficult to write about, with everyone jumping on the same bandwagons or trying to re-invent genres that should best remain forgotten, I often find myself presented with the same wall to wall beige, style over substance conformity from bands who have spent more time getting the right tattoos and choreographing stage moves than they have exploring the possibilities that music has to offer. Los Plantronics however buck this trend, providing so many ways into their music that it is difficult to know where to start. A surf related concept album? Vikings invade Mexico? A Norwegian wilderness studio revelling in a Mariachi groove and wild 50’s rock ‘n’roll? A band who wrote an album based on the artwork? Where to begin?
Back-stories aside, this is an album summed up best by one quote as the soundtrack to a “psychedelic exploitation surf movie set in Mexico” where the history of Tex-Mex border rock ‘n’ roll is reimagined and warped through an acid haze and delivered with a raw edged punk sneer. On paper it seems the most unlikely result given the above factors, but despite, or possibly because of those hurdles, Los Plantronics have come up with a fantastic retrospective re-working and one of the most unique album you will have heard in years.
