Les Négresses Veretes - Trabendo
2 LP - Reissue of 1999 album. Cut from original masters. Original packaging strictly reproduced. One of the only groups to make the accordion sound credible, Les Négresses Vertes have been playing their eclectic blend of shout along choruses, muted horns and exotic rhythms since 1987. Small wonder then that Trabendo contains all of the above elements in spades (witness the opener Leila; or the punchy Easy Girls). Despite its air of familiarity, Trabendo has a potent freshness, due in no small part to producer Howie B who lends the album contemporary coherence, steering a course somewhere between Massive Attack, Infected-era TheThe and a slightly cooler Gypsy Kings. Whether you get the lyrics or not, there's a lingua franca in grooves such as the languid Route 99, the brooding centre piece Ce Pays or the dizzying Hasta Llegar that summons up gypsy campfire frolics and seedy Pigalle stripclubs in equal doses. Trabendo justifies the enduring cult popularity of these funky eccentrics, capturing some of the frenetic energy of their live performances.
