For their third album, the recently released Friends & Lovers, Argentina’s Las Kellies are down one Kelly (former bassist Betty), but Silvina Costa (drums) and Cecilia Kelly (guitar) continue to rock on with their own special brand of garage and psychedelic rock with a bit of dubby new wave, along with new bassist Manuela Ducatenzeiler. There is less of the latter on this album, but Las Kellies‘ proficiency and growing confidence make for a satisfying listen in the garage/psychedelic rock groove as well.
The band doesn’t move to a new plane with this album, but they already were very good, so that would have been a high bar. Long time fans will be pleased, and prospective fans should find a lot to like. If Las Kellies have a special sauce, it is that they understand that the kids want to dance. And the band wants the kids that want to dance to be able to dance. As an example, check out “I’m On Fire”
Produced by Iván Diaz Mathé (Lee “Scratch” Perry & Mad Professor), who’s worked on previous records, the sun-soaked psych-pop tune ‘Summer Breeze’ slowly grooves with honeyed tones, shimmering guitars and propulsive percussion.
Las Kellies inflected new wave post-punk blends garage-psych with infectiously deft dance beats and melodic pop. ‘Friends & Lovers’ fuzzed-up gems sees them move away from the heavier dub sounds of the last record instead sinking their teeth into a groove like Thee Oh Sees with the spirit of ESG and Delta 5 yet markedly different.
‘Summer Breeze’ is taken from Las Kellies new album ‘Friends & Lovers’ out 14th October on Fire Records
The Fat Angel Sings 