Pepito ~ Migrante Remixed
Here comes the Spanish
electronica invasionista! By the sounds of this disk, people should be hanging
out the flags, rolling out the bunting and getting the ticker tape ready.
The press release refuses to impart any useful information - which is kind
of likeable. The webpage is even more likeable as it announces in far too
large lettering “jiggerypokery audio para chinchillas desde 1997”.
Who knew? I’m guessing that this disk is a set of five tracks refried
by five different remixers. No sé nada obre Pepito (and that’s
probably really bad Spanish) but by a miniscule amount of online sleuthing
– er in other words looking at their website (http://www.pepito.net/)
– it turns out that Pepito are a Latin American duo of Ana Machado and
José Márquez based in San Francisco. On one page they list the
groups they’re inspired by which include Tortoise, Autechre, Momus and
Cornelius among others – which on listening to this disc makes sense.
‘Salyut’ remodelled by Wobby steadfastly refuses to do the predictable thing - like going from a to b along anything approaching a straight line for instance - instead goes the wrong way down one-way streets, jumps out of fourth-floor windows – that sort of thing, but musically. Beige fumbles with ‘Terapia’ and begins with a man singing ‘yo no quiero’ which I think means I don’t want you (or you don’t want me?). At one point one of Apple’s voices (the wheezy one) says ‘I don’t understand a thing’ which is a likeable acknowledgement of the linguistic gap. But it doesn’t matter. ‘Ardilla’ lists Latin American countries (El Salvador, Peru, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina and more) against a lightheartedly optimistic musical backdrop... and makes you wonder at the possibilities that these names conjure. This ep makes you realise that the world is a wonderful place at least for some of us. What is really attractive is the piecemeal, fragmentary electronics and the way they’re threaded together with strong voices, funky effects, great rhythms, funny sounds - you name it. Highly recommended.
‘Salyut’ remodelled by Wobby steadfastly refuses to do the predictable thing - like going from a to b along anything approaching a straight line for instance - instead goes the wrong way down one-way streets, jumps out of fourth-floor windows – that sort of thing, but musically. Beige fumbles with ‘Terapia’ and begins with a man singing ‘yo no quiero’ which I think means I don’t want you (or you don’t want me?). At one point one of Apple’s voices (the wheezy one) says ‘I don’t understand a thing’ which is a likeable acknowledgement of the linguistic gap. But it doesn’t matter. ‘Ardilla’ lists Latin American countries (El Salvador, Peru, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina and more) against a lightheartedly optimistic musical backdrop... and makes you wonder at the possibilities that these names conjure. This ep makes you realise that the world is a wonderful place at least for some of us. What is really attractive is the piecemeal, fragmentary electronics and the way they’re threaded together with strong voices, funky effects, great rhythms, funny sounds - you name it. Highly recommended.
Colin Buttimer
March 2004