At 10 p.m. on Thursday night, Belinda Carlisle’s 1980s pop hit “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” played inside Teragram Ballroom, the volume increasing as the lights on the stage dimmed, then glowed purple. The members of Los Bitchos— four full-time members and one touring guitarist— take the stage and dance as they adjust their instruments, waiting for the song to nearly fade away before beginning a set that sounds nothing like Belinda Carlisle. 

On Talkie Talkie, the new album from Los Bitchos, you can hear a bit of an ‘80s pop sheen in the production. It’s a subtle nod, but it’s there in the “La Isla Bonita” vibe of “Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie” and the dreamy Balearic disco of “Don’t Change.” On stage, though, Los Bitchos’ sound is raw and urgent, like they’re leading a party that might teeter— to appropriate a B-52s song title— out of bounds at any second. 

Los Bitchos is a London-based band who plays mostly instrumental music. Their debut album, Let the Festivities Begin!, was produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand and released in 2022. Since then, they’ve toured alongside Belle and Sebastian in the U.S. and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard in Europe. They’ve also played Coachella and Glastonbury. All of those credits point to how hard it is to pigeonhole Los Bitchos.

I wrote about Los Bitchos for Audiofemme back when they released Let the Festivities Begin!, but hadn’t had the chance to catch them live until last night. Now that I have seen them in concert, I can say that it really takes going to a show to hear how much is going on in their music. 

In Los Angeles, on Thursday, October 3, Los Bitchos opened with “Hi,” which is also the opening track on Talkie Talkie, and one of the few songs that feature vocals. With the spoken word intro and the chorus of “Hi” and “Hey” throughout, the crowd instantly begins to dance., as if they just heard a call to action. When Los Bitchos uses vocals, it’s mainly to hype the audience, kind of like Thee Midniters in “Let’s Take a Trip Down Whittier Blvd.” or The Surfaris in “Wipeout.” And, at times, there is this very 1960s shindig vibe that’s a little surf, a little soul and a little psyche. But, at other times, especially when lead guitarist Serra Petale starts to shred, they take on a funky early ‘70s Santana edge. 

Really, Los Bitchos is a party band. They are heavy on rhythm, with a relentless onslaught of beats that could get even the biggest wallflower in the crowd out on the dance floor and grooves that are hypnotic. The bulk of the crowd dances for the duration of the set, but, as people start to move to the sidelines, I gradually scoot up closer to the front, where the energy is a bit more ecstatic. 

As Los Bitchos play, you can hear everything from cumbia to new wave in their sound, but all those points of reference work when mashed together over the course of an hour that goes by all-too-quickly. When the band plays their final song, everything makes sense. They close with “Tequila,” the 1950s universal banger, played fast and punk and with synth player Augustina Ruiz spitting out more lyrics than are in the original version. It was a wild end to the sort of party that leaves you wanting more. 

Pick up Los Bitchos’ music on Bandcamp.

Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs.

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