Dos Santos takes XPNFest on a psychedelic cumbia odyssey

The dusty late afternoon atmosphere was ideal for Dos Santos‘ entrance onto the Marina Stage. The Chicago five-piece delivered a brisk and free-flowing set that delivered a variety of modern Latinx rock; on “Glorieta,” an airy cumbia groove slowly simmered, punctuated by cymbal swirls and atmospheric conga drum beats. A cowbell hit launched us into the salsa-tinged “A Tu Lado” with more punch and urgency, a chopping wah-wah undercurrent; this slid dreamily into the smoky and sublime “City Of Mirrors,” the title track to their most recent record, released in 2021.

It’s their fourth album, it’s a heady assortment of styles and themes that Pitchfork called “a relentlessly kaleidoscopic mosaic of novel sound pairings propelled by Latin rhythms”; leaders and co-vocalists Alex Chavez on keyboards and Nathan Karagianis on guitar were a formidable front line, with Jaime Garza on bass mixing with percussionists Daniel Villarreal-Carrillo and Peter Vale, keeping a nonstop groove going that had the Marina Stage audience on their feet and grooving.

On “East Point,” Chavez’s playing conjured images 60s of Bay Area psychedelia; on “Epilogue,” he referenced and returned to the lead melody from OutKast’s “Spottieottiedopaliscious.” And “El Puerto de Animas” sped the beat up and brought the odyssey to a vibrant finale.