Released: 13/10/23 (delayed from 06/10/23)
Lados B from the celebrated Panamanian, Chicago-based percussionist Daniel Villarreal was recorded over just two afternoons in Los Angeles in 2020, with two top-draw collaborators: the brilliant Tortoise guitarist (and solo jazz artist in his own right) Jeff Parker, and the gifted Australian bassist and composer Anna Butterss, whose performing and recording credits include Phoebe Bridgers, Jenny Lewis, and Bright Eyes. For all three musicians it was the first in-person ensemble recording session they'd done since the pandemic locked the world down, just seven months prior, and the sheer joy and relief of playing with each other in the same room is palpable
Formed from the choicest cuts of those masterful improvisatory sessions, Lados B finds Villarreal leading the group through various rhythmical flows, informed as much by the Latin soul of Fania Records as they are by Brain Records-indebted krautrock, while Parker and Butterss draw on their extensive experience playing free together (as heard on Parker's recently-released Mondays at the Enfield Tennis Academy) to create inspired passages of harmony and melody. Lados B is the sound of the world opening up again, and it’s a wonder to behold.