Acclaimed London-based instrumental outfit and JOVM mainstays Los Bitchos — Australian-born, Serra Petale (guitar); Uruguayan-born Agustina Ruiz (keytar); Swedish-born, Josefine Jonsson (bass) and London-born Nic Crawshaw (drums) — released their highly-anticipated sophomore album, the Oli Barton-Wood-produced Talkie Talkie through City Slang last week.
Deriving its name from a fictional club of the same name, Talkie Talkie is a late-night paradise, brimming with freedom and possibility; a place where partygoers can escape reality by getting caught in the groove and dancing it all away or daydream along to the invigorating soundscape.
Recorded over a short but intense month-long series of sessions at London’s RAK Studios and Lightship 95, sonically, the album will transport the listener into a world where funk, disco, Latin and Turkish rhythms collide in a euphoric fusion fueled by adventurous experimentation and their endearingly puckish spirit. If 2022’s Let The Festivities Begin was the rowdy build up to the big night out with your homies, Talkie Talkie is the equivalent of rocking out to the groove on the dance floor.
The album’s material is anchored in a vivid cinematic universe that takes inspiration from the band’s favorite aesthetic era — the ’80s. Think less self-serious men, gated reverb and more campy, hi-fi pop songwriting that glistens with moxie and verve. The quartet especially wanted to tap into the sonic innovation of the period, where analog and digital techniques collided to create polished texture and depth.
The album features:
- “La Bomba,” a hook-driven 80s Turkish psych pop-inspired bop anchored around a shuffling dance floor rhythm, a twangy and looping guitar line, a disco-influenced bass line, some video game-like beats paired with glistening synths and ecstatic shouts.
- “Don’t Change,” a breezy and blissful jam anchored around a languid and reverb-drenched Spanish-tinged, psych rock-inspired guitar line, stomping percussion, glistening and atmospheric synths and an arpeggiated, funky synth bass line. It’s the perfect soundtrack for frolicking at the beach, of dreaming of heading to the beach with your best pals — or for riding a ferry and dreaming that you were on a super expensive yacht drinking mimosas.
- “Kiki, You Complete Me” and “1K!.” Both tracks see the band reveling in the shimmering guitar tones and shuffling guacharaca rhythms of cumbia — but in mischievously different directions: “Kiki, You Complete Me” has a clean, 80s studio polish-like sound and a cinematic quality that evokes the opening sequence of Nintendo video games like Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda or Blades of Steel — or of an incredibly cheesy but wildly entertaining action movie starring Carl Weathers, Bill Duke or someone like that, complete with a blazing guitar solo.
Talkie Talkie‘s latest single “Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie” much like its immediate predecessor features a clean, 80s studio polished sound and features bursts of twinkling synth, wobbling and percussive bass, glistening Slowhand-era Clapton-like guitar lines paired with a steady and forceful backbeat. Mantra-like vocals are shouted out around the hook. Sonically, “Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie” sounds as though it could have been part of the score of an episode of Miami Vice.
“‘Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie’ feels like driving around Miami in the ‘80s, Grand Theft Auto style, or chatting to friends on old landlines or walkie talkies,” the JOVM mainstays explain. “It was the first song we recorded for the album and the first time working with our producer Oli Barton-Wood. We had such an incredible time in the studio and ran wild with some electronic drum sounds and some impromptu vocals. We love the blend of sparkly synths and smooth guitars along with bold, fat drums and bass lines. This song ended up inspiring the album title, Talkie Talkie, which has a cheeky ring to it. We could imagine it in neon lights outside our imaginary club. We had a great time with some retro phones and ‘90s bedroom setups, and dancing our lives away!”
The acclaimed London-based quartet are in the middle of a lengthy tour. The North American leg of the tour includes a September 26, 2024 stop at Bowery Ballroom. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
LOS BITCHOS LIVE DATES:
09.14.24: Plissken Festival, Athens, GR
09.15.24: Poplar, Trento, IT
North America:
09.22.24: Washington, DC – Black Cat
09.23.24: Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
09.26.24: New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
09.27.24: Montreal, QC – Pop Montreal Festival (at MDP sur De Gaspé w/ The Fleshtones)
09.29.24: Toronto, ON – Great Hall
10.01.24: Seattle, WA – Crocodile
10.03.24: Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
UK / Europe:
10.19.24: Future Days Festival, Birmingham, UK
10.20.24: Button Factory, Dublin, IE
10.22.24: The Grove, Newcastle, UK
10.23.24: Summerhall, Edinburgh, UK
10.24.24: QMU, Glasgow, UK
10.25.24: Irish Centre, Leeds, UK
10.26.24: O2 Ritz, Manchester, UK
10.28.24: Junction 2, Cambridge, UK
10.29.24: The 1865, Southampton, UK
10.30.24: SWX, Bristol, UK
11.01.24: Concorde 2, Brighton, UK
11.02.24: Lido, Margate, UK
11.07.24: O2 Forum, London, UK
11.12.24: La Cigale, Paris, FR
11.13.24: Stereolux, Nantes, FR
11.14.24: Epicerie Moderne, Lyon, FR
11.15.24: Locomotiv, Bologna, IT
11.16.24: Mascotte, Zurich, CH
11.18.24: Strom, Munich, DE
11.19.24: Wuk, Vienna, AT
11.21.24: Palac Akropolis, Prague, CZ
11.22.24: Festsaal, Berlin, DE
11.23.24: Niebo, Warsaw, PL
11.25.24: Knust, Hamburg, DE
11.27.24: Debaser, Stockholm, SE
11.28.24: Cosmopolite, Oslo, NO
11.29.24: Pustervik, Gothenburg, SE
11.30.24: Small Vega, Copenhagen, DK
12.02.24: Burgerweeshuis, Deventer, NL
12.03.24: Gebaude 9, Cologne, DE
12.04.24: AB Box, Brussels, BE
12.06.24: Paradiso, Amsterdam, NL
12.07.24: Aeronef, Lille, FR