Joshua Chuquimia Crampton: Anata

"Crampton's indifference to mastering is inspiring on two levels. Firstly-as on Los Thuthanaka, last year's epochal culmination of his longtime recording partnership with sibling Chuquimamani-Condori-it's refreshingly indifferent to the streaming-era business model, where music is a lifestyle accoutrement meant to dissolve into an unobtrusive blur in the background. One cannot simply slot the songs on Anata into a playlist, not least because they'll probably be so much louder than anything else. The only way to experience Anata is to let it crash over you."

"Secondly, it aims to capture the way the ceremonies of the Great Pakajaqi Nation of Aymara people-of which Crampton is a member-might be heard through a "phone camera," flattened and crushed down to a few harsh bytes. This curious approach at first feels like an extension of a trend among underground guitar heroes like ML Buch (for whom Crampton has opened) and Klein, who find spiritual truth in the flat sounds of the post-analog era."

Anata carries an "Un-Mastered" label and presents blistering, in-the-red performances anchored by bombo italaque and searing guitar. The recordings intentionally reject streaming-era background-music conventions and refuse playlist assimilation, insisting that listeners let the sound crash over them. The production aesthetic attempts to approximate how Great Pakajaqi Nation Aymara ceremonies might register through a phone camera: flattened, crushed, and reduced to a few harsh digital bytes. The approach resonates with post-analog experimental guitar trends while centering the goal of expressing spontaneous, living ceremony that resists conventional polishing. Some listeners interpret the music as appropriate for urban ceremonial contexts and as "activated ceremonial music."

Read at Pitchfork