LA LOM

One Liner:  Instrumental bongo rock for days

Wikipedia Genre:  instrumental rock

Home: L.A.

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 13
Both Weekends.
Saturday.

Thoughts:  The Los Angeles League of Musicians!  LA LOM!  These guys apparently got their start playing covers in the lobby of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, just jamming along to old standards by Roy Orbison and Aretha.  They later added a third member who was all about them bongos, and their new Latin-inspired jam band sound was born.  I don't understand these styles other than to say that they are cool for a minute, and then you feel like you have been listening to the same instrumental bolero track for three hours and wonder what has happened to your brain.  Like Muzak from south of the border.  A radio guy called it a "blend of surf rock, cumbia sonidera, country twang and Peruvian chicha music."  Which, sure.  He may have made up a few of those words.  Who am I to judge?

But their one album was hip and bitchin' enough to get them invited along on Vampire Weekend's last tour.  So, they have that going for them, which is nice.  Top track is from their initial 2022 EP.  "Santee Alley" has 6.6 million streams.  BTW, when I searched that, there are lots of videos on YouTube about how to properly shop the fake crap available to you in Santee Alley a/k/a Los Callejones.  If you need some fake Louis Vuitton, that is apparently the right spot.

Yeah, it is a good song.  Cool little groove to bop along to.  But definitely not something that is really going to get my motor running to make sure I see them do it live.  Especially when the rest of these songs don't feel that different to my untrained ear.  "Alvarado" has 4.7 million streams and is also from that same initial EP.

I remember buying the Buena Vista Social Club album and thinking I was magically hip and cool to be listening to such worldly music.  I've come to terms with myself now.  This definitely has a cool vibe, and I think it would be fantastic to hear while you waited in the lobby of a nice hotel.  But not sure it lights me up for an hour-long concert in a hot open field.