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LP
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VAMPI 336LP
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$28.50
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 12/12/2025
Money Chicha, the Austin-based collective featuring members of the Grammy-winning Latin orchestras Grupo Fantasma and Brownout, unveils their third full-length album, Onda Esotérica. Recorded at New Orleans' Marigny Studios, the album deepens their signature psychedelic cumbia amazónica sound with exotic textures, vintage organ swells, and inventive reinterpretations of classics such as "Cumbia Arabe." As KUTX puts it, "Listening to Money Chicha feels a bit like taking a hit of acid, downing a couple shots of Tequila, and hopping a plane to 1960s Peru -- it's the kind of music that rewires your brain, awakens your spirit animal, and takes you places you've never been." Add in some South Texas swagger and bruising Latin funk, and Onda Esotérica emerges as the band's most adventurous and transportive work to date -- a kaleidoscopic journey equal parts ritual and revelation.
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LP
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VAMPI 240LP
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2024 restock. Chicha Summit is the newest album by Austin-based future-Cumbia group Money Chicha. The album features legendary Peruvian guitarist/composer Jose Luis Carballo (Chacalon, La Nueva Crema) and Colombian-American vocalist Kiko Villamizar as well as Nemegata frontman Victor Cruz on percussion. The album explores the nexus of Peru's legendary fuzzed-out early Chicha sound and Money Chicha's unique application of Chicha-influenced sounds to their own original compositions. The result is a fascinating temporal exploration of two stunning faces of tropical psychedelia converging. The album itself is divided between two sessions, each representing a different side of the "Chicha Summit" mountain. Side A was recorded during a long weekend in which Jose Carballo and Money Chicha convened for a rehearsal, recording session, workshop, and concert. The event was captured altogether in a single room by Money Chicha guitarist Beto Martinez at his Lechouse Music studio in Buda Texas and recorded directly to tape via his vintage Tascam 388. Subsequent sessions were recorded by Greg Gonzalez at his own The Electric Basecamp studio and vocalist Kiko Villamizar's Wepa Estudios to capture additional percussion, vocals, and overdubs. The result is a tribute to the highly influential and much-beloved music of Peru performed with Jose Carballo, one of the genre's greatest performers and composers and the man responsible for introducing his trademark Shaeler fuzztone distorted guitar sound that would forever change the idea of what a Cumbia could be. Side B was recorded over another long weekend at the famous Sonic Ranch studio in Tornillo Texas, a sprawling complex of vintage studios located in a Pecan orchard on the Texas-Mexico border a half-hour outside of El Paso. This side of the record represents the current, original face of the Chicha-inspired, tropical-futurist sound of Money Chicha. Here in the high West Texas desert, isolated from all distractions, the band set out to record the sonic version of a Cumbia vision-quest fueled by Mezcal, espresso, vintage synthesizers, a legendary recording console, the ghosts of our musical ancestors, and psilocybin.
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7"
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VAMPI 45081EP
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Austin-based future-cumbia group Money Chicha presents a fascinating exploration of the nexus of Peru's legendary fuzzed-out early chicha sound and the band's unique application of chicha-influenced sounds to their own original compositions. "Maria Teresa", a song written by Roberto Zavala and brought to fame by Chacalon, is on the A side of this new single while we find "Cumbia del Desierto" on the flipside, an instrumental classic by Los Destellos that Money Chicha recreates here in a faithful yet updated and energetic manner. This single anticipates their forthcoming new album that will include guest collaborations with Peruvian legend Jose Luis Carballo (Chacalon, La Nueva Crema) and Colombian-American vocalist Kiko Villamizar as well as Nemegata frontman Victor Cruz on percussion.
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7"
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PEACE 45009EP
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Peace & Rhythm and Estereo release a special edition two-track 7" 45 from renowned Austin, Texas psychedelic cumbia band, Money Chicha (featuring members of Grupo Fantasma and Brownout). Side A is a highly danceable chichadelic instrumental version of the breakbeat classic "The Mexican" cut live in the studio at Lechehouse. Trippy guitar and organ float atop swaths of tropical rhythm and deep bass. The iconic Spaghetti Western cowboy surf riffs are epic and come to an ecstatic crescendo, shimmering notes border-hopping through an imaginary southwestern Mexican-American desert by way of the Amazon. Side B, "Enfermera" (Nurse), is a thrilling and gritty cover version of the lesser-known 1970s cumbia beat track by Peru's Los Ilusionistas with urgent vocals by the multi-talented Alex Chavez of Chicago's alt-Latinx band Dos Santos. Two classic tunes covered with a fresh, invigorating take on the tropical psychedelia of 1970s Peru.
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LP
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VAMPI 169LP
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2022 repress; LP version. Money Chicha is an Austin, Texas-based group featuring members of the Grammy-award winning Latin orchestra Grupo Fantasma and its offshoot funk outfit Brownout. They perform a fuzzed-out, reverb-drenched and percussion-heavy style of music inspired by the sounds of Peru and Colombia in the '60s and '70s. This style of music, sometimes called "chicha" music, is known for its infectious Latin beat, its psychedelic, surf guitar pyrotechnics, and its melodies influenced by the indigenous culture of the Andes mountains. The group's sound is derived from the exhilarating syncopations of congas, cowbell and timbales, the gritty tones of combo organs and vintage synthesizers, effects-laden guitar melodies, insistent basslines and a healthy dose of trippy effects. Money Chicha is a modern translation of this South American musical style interpreted by highly skilled veterans of America's most vibrant music town. In their capable hands, the "chicha" genre takes on a new and unique character, guaranteed to move one to both dance and listen, entranced by the undeniable rhythms and virtuosic displays of musicality.
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CD
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VAMPI 169CD
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Money Chicha is an Austin, Texas-based group featuring members of the Grammy-award winning Latin orchestra Grupo Fantasma and its offshoot funk outfit Brownout. They perform a fuzzed-out, reverb-drenched and percussion-heavy style of music inspired by the sounds of Peru and Colombia in the '60s and '70s. This style of music, sometimes called "chicha" music, is known for its infectious Latin beat, its psychedelic, surf guitar pyrotechnics, and its melodies influenced by the indigenous culture of the Andes mountains. The group's sound is derived from the exhilarating syncopations of congas, cowbell and timbales, the gritty tones of combo organs and vintage synthesizers, effects-laden guitar melodies, insistent basslines and a healthy dose of trippy effects. Money Chicha is a modern translation of this South American musical style interpreted by highly skilled veterans of America's most vibrant music town. In their capable hands, the "chicha" genre takes on a new and unique character, guaranteed to move one to both dance and listen, entranced by the undeniable rhythms and virtuosic displays of musicality.
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