Los Bitchos

★★★★ Let The Festivities Begin! CITY SLANG. CD/DL/LP

London’s answer to Khruangbin (on mescaline), produced by Alex Kapranos.

From the comedy name, one might imagine some routine

Nuggets-y bashers born out of the lively Spanish garage-punk scene. Instead: here’s Britain’s coolest new instrumental party band, with pan-global rhythms reflecting the combo’s multicultural background, and lashings of surf guitar often curiously delivering a Middle Eastern melodic feel. Come Quentin Tarantino’s remake of Lawrence Of Arabia, anything off Los Bitchos’s irresistible debut could soundtrack the camel chase. The Link Is About To Die opens with fabulous energy, its seductive exotica swing fuelled by galloping percussion, rustling maracas and a tune-sodden twang, all serving up dancefloor gold. Baghdad rave-up I Enjoy It even arrives overlaid with excitable bar chatter. Pista (Fresh Start) sashays like Jonathan Richman’s Egyptian

Reggae as covered on a Habibi

Funk compilation, while Tropico recalls Sly & Robbie’s Revolutionaries scouring beyond Jamaica for sublime outernational groove. With zingy production from Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, Let

The Festivities Begin! is, indeed, a proper fire-starter.