Los Thuthanaka
2025 studio album by Los Thuthanaka
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Los Thuthanaka is the debut studio album by the American duo Los Thuthanaka, consisting of siblings Chuquimamani-Condori and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton. The album was self-released on March 22, 2025, as a surprise release, exclusively on Bandcamp. It was developed through the duo's engagement with Aymara musical traditions and the reflection of the principle of ayni (reciprocity between humans and nature).
| Los Thuthanaka | ||||
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| Studio album by Los Thuthanaka | ||||
| Released | March 22, 2025 | |||
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| Length | 60:42 | |||
| Label | Self-released | |||
| Los Thuthanaka chronology | ||||
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| Chuquimamani-Condori chronology | ||||
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| Joshua Chuquimia Crampton chronology | ||||
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Musically, critics have categorized the instrumental album as experimental, trance, and drone music, while also identifying elements of cumbia, psychedelic rock, noise rock, plunderphonics and sound collage. Los Thuthanaka combines traditional Andean musical genres such as huayno, caporal and kullawada with experimental electronic production. Its production incorporates unmastered audio, clipping, static, and layered instrumentation including electric guitars, synthesizers, keytar, ronroco, and bombo italaque drums.
Los Thuthanaka received widespread critical acclaim upon release. Pitchfork awarded the album a score of 9.3/10 and named it the best album of 2025. The album was also ranked among the year's best releases by several publications, including number two on Paste and number three on The Wire, as well as number ten on Resident Advisor's list of the best electronic records released between 2000 and 2025.
Background and production
Chuquimamani-Condori and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton are American siblings with Aymara heritage.[1] Prior to Los Thuthanaka, both siblings had released solo work independently.[2] Chuquimamani-Condori's recordings as a DJ and producer drew on experimental electronic music[3] and sound collages;[4] their 2023 album DJ E was self-released without external promotion and spread largely through word of mouth,[5] receiving an 8.0 rating from Pitchfork[6] and was covered by publications including The Fader[5] and Resident Advisor.[4] Crampton had released guitar-based works incorporating traditional Andean music, noise, and psychedelia,[2][7] including Estrella por Estrella (2024).[8]
The project draws on the siblings' long-term engagement with Aymara cultural practices, including rhythms learned from family members and participation in ceremonial contexts.[2] The album is dedicated to Chuqi Chinchay, a figure in Aymara belief associated with dual or non-binary identities. The artists have referred to the concept of ayni, denoting reciprocal relationships within communities and across generations,[8] and to Aymara conceptions of time in which past and future are understood as interconnected.[1] The music on the album originated from material that was written and performed live, a factor that Joshua Chuquimia Crampton noted provided the songs with "raw energy".[2] Los Thuthanaka's production is deliberately unmastered, with audio clipping[9][10] and static employed as aesthetic choices.[2] Instrumentation spans both contemporary and traditional tools, including electric guitars, a keytar rig, the ronroco,[9] the electronic keyboard, bombo italaque drums[2] and a CDJ.[9] The album was surprise released on Saturday, March 22, 2025, exclusively on Bandcamp.[3][8]
Musical style
Overview
Los Thuthanaka has been categorized by music critics as an experimental,[1][2][7] trance[10] and drone recording.[2] The album reimagines various traditional genres of Andean music from the duo's Aymara heritage, such as huayno, caporal and kullawada, in experimental electronic forms;[1] several tracks include parenthetical genre labels in their titles, identifying the traditional Andean musical form each is based on.[1][11] The album consists of eight instrumental tracks,[3][9] most exceeding eight minutes in length,[1] structured to function similarly to a continuous DJ mix through repetitive, propulsive arrangements.[3] Journalists have also identified elements of Andean folk,[12][13] cumbia[10][12] psychedelic rock,[9][2] chopped and screwed,[2][12] sound collage,[12] lo-fi, noise rock, plunderphonics,[9] braindance, and the "hyper prog" reminiscent bands such as 100 gecs according to Jesse Dorris of Resident Advisor.[2] Crampton's electric guitar forms the basis of the arrangement, while Chuquimamani-Condori incorporates sampled, pitch-shifted vocal interjections such as "Yo!" and "Grrrrr!" over syncopated rhythms.[13]
Songs
