Joshua Chuquimia Crampton

Joshua Chuquimia Crampton (born 1983) is an American musician. He makes up one half of Los Thuthanaka, along with his sibling Chuquimamani-Condori. The two have released their self-titled debut in 2025, followed up by an EP, Wak'a, the following year. Since 2020 Crampton has released five solo studio albums, most recently Anata in 2026. He is a member of the Pakajaqi nation of the Aymara people. Crampton's musical style has been described as psychedelic and experimental. He is the brother of musician and artist Elysia Crampton, also known as Chuquimamani-Condori. The two siblings identify with the Pakajaqi nation of the Aymara people. His family heritage is rooted in the town of Calacoto, located in the Pacajes province. He eventually moved back to the United States and is currently based in Northern California. He has identified the first two concerts he attended as a child, those of the Bolivian folk group Los Kjarkas and the American rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, as primary influences, citing the high volume of both performances as a formative influence on his own use of loudness.

Career

2011–2021: Early career and solo works Crampton's professional musical activity began with collaborative work and writing under various names. Around 2011, he planned a collection of solo guitar pieces that remained unreleased as he focused on other projects. During this period, he frequently contributed guitar work to the recordings of his sibling Chuquimamani-Condori. The record has been described by PopMatters Daniel Bromfield as "landscape music", featuring tracks such as "Fantasy IV" and "Jamp'Atu Colores", which transition between frantic guitar sections and extended, repetitive ambient passages. That same year, he composed the score for the collaborative film Amaru's Tongue: Daughter (2021) and presented work at international venues including Haus der Kunst in Munich and Auto Italia in London. He also described the album as having been developed over a longer period than his previous releases in order to incorporate a wider range of emotional material. Crampton stated that the album reflected a period of personal and emotional change, and described it as a culmination of artistic development, using celestial imagery as an allegory for themes of spiritual and physical love. Comparisons to shoegaze had been made, although this was not an intentional influence in the album's composition, with Crampton writing that he was instead "simply trying to make powerful emotional music with loud guitar sounds that are layered like a ceremonial procession, symphonies of distortion". The album incorporates elements of traditional Andean genres associated with the duo's Aymara heritage, including huayño, caporal, and kullawada, reworking them in experimental electronic forms. In a 2025 Hearing Things interview, Crampton described his production approach as focused on the "sonic potential" of recorded sound, and the publication noted continuity between Estrella por Estrella and his work with Los Thuthanaka. It was met with universal acclaim from music critics, with Pitchfork naming it the best album of 2025 and The Wire placing it third on its year-end list, while Resident Advisor included it among the top electronic releases of the 21st century, placing it tenth.

Crampton released his fifth solo album, Anata, on February 4, 2026, two days ahead of its originally scheduled release date. The self-released record was initially distributed through Bandcamp, It was preceded by the single "Ch'uwanchaña El Golpe Final", issued on January 21, 2026. Consisting of seven instrumental tracks, the album is dedicated to the Andean ceremony of the same name, which honors Pachamama and emphasizes the principle of reciprocity between humans and nature. , and Pitchfork's Daniel Bromfield writing that Anata is "some of the most elemental, in-the-red music ever recorded".

On April 3, 2026, Crampton and his sibling released the followup to 2025's Los Thuthanaka, the Wak'a EP. In their review for Pitchfork, Sasha Geffen wrote that the EP "commemorates their work to preserve Aymara lore", and noting that the EP can be seen as a companion to their 2025 album.

Discography

Studio albums

The Heart's Wash (2020, self-released) 4 (2021, self-released) Profundo Amor (2023, self-released) Estrella Por Estrella (2024, self-released) Anata (2026, self-released)

Scores

Amaru's Tongue: Daughter OST (2021, self-released)

With Los Thuthanaka

Studio albums

Los Thuthanaka (2025, self-released)

Extended plays

Wak'a (2026, self-released)