The Animeros make a thrilling first impression with ¡Qué Bárbaro!, a debut album built on cumbia rhythms, psychedelic guitar, Latin soul and an energy designed to get a room moving. Produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, the album brings decades of Latin musical tradition into the Austin trio’s own adventurous world.

The title literally translates to “How barbaric!,” but in Spanish slang ¡Qué Bárbaro! can mean something closer to “That’s badass.” Guitarist Mauro Lopez, bassist Nicolas Sánchez and drummer/percussionist Nick Tozzo remembered friends and family using the phrase as an expression of admiration, making it a perfect description of the music they were creating.

All three spent more than a decade playing throughout Austin’s Latin music scene before joining forces, with cumbia providing their common language. Their influences stretch into bolero, mambo, Latin soul, exotica, garage rock and vintage film scores, while Lopez’s guitar gives their psychedelic cumbia a distinctive rock edge.

Auerbach discovered the band during SXSW when he heard their music drifting from a rooftop during only their second show. He eventually tracked them down, invited them to Nashville and produced ¡Qué Bárbaro! at his Easy Eye Sound studio. The trio recorded largely live, with Tozzo combining drums, timbales and an arsenal of hand percussion while Lopez and Sánchez dug into the studio’s collection of vintage guitars.

The results are colorful and cinematic. “Mamba Mambo” mixes golden-age mambo with fuzzed-out Tex-Mex psychedelic soul, “Danza De Los Saguaros” connects cumbia with the American Southwest, and “Ponchote de Ritmo” draws from the cumbia psicodélica and chicha sounds of the ’60s and ’70s. The trio also reworks Traffic Sound’s “La Camita” into what they call “Latin garage rock,” while “Gózalo” pays tribute to South Texas Latin soul great Esteban Jordan.

Even the band’s name reflects their mission. Animeros are Colombian spiritual figures said to guide lost souls toward peace. The trio has its own interpretation: usher those souls onto the dancefloor.