Various Artists

Continuing to prove that psychedelic rock was as omnipresent in the Sixties as it is loosely defined today, the 10th volume in the QDK Media series further breaks down the definition of "Latin American psychedelic music," the label explored in its second volume. After delivering tunes from Brazil (Volume 6) and Mexico (Volume 7), this edition takes on the somewhat obscure sounds that emerged from Chile between 1967 and 1973. The Andes produced a sizable amount of psychedelic music, as any recent fan of Peruvian chicha music can testify. There's a drug joke there, but let's not explore it, because what's most interesting about this batch of garage freak-outs is that not much is tied to any specific cultural heritage.

Although most of the 17 tracks on this disc are sung in Spanish, these Chileans were clearly under the sway of American rock mythology. The Blops deliver gentle, folksy trippiness, Los Beat 4 have taken up residence just this side of the Calico Wall, and Aguaturbia is all about beat-swinging sexodelica. It's quality stuff, but if you didn't know that much of it was recorded in a country about to fall under the iron fist of a regressive dictator, it wouldn't strike you as being all that special. While the LP&P series has been a great way to get an interesting peek at rock underground movements that took place all over the world in the Sixties and Seventies, its true power has been its ability to provide some cultural context. Unfortunately this edition could have been recorded almost anywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.