Adrian Quesada
, the Austin-based producer at the heart of
the Echocentrics
, returns for a second round of retro Latin funk and pastoral psych-rock.
Quesada
's history as a member of big Latin funk ensembles like the Grammy-winning
Grupo Fantasma
and the
Black Sabbath
-covering
Brownout
certainly informs this solo venture, but the two records he's released under the
Echocentrics
moniker are far more cinematic and textural in nature. Like 2011's
Sunshadows
,
Echo Hotel
combines groovy instrumental vignettes with tracks featuring various guest vocalists. While his debut played out like a soulful love letter to late-'60s tropicalia with South American collaborators
Natalia Clavier
and
Tita Lima
handling the vocals,
is more of a local affair with a surrealist Southwestern feel.
Clavier
Lima
do make appearances here, the former on a pair of dreamy and darkly grooved cuts and the latter on a beguiling slice of midtempo funk called "O Sol." It's
's new crew of accomplices, however, that gives the album its distinctive desert head-trip flavor. Snaky organs and shimmering slide and tremolo guitars give more of a West Coast psych vibe to "Canyon" and "Death of a Rockstar," both of which feature
Black Angels
frontman
Alex Maas
on vocals. The same goes for the trippy electric sitar-laden lead single "Staring at the Ceiling," over which
White Denim
/
Bop English
honcho
James Petralli
delivers one of the album's strongest vocal turns.
Bill Callahan
even lends his baritone drawl to the laid-back space trip "Gettin' Away with Your Gal." As for
's instrumental cuts, there's plenty to enjoy in his lovingly assembled tone trips, which feel like vivid micro-soundtracks plucked out of the ether of another era. Sonically detailed but heavy on groove and feel,
deliver another solid outing. ~ Timothy Monger