The Best Of 2019. TOP50. 31-40

40. Chaqueta de Chandal «Gimnasia Menor»

(p)Bankrobber

BNDCMP

One foot in Jonathan Fire*eater. Instead of guitars, the heavily distorted synths are the sonic dominant of this music that I'd describe as 'shamanistic'.

39. Honolulu «Honolulu»

(p)Foehn

BNDCMP

The album I would like to listen while seating alone on the edge of the abandoned bridge staring at the river that runs slowly underneath my feet.

38. Roig! «Disc Estrella»

(p)Bubota Discos

BNDCMP

You can imagine this band to be the third vertex of the triangle where the other two are Da Souza and Jorra I Gomorra.

37. Sen Senra «Sensaciones»

(p)Sonido Muchacho

BNDCMP

Post-all cross-everything male cousin of Amaia's "Pero No Pasa Nada". The ideal pop muisc of a world better than ours. 

36. Berlina «Regresiones»

(p)Ciudad Oasis

BNDCMP

"Desiertico", the Manuel Cabezali-produced previous album of Berlina was a runner-up in my 2016's Top50 list. 3,5 years ago the band returns with equally strong set of songs.

35. No Fucks «No Fucks»

(p)Discos de Kirlian

BNDCMP

Pop/punk indie pop with lo-fi sound, slacker approach and great melodies. Surely a band to follow.

34. Da Loma «El Espejo»

(p)Limbo Starr

SPTF

I can only repeat the same thing I wrote yesterday on Basurita's "Primer Juramento": 'The band I know absolutely nothing about. I just pressed play to check it out and then all of a sudden found myself captured'

33. Jamie 4 President «Consolation Prize»

(p)BCore Disc

BNDCMP

"Nada Surf on speed" kind of music performed by the all-star punk band. Madrid - Sant Feliu de Guixols connection rules!

32. Rombo «Clara Montse Nuria»

(p)Indian Runners

BNDCMP

All-female trio delivers the fragile and naive indie pop given the fact that these fragile melodies are often covered with the fuzzed-out lo-fi guitars.

31. Bifannah «Danças Liquidas»

(p)The John Colby Sect

BNDCMP

The Galician band successfully tries to step over the frontiers set by their 'maiden trip' release "Maresia".

41 - 50

HONORABLE MENTION

TOP10 EPs

Monkey Week 2018 - 10th Anniversary. 23.11.2018

22.11.2018

It was 4 am (Moscow time) when I stepped out of my appartment, locked the door and then lost the next 20 hours of my life in buses, taxi cabs, trains, aircrafts and stopovers. I never used to visit Seville before so when I finally came to the city and left my backpack in a booked room, I went out immediately to look at the night in the old town. If my Cologne - Seville flight wasn’t 1 hour delayed I could make it to get my pulsera before the box office booth at the Alameda de Hercules square got closed at 10 pm. Anyway, when I came to the place it was all over, only the happy people teamed up in small companies were wandering off the square. It was mildly raining in Seville that night but it didn’t prevent me from walking the narrow streets of the old town with the smile on my face.
The only poor thing was that due to my late arrival I missed the performance of the gaditanos The Magic Mor whom I had wanted to see alot.

23.11.2018

In contrary, the next afternoon I had the brief lapse of tristeza while walking alone along the streets north of Alameda De Hercules. I felt so detached from everything what was going on as I looked at the people around who were smiling and talking to each other and no one was alone there – no one except me. Just a lone man deep in his forties trying to run away from his problems, I was on the verge of crying when I came to the Jagermeister stage arranged upon the former bumper car minidrome. Baiuca was set to perform there at 4 pm. Just imagine the Banco De Gaia’ “Maya” album with all the Tibetan ethno motives being replaced with the Galician ethno motives to get an impression of what Baiuca’s music sounded like. 

The Galician ethno-trance techno band was not the first band I saw that day. The DITTO stage mini-showcases were my first 'check' in the 'to-do list'. I had no idea what it would be like but it appeared to be the sequence of the performances when a band gets 5-6 minutes to come out, plug in the gear, play a song and get offstage. I was a bit late and caught only the last few seconds of Palo Alto’s performance. Then a sole guy with an acoustic guitar and a loop recorder came out. Unfortunately, I couldn’t recognize his name so he was marked simply as ‘a looper guy from Madrid’ in my travel notes. Amongst the others there were: the young band from Granada Vita Insomne, the Bjork-alike chick Mounqup, the minimalist electropop duo Fru Katinka, the slightly dreampop’y post-punk trio from Colombia Las Yumbeñas and death/core duo from Mexico Los Viejos. 14 bands in total.

That time I met no persons I wanted to meet there so I went out to get myself familiar with the surroundings. That’s exactly when I was stricken by the grief.

Upon returning to the main festival locations I saw Baiuca and then rushed to the Santa Clara buildings to see Saim. I like post-hardcore in common, and I like Saim’s post-hardcore in particular. Their album “Accidents” performed pretty well in my annual 2017 ‘best of’ list almost making it to Top 25. So their set was one of the main attractions for me. I came in and within two minutes they started playing. This made me completely satisfied as they were just as great as I might thought of them. The classic post-hardcore vocals, the perfectly synchronized rhythm section…

Back-to-back with Saim’s performance the Pumuky’s first actuation was scheduled. I saw them live only once before. My bad. I desperately tried to multiply that miserable number since, but never coincided with their rare performances.  That only show was the one of the Sonorama 2013 where they performed full band (“Plus Ultra” version of the band members plus La Caterva Grabaciones’ Jose A. Lopez on drums). This time it was only Jair and Noe onstage thus the sound have undergone some inevitable changes as compared to what I witnessed before. Now Jair mostly played synths and effects picking up his guitar only occasionally while Noe performed 99.9% of guitar work. Moreover, if previously Jair’s voice might be secluded within the three guitar squall and groundshaking drums now it dominated the square gaining some demonic overtones along the way.

