Bastidas! Make Galaxias Feel Like a Signal From the Underground

A nine-song album that turns post-punk fracture into something physical and oddly ceremonial. Released in January 2019, Galaxias pulls Bastidas!’s L.A. underground instincts into a volatile mix of post-punk, punk, jazz, Latin jazz, and psychedelic rock

Produced by Kyle Crusham and bolstered by guest spots from BettySoo, Bonnie Whitmore, and Charlie Sexton, the record feels intimate. I hear Galaxias as Bastidas! sharpening a long-running underground identity into something more deliberate and more vivid. Built on “chunked up bass lines,” “sonic synthesis,” distorted guitars, eerie vocals, and rampaging drums, on Galaxias that language feels fully locked in.

What grabs me is the way the record keeps moving between body and atmosphere. “Acid Rain” opens with metallic, synthetic imagery, “Invasion” and “Chaos and Disorder” lean into unease and resistance, while “Ahí te Veo” and “Vida” bring a more melodic, human-center to the set. For me, the album’s strongest trick is contrast. It can sound wiry and confrontational one moment, then strangely ceremonial the next. I keep thinking of it as post-punk with a pulse that refuses to stay mechanical. Bastidas! sound interested in pressure, and that gives Galaxias its charge!

(•)> That's all, Folks! Check out Bastidas! on the Pigeon Opinion Playlist