América Invertida

Inspired by a famous drawing by Joaquín Torres García portraying South America upside down, this compilation centres on tiny, overlooked Uruguay, taking us back to the 80s when musicians were tuning into UK and US new wave, as well as jazz fusion, and adapting these to a local sensibility. Other influences are evident: Afro-Uruguayan rhythms, The Beatles, local hero Rubén Rada. But the arrival of a. ordable synths was the key factor. Keeping with the theme of the title, the B-side of the vinyl looks like the A. So I'll review it backwards. The album wraps up with ‘Bombinhas’, a winsome quena (flute) excursion. though with no sign of the Andes. and a dreamlike electro-beat-led dirge titled ‘A Ustedes’. Tracks by Hugo Jasa are jazzy; the experimental ‘Y el Tiempo Pasa’ splices in an African-sounding chorus. ‘En Este Momento’ by Travesia and Marina Ingold's ‘Capitulos’ nod to tropicália.

Side A is even more ethereal and eclectic: bossa singing meets Police chords meets proggy showiness. The musicianship is conservatorystandard, the melodic and rhythmic complexity beguiling. Standouts are Contraviento's extended jam, ‘Desencanto’, and Eduardo Mateo's trancey ‘El Chi-Li-Ban-Dan’. Southern Cone music is essentially rootless. White people razed Indian cultures. The land is farmed and cow-crammed. Uruguay has some claim to conserving black culture in its candombe, but it's oc en exaggerated. América Invertida is the sound of a country rediscovering itself ac er dictatorship, death squads and the lost cause of the Tupamaros. Upside down, sure; fucked-up too. The 80s were the Rio de la Plata's 60s. This DIY disc is brilliant and beautiful.