Los Bitchos say of their sound: “We wanted to sound like Van Halen and Cocteau Twins… but from Turkey.” You can’t get much more niche than that.

A London-based girl band from four different countries, they play surf-guitar instrumentals influenced by Columbian cumbia.

Serra Petale (guitar) is from Australia, Agustina Ruiz (keytar) from Uruguay, Josefine Jonsson (bass) is Swedish and Nic Crawshaw (drums) is a South Londoner.

Their music combines the syncopated reggae-like rhythms of cumbia with elements of Peruvian chicha and the influences of Petale’s mother’s Anatolian rock records of the ’70s, Ruiz’s Latin-American record collection, Jonsson’s preference for “out of control pop” and Crawshaw’s background in punk bands.

This video really makes sense if you saw the videos for their previous songs, Good To Go and Las panteras, which formed a loose storyline and featured Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand as a gameshow host, and involved the girls going on trial for “unlawful vigilante behaviour.”

They say their mini-movie for Pista (Fresh Start) is inspired by Italian giallo film-maker Dario Argento and the TV series Are You Afraid Of The Dark?, with the girls now living in witness protection following their courtroom victory.

All three singles reappeared on their first album, Let The Festivities Begin! produced by Kapranos, and they released a follow-up album, Talkie Talkie, last August. They also have their own internet radio show, Planet Bitchos, exploring international music styles.