Alright, I’ll admit it– the name “Wau Y Los Arrrghs!!!” is what brought me to said band’s bandcamp page after browsing a suggested list of new artists to check out. Those of us who recall the “Panic! At the Disco” era might argue that extraneous punctuation included in a band name isn’t necessarily a good sign, but I couldn’t help but be intrigued.
In any case, I’m glad I stumbled upon this band, a motley quintet from Valencia, Spain who can sixties-punk-rock-out like nary a band I’ve heard before. Todo Roto is their latest full-length, released by the US label Slovenly Records about a month ago. But it wouldn’t be hard to convince someone that Todo Roto was released in, say, 1967– with the cheesy (read: friggin’ awesome) organ lines and proto-punk chord progressions, the only thing keeping this from sounding like a true sixties gem is the too-good-to-be-old recording quality. There are also some surf-inspired guitar themes sprinkled throughout, like the beginning of “Cuervos,” that add to the authenticity of the the complete sound.
Oh yeah– don’t forget that the whole record is recorded in Spanish. And while listening to it makes me wish I’d retained a little more from my high school Spanish courses, I can affirm that you won’t be missing out on much if you can’t understand the language. Anyone can appreciate that Todo Roto is crazy to the point of nearly being out of control (“Todo Roto” roughly translates to “All Broken”) but lead vocalist Juanito Wau still cuts through the commotion with his charasmatic, gritty baritone.
If anything, the calculated chaos that is Todo Roto makes you realize that the language of garage-punk transcends most typical barriers of tongue. And that’s pretty damn awesome.
Let’s hope this band takes off. Fans of King Khan, Shannon and the Clams, Mark Sultan, etc., should definitely check out Todo Roto–there’s a lot to love about this record. And if you want to be a superfan, the vinyl (and CD) is available for order through Slovenly.