When
Dos Santos drummer/percussionist/composer
Daniel Villarreal-Carillo issued the adventurous, polygenre
Panama 77 in 2022, he utilized an alternating cast of players. Two of the musicians, bassist
Anna Butterss and guitarist
Jeff Parker, joined him in co-writing five of the album's tunes.
Parker and
Butterss are
Villarreal-Carillo's sole accompaniment for
Lados B. They recorded it during the pandemic over two days in October 2020 in the backyard of L.A.'s Chicali Outpost. This set differs from
Panama 77. In place of carefully constructed, painstakingly layered jams melding Latin styles with jazz, funk, rock, and psychedelia, we instead get a deeply intuitive, loose, open, and largely introspective three-way musical conversation, mildly related in feel to
Parker's wonderful
Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy (its lineup also included
Butterss).
Villarreal-Carillo introduces opener "Traveling With" using various cymbals, cowbells, and chimes before his bandmates enter with a mysterious call-and-response Latin vamp. Bassist and bandleader accent (via overdubbing) and extrapolate the groove into a jazz-rock approach without sacrificing pulse. As the trio interact, their statements and responses serve to extend and buoy the groove into infinity. "Republic," at just under three minutes, is one of the most unfettered tunes here.
Parker's West African-influenced guitar playing rides and glides atop
Butterss' joyous bassline, hand drums, small percussion instruments, and a drum kit that double- and triple-times the band. "Chicali Outpost" is introduced by
Butterss' upright alongside shakers and hand percussion.
Parker plays a circular vamp via the guitar's ringing harmonics until
Villarreal-Carillo joins with a drum kit and
Parker begins to solo rhythmically and mercurially, winding around the riff, cutting through it, adding modal blues, post-bop, and edgy psychedelia. An upright bass solo, vamp, and spectral percussion introduce "Bring It."
Parker's sonic guitar washes create an ambient backdrop as the drummer improvises alongside
Butterss. The delightfully funky "Salute" is laden with organic drum breaks, a round, warm, elastic guitar vamp, and a contrapuntal bassline.
Neal Francis joins the trio on a Rhodes piano, adding fingerpopping rhythm, harmony, atmosphere, and ballast to the vibe. "Daytime Nighttime" is edgier.
Parker's treated guitar erects one vamp that's joined by
Butterss.
Villarreal-Carillo frames it by adding a shadow beat for
Parker's solo, which weds blues and jazz to tango. The longest cut, "Things Can Be Calm," is a subtle, mysterious, drifting meditation in texture, syncopation, and repetition before closer "Rig Motif," which is full of fusion chaos and rock dynamics that careen into a 21st century futurist take on post-punk Panamanian salsa. Each instrumentalist solos, but always inside tightly structured rhythms.
Lados B offers an entirely different M.O. from the more stridently produced
Panama 77. That's not a knock. If anything, the more open approach to creating tunes on the spot is exceptionally appealing. That said, don't let sonic appearances deceive you: the music here is exquisitely complex, often subtle, and kinetic. It's probable that listeners will find
Lados B a stronger outing than its predecessor, simply because its adventure and intimate conversations inspire exceptionally inventive sounds. ~ Thom Jurek
