Photo Credit: Santi Pulecio
On Monday, June 3, Bogotá, Colombia’s BALTHVS joined the underground’s elite with a performance on KEXP, Seattle’s alternative rock haven. Walking in the footsteps of such titans as Bomba Estéreo, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Khruangbin, Tinariwen, Charles Bradley, Altin Gün, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and more who enjoyed early exposure from the legendary station, the neo-psychedelic trio delivered four mind-bending cuts that express the depth of its flowering catalog. The band’s performance arrives amid the release ramp-up for its fourth full-length album Harvest–set to drop in full on July 19–which features some of the group’s rarest grooves yet.
In its half-hour radio spot, BALTHVS expanded on its singular brew of influences through a four-song performance and interview with host Albina Cabrera, who leads El Sonido, a program focused on transmitting Latin America’s dazzling array of alternative music. On “Anouk,” the group lays out its moody yet silky-smooth and honey-sweet sound, simmering slowly like hot blacktop. Singer and bassist Johanna Mercuriana shines on “Ojos Verdes,” adding warm and faraway vocals and a rubbery bassline to complement the tight cumbia-funk backbeat from percussionist Santiago Lizcano. “Johanna’s Dream,” from the band’s 2020 debut album Macrocosm, leaves ample headroom for experimentation from Balthazar Aguirre, whose bold and vibrant guitar work soars like a bird of paradise.
Taken altogether, and especially from the closer “Turkish Coffee,” the band’s intricate blend of styles is obscure but definite, with strains of surf-rock, Turkish microtonal miracles and cumbia rushing together in instrumental improvisation. The band cites foundational jam figureheads like the Grateful Dead and Santana as key influences in its musical style and collaborative ethos–which extends to the fans, who can find the group’s guitar and bass tabs published on its site. The latest steps in this sonic voyage are on Harvest, which has seven preview singles available on all streaming platforms now.
BALTHVS will tour the United States starting in the dog days of summer, making 19 stops across the country from August 5 to October 11. Highlights from this run include appearances at Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco on August 10, Indianapolis’ Hi-Fi on August 20, Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Brooklyn Bowl on August 28 and Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle on September 1. For tickets and more information, visit balthvs.com/tour-dates/.
Watch BALTHVS’ performance on KEXP below.
The post Watch: BALTHVS Share KEXP Live Performance, Preceding Release of Fourth Studio Album ‘Harvest’ appeared first on Relix Media.