"Q'iwanakax-Q'iwsanakax Utjxiwa", the opening track, features guitar lines and synthesizers.[10] Its title translates from Aymara as "The Queer People-Medicines Are Here".[9] It features processed dialog interspersed with synthesizer textures and electronic stutter.[14] "Jallalla Ayllu Pahaza Marka Qalaqutu Pakaxa" is driven by percussion and incorporates martial-style drums.[1][2] The production is notably lo-fi, with Pitchfork critic Joshua Minsoo Kim comparing the sound as though it is playing through small speakers or from another room.[1] "Huayño 'Ipi Saxra'" is built around a syncopated electric guitar riff layered over a traditional Andean huayno rhythm,[9] a festive Andean dance style characterized by syncopated rhythmic patterns played on guitar.[1] It is accompanied by backspins, synthesizer stabs, and sampled sound effects.[9] The arrangement incorporates short, percussive vocal grunts and repetitive rhythmic figures. It features a gradual, episodic structure centered on the interaction between Crampton's electric guitar and Chuquimamani-Condori's dual-keytar setup. In its final two minutes, the track shifts toward layered noise textures and more percussion.[1] "Huayño 'Phuju'" is structured around syncopated guitar rhythms, bitcrushed synthesizer sounds, and repeated DJ tags.[1]
"Caporal 'Apnaqkaya Titi'" is structured as a caporal, a high-energy Bolivian dance form characterized by a double-kick drum pattern, with the addition of jagged guitar chords that give the track a dance-punk quality.[1] Kitty Empire from The Observer described the track as incorporating elements of "video game math rock".[11] "Kullawada 'Awila'" is a near twelve-minute track and takes the form of a kullawada, another Bolivian dance style.[1] The track is structured around a marching band rhythm that gradually fragments into dense cymbal work and distorted guitar[2] and is built on a persistent interplay between guitars, drums and recurring piano chords. The piano gradually recedes into the broader arrangement as the percussion intensifies, with audible audio clipping in the later stages of the track. The piece concludes with guitar work rather than a conventional climactic resolution.[1] "Parrandita 'Sariri Tunupa'" is a drone track[10] that combines ambient textures reminiscent of Oneohtrix Point Never with an underlying celebratory rhythm.[1] The track features panpipe textures alongside subwoofer-heavy bass.[14] "Salay 'Titi Ch'iri Siqititi'" closes the album with an arrangement combining orchestral stabs, dog barks, DJ scratches, and heavily processed organ sounds, anchored by Crampton's guitar work. The track ends with a low vocal laugh and a crackling percussive sound.[2]
Critical reception
Los Thuthanaka was met with universal acclaim from music critics.[15] In a 9.3/10 review for Pitchfork, Joshua Minsoo Kim described the album as "ceremonial but swaggy, cataclysmic but healing, unrefined but magnificent". He called it a "dense, elaborate thicket of sound" where "traditional genres and ancestral wisdom coexist with digital ephemera and rapturous noise", remarking that its unmastered nature serves as "a call to unlearn contemporary notions of sonic perfection and surrender to music in all its forms".[1] It was the highest rating Pitchfork awarded to any new album since Fiona Apple's 2020 album Fetch the Bolt Cutters.[16] The album topped Pitchfork's list of the top 50 albums of 2025. Jeremy D. Larson, in his accompanying writeup, wrote that "Los Thuthanaka is an album about transience and permanence, the mutability of sound and its deep roots". He characterized the work as one that asks for "time, patience, reorganization, reframing, and reconnection".[9]
In a review for Resident Advisor, Jesse Dorris described the album as "an excellent surprise drop" and "mind-blowing", praising its fusion of styles into "something new". He wrote that the duo "queer everything they touch" with "a determined flamboyance", while emphasizing that he did not "hear a second of irony" in the record's presentation.[2] The Quietus reviewer Eden Tizard wrote that the album's music leaves listeners with "a sense of slack jawed euphoria" and praised its immersive atmosphere.[10]
Writing for Stereogum, Chris DeVille called Los Thuthanaka "an easy shortlist contender for 2025's best album", describing it as "eight propulsive instrumentals that get the most out of repetition but never feel like they're spinning their wheels".[3] The Observer's Kitty Empire listed the album among the "hidden gem albums of 2025", describing it as "gloriously borderless", characterizing the record as "at once ancient and modern" and noted that, despite the duo's prior individual releases, the album "feels newly exhilarating".[11]
Rankings
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Q'iwanakax-Q'iwsanakax Utjxiwa" ("The Queer-People Medicines Are Here") | 6:28 |
| 2. | "Jallalla Ayllu Pahaza Marka Qalaqutu Pakaxa" ("Victory Ayllu Pahaza Marka Calacoto Pacajes") | 5:30 |
| 3. | "Huayño 'Ipi Saxra'" ("Dumb Evil") | 8:56 |
| 4. | "Huayño 'Phuju'" ("Spring Fount") | 8:06 |
| 5. | "Caporal 'Apnaqkaya Titi'" ("Driveable Cat") | 3:04 |
| 6. | "Kullawada 'Awila'" ("Queer Grandma") | 11:32 |
| 7. | "Parrandita 'Sariri Tunupa'" ("Tunupa the Walker") | 8:57 |
| 8. | "Salay 'Titi Ch'iri Siqititi'" ("Cat Warlock Ant") | 8:09 |
| Total length: | 60:42 | |
Personnel
- Chuquimamani-Condori (Elly) – teclas, sampler, CDJ, ronroco, bombo italaque
- Joshua Chuquimia Crampton (Josh) – guitar, bass, artwork, cover art