Buy this album before the summer is over.
The four kids that made up Los Saicos (pronounced “psychos”) mashed up their British pop influences with an aggressive surf rock and punk vibe that pretty much astounded their entire country. One of the most unwittingly valuable rock bands, this little Peruvian gem was around from just ’64 to ’66 and made only six singles, but were so successful they even had their own TV show. Bands like the Black Lips reference them quite a bit, along with a lot of other bands who put out the kind of “fuck the rules, freak-fried free-for-all” albums today. Los Saicos did it all without a Fuzztone, and with more balls.
Instead of writing lyrics about loving yourself or texting like a lot of surf influenced bands tend to do these days, Los Saicos sang about blowing up train stations but it was so catchy, little babies would sing it in the streets and mom’s would be like, “I want my daughter to marry a Los Saico!” They were like the Peruvian Beatles for three years, then, like Seinfeld going off-air at its highest demand, they just vanished, much to their fans’ dismay.
Until now, Los Saicos songs have made cameos on compilations like Back To Peru, along with a smattering of other great artists, but their complete recordings were darn near impossible to find. In 2000 Wild Teen Punks From Peru basically did what this album does, collecting all their hard-to-find songs into one CD and impressing people.
