Ritmos Tropicosmos, a full seven-piece psychedelic cumbia band from Oakland, features some heavy heavy tropical rhythms with an emphasis on live percussion, synthesizers, and familial stories set to song. Standing at the time-warped crossroads of electric and acoustic instrumentation, Ritmos Tropicosmos finds inspiration somewhere between futuristic soundscapes and traditional rhythms of the past. The band’s origins date back to 2008 when Bobby Cosmos and Jake Rodriguez, the group’s bass, synth, and organ players, began recording songs in the experimental cumbia vein like that of Frente Cumbiero and other similar groups. Ritmos Tropicosmos have been gigging around the Bay Area since about 2019 and have released a couple of singles on Discos Mas.
Check out the Cumbia en la Sierra single below and mark your calendars for their next Los Angeles show opening for Very Be Careful, widely known as LA’s Vallenato veteranos most likely to incite an instant dance party wherever they play, at the Lodge Room…