Color de Trópico

The mining of South America's lost music archives continues apace, seemingly unimpeded by anything new and exciting. This vinyl, compiled by DJ El Palmas and El Dragón Criollo (who surely should have been a wrestler), plunders a vault of Venezuelan oldies, originally released between 1966 and 1978 when democracy was still a hopeful thing in the former feudal armpit. They say the material is offered now as a ‘work of healing and reconstruction.' The eight tracks show musicians trying to catch up on modernity, chucking bits of jazz, rock, salsa, psych, prog and disco into a trad crockpot containing guajira, cumbia, chachachá and Venezuelan joropo rhythms. Opener ‘Despertar’, Los Darts' last single, has a bossa influenced reflective feel, occasionally stirred by electric guitar. Hugo Blanco's ‘Guajira con Arpa’ is vaguely Cuban, with a swinging rhythm and smooth brass, the harp interjections a slightly disturbing distraction. ‘Zambo’, by La Retreta Mayor, is salsafied funk. Five more mainly instrumental numbers take us through a pile of other genres.

The overall effect is of going to a party we've all been to before; ‘Socorro Auxilio’, with its manic chanting, sirens and pounding horns, is the most attention-grabbing song, though the synthy, smoochy ‘Tu y Yo’ is pretty cool. Only ‘Bimbón’, crass hotel lobby Muzak, is really bad. Still, I can't help feeling we're being scammed – rebuying old music on old technologies. Vintage covers wrapped around heavy vinyl are the artisan sourdough bread of our musical retromania. At 28 minutes, I'd sample this on Spotify before spending your pesos.