LOS NATAS (Mänchen Sessions) 2CD
This album was recorded in a single day on October 2003, and exact this spontaneous energy and vibe is the strength of "Mänchen Sessions". Some of the tracks had been released on previous LOS NATAS records, but they were clever enough to come up with alternative versions. It's a sprawling double set, where the free flowing jams often trip out on their own momentum and despite being mostly spaced out over the whole side of the discs, "Mänchen Sessions" lost none of its heavy hypnotic power. Their sound can be loosely rambling at one stage and hit hard like a sledgehammer at the next. This mixture of trippy latin mysticism and spaced-out Blue Cheer-isms is still unbelievable heavy and never sounded so good as here. It's a very warm and crunchy sound, as we know and love it from good vintage tube amps. Most of the songs here aren't played for the immediate impact, but rather tend to grow on the listener and therefore stay with them much longer. Variation is one of the main themes of "Mänchen Sessions" and it's simply entertaining how LOS NATAS are going from mellow quiet moments to heavy discharges.
So it's clear, that all four included cuts are about 20 + minutes and assembled from different previous songs. "Tormenta Mental" f.e. is nothing else than Hawkwind's "Brainstorm", but this version is much better than on the "Sucking The 70's" compilation, due to above mentioned reasons. The last song on side B, entitled "Tomaiten (Jamm Aleman)" is a spontaneous session featuring Stefan Koglek on guitar and vocals, and his and Sergio's guitarstyle are different but perfectly blend into another. Imagine a group with the name "Los Haze", and you know how it sounds. At least, I like the unusual laudable cover-artwork that would fit into any old-fashioned German living-room, and nevertheless it's somehow psychedelic. All in all, "München Sessions" is an unexpected positive surprise (like the "Toba Trance" 2LP set), and although I never cared that much about LOS NATAS, I've to admit that I like them more and more.
(KK)