[dropcap style=”font-size:100px; color:#992211;”]I[/dropcap]’ve overgrown the front garden so it looks like a 80s bush in between the neighbours’ lawns (the suburban squat next door look), there is a sleepy bee on the grass outside in the back garden, the sun is out, and I am listening to Peru Boom.
Life’s alright.
Will Peru Boom’s Bass, Bleeps & Bumps from Peru’s Electronic Underground put me in the mood to wake the bee and save it from its likelihood of being trodden on? At this point I would like to highlight the Friends of the Earth campaign on saving bees, a very important and noble cause. Honestly, without the bee we might as well drop ourselves out of the window and see if we bounce (the government has a Bee Action Plan for this kind of stuff so don’t worry too much).
I have gotten off topic again, well I suppose my Saab driving, grey beard sporting neighbour may want me to calm this shit down and stop writing about bees and more about the music, which is obviously disconcerting him as it blares out of my windows. We’ll never know because I’ll never ask. No fairytale ending there However, I’m sure you, my editor and the Saab driving grey beard sporting gent wants to read about Peru Boom.
I like this album as much as I like the horticultural work being displayed by one of my neighbours. It’s loud and, fundamentally, the beats and drops are very close to being as pernickety as aforementioned neighbour. Glass always full my end. Especially when you have an album that has the sound and feel of lots of sweaty Peruvian flake Polo-sporting squatters mashing their little brains out.
Rebel! Stop ripping the weeds up man, I planted them there on purpose, snuck in the dead of night and got my trowel out and spread the seeds of my favourite dandelions to spout out of the gaps of the broken tarmac in my front yard. Peru Boom makes me actually want to do this kinda thing, it’s quite funny.
Peru Boom needs to be three twenty minute ensembles. But as it is, it’s reasonably in keeping with what you would expect from a decent to high quality set of producers. However, it needs continuity. One maverick producer hopping and then stopping, then another maverick producer hopping then stopping, is not what the doctor ordered on this record.
At least though, they are maverick producers, leading a club scene of Lima’s nightlife! (Lima’s nightlife is described by tripadvisor.com as “a lot of fun”) [insert rant here about tripadvisor.com and their hilarious attempts to persuade the scared foreigner into the den of Lima’s underground music scene].
Much of this music is in dire need of a tweak up, is poorly captured to my ears, but I guess when you’re trying to revive a bee with it, does it really matter? Anyway, it could be argued that other matters of interest could be symbolised in the revival of that bee. That bee could be the United Kingdom, grass green and flag flying. Yeah. Really. It’s a shame we can’t fly the United Kingdom flag outside our house without been seen as some far right prick.
Reviving the United Kingdom with these new Peruvian sounds would be good, it might make us forget the worries of whether Andy Murray wins Wimbledon, whether George and Charlotte Windsor will have a good upbringing, and whether Tony Blair and co will ever be held account by the international criminal court for invading Iraq.
I suppose Peru Boom has upped the ante a little round here, I might be bouncing a little.
So where to go next? Playing Peru Boom to revive a bee doesn’t seem to be working. I suppose I should this time try a George Osbourne ‘swingeing cuts’ approach; where you cut off its stinger and hope it can fly. Peru Boom hasn’t got much of a sting in its tail either so I guess the two would match. I shall instead try to dissect Peru Boom.
As we enter the deepest darkest secrets of the Peruvian underground scene, Animal Chuki informs us of what hysteria must feel like for the enchanted 
masses; a collection of synthesizer produced riddles and pulsating sounds. It may play on too long for some ears but you need to get in the place where those squatters and pilgrims to Lima must mecca to, to get it.
Oi! Oi! Have we a large one? I am talking here about Deltatron with Ego Trip. Maybe. The buzz is incredible, Ego Trip is a good one, it has a wind up and all that, quite a few times, might be a good driving tune. Dengue Dengue Dengue (or Dengue et al. as I like to call them) are a species of their own. A weird step off-beat that tingles around the lips. Mmmmm. I like.
Pirana Sound System. Need I say more? Washed with guitar and the seaside. They seemed to have come up with a pragmatic solution to the seaside rave scene all by themselves, minus a few ding-dongs on the way through. The drop could be harder, more progressive and more cutting. However, with the tag line of ‘Tropical bass’, I guess this is a winner. It initially seems more of the pleb marching dance tunes from Chakruna from the start of the album, but then in comes that Star Wars-themed shoot out. It could be better, and the mediocre downtrodden beats of the dance music’s middle ages regurgitate. But then, we have Star Wars. I guess if you’re out with a hottie and want to play light sabres, this is the track for you.
Then there’s a Frenchman playing an accordion. Nahhh, its Rolovo. It’s a winder, upper and downer on the accordion front, which drives a dance thoroughbred through its paces. Bygones are my one: Rizzla, eau de toilette and a flower at the ready, cradling a gnome called Gerald? Yeah, its rhythm and bass from the old town. Tribilin Sound’s El Carmen is the Ibiza track of Peru Boom. The spiky beep of sorts holds it tight, easy to follow.
Then comes the Tetris tune of the record by Qechuabol. Unfortunately, I neither like the song nor do I like shitty multi-coloured block games that twist your head after having too many.
Kicking me into gear though, a hip-hop entrance with tranced vibes; the next track is a maybe. Named Subete A La Noche, it does little for me except for the start (which may be a sample).
Let’s get into the deepest darkest night and have a little laugh shall we? Yes. More from Tribilin Sound, and this is more like it. Start shadow boxing, it should help with you getting in the shape you need to be to hit every beat on this track. Hit something, drop a beat and skip to the punchline, this track does. It’s short, mixable and more than it needs to be. Sample this. Out comes the horn. Sceptical or just fully fledged rave professionals? I’m thinking more rave professionals.
From there it winds down, both in tempo and in quality. Three more tracks see the album out, but if you can’t say something nice….
But every cloud has a silver lining – the bee survived as I woke him from his slumber by nudging him a little. So yeah, Peru Boom, whoopee!
Free Friday download & tropical bass goodness from Peru. Peru Boom is out now on @Tigersmilkrec. #PeruBoom https://goo.gl/
NAP & Nico. is a writer, a painter, a poet, a illustrator and writer of a disabled squirrels children’s storybook . An academic yet to set the world on fire, but who is holding a Zippo beneath the Zepplin carrying modern society’s scene that will wonder why they hadn’t heard of NAP & Nico before.