Right before Pumuky’s actuation I met Jose and Esteban from I Am Dive & WeAreWolves Records along with Maria and Nacho from San Jeronimo – the band that was set to perform later that evening at Mangaroca’s. Moreover, I briefly talked to Mladen and Alejandro from GAF. The things finally started to get in the right way, and from that moment on I never felt lonely or detached these days.

There were only two thirds of GAF y la Estrella de la Muerte onstage as Carolina (vocals, drums) and Cesar (guitar) were to arrive only the next morning. “You see the man at drums – he’s our bass player. And that guy with bass – he’s our keyboards player”, Mladen told to audience when they concluded. Nevertheless, it all sounded great. The only poor thing was the reaction of public. Frankly, there was no reaction. The ones who came to their show – most of them – spent more time chatting around than listening to the music.

A couple of years I occasionally run into San Jeronimo’s first LP “Salinas, 20:15“ and fell in love with it immediately. This year they have released the new longplay “El Sur” which marked their shift to more synth-laden sound (the first one was rather acoustic sadcore) like if it was born in Bristol, GB. The dreamy synth passages and the ethereal voice of Maria were backed with the trembling guitar lines operated by Nacho. Their performance was arranged with the dusk and shadows – the best possible way to listen to the music of the Asturias duo. 

Then I rushed to my room to change the clothes and have some meal before walking off for the night section of the fest. 

Cor Blanc were the first ones in my own schedule for that night. The tiny electro pop duo from Barcelona didn’t manage to gather much people inside the bar named Studio 74, but their performance was all nice, warm and funny. To entertain whose who attended their performance they incorporated some famous pop melodies into the canvas of their own compositions which added some more positive impression.

Leaving the Studio 74 in the good mood, I was put before a question how to spend the spare time before the later section of the schedule that should take place in the northernmost rock clubs. The most apparent answer was to attend the nearby Teatro Alameda whoever might play there. So I entered the building to find myself in the middle of the storm. Biznaga were playing there, and they did it ferociously. Really, they were playing so fast and hitting so hard that at times I couldn’t see the palms of the guitarists’ hands as they were motion-blurred but saw well instead how the set of drums is literally jumping upon the plinth.

My next POI were Exnovios. This neo-psych band from Navarra is co-fronted by the former Muy Fellini (whom I’m the massive fan of) frontman Juan Maravi. I managed to talk briefly to him before the concert expressing my respect to his past and present doings. The actuation itself was great. Live the band sounded ten times better than being recorded in studio. The synchronization between both singers/guitarists was perfect, and some of their melodies I was humming for a month.

Terry Vs Tori. Usually the dreampop bands are lacking expression motionlessly staring down to the ground while playing as they follow the template given by the parent genre’s direct meaning – but this particular band apparently had the showman. Their bass player took on dancing duties relentlessly, gaining much attention and approval from public. Regarding the music, for me it sounded like the voice of the female singer wasn’t set up correctly but this was only minor complaint as everything else was fine.

Up to that point I passed over 32 kms in a day so my feet were crying out for help and understanding. My body was on the verge of breaking up. But I had to stay there to see Bifannah. Their album “Maresia” performed great in the 2017’s Top50 list so I was eager to catch them live. And I wasn’t disappointed, to speak in brief. The Galician four-piece made an atmospheric show with the right mood, perfect groove and cool vibe with their psychedelic synth-driven pop/rock strongly alluded to the Doors. It was well worth staying there for them.

I returned to the apartments completely worn out but overwhelmingly happy. I hardly could go to sleep as I was overloaded with emotions. It was 6 a.m. when I finally made myself into the bed.

Monkey Week 2018 - 10th Anniversary. The Summary

Just some info in brief.

My average “go/not go” decision-making term for travels is 6 months.

The decision-making term for this particular trip was less than 5 days. Even while sitting in Cologne airport stopover I was under threath of coming back.

The whole 4 days of the travel. 

The whole 2 days of the Monkey Week 2018 festival.

This was an adventure ad-lib, the most unprepared trip in my life.

My first visit to Seville, my first visit to Andalusia.

70 km passed on feet.

40 bands seen onstage. 

The new encounters. The re-encounters with the old pals. 

The new bands to follow.

Estrella Galicia under the rain. Lots of Estrella Galicia under the rain.

These were the happiest of days.

I felt like every person I run into was a musician.

I was happy to see Saim, Da Souza, Travesti Afgano, Bifannah and Exnovios live. I expected them to be great onstage – and they were truly amazing.

I was happy to get soaked into the magic sounds of Dreyma, Terry vs Tori, Kindata and Saletile.

I was happy to discover and immediately fall for Yawners and Puma Pumku (regarding the latter – I liked their “Is It In You?” LP alot but they spent plenty of time quite quiet since, and I had no idea on what they were up to now).

San Jeronimo, my greatest live discovery of the fest both musically and personally.

And, last but not least. Pumuky and GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte. "One of my favourite bands and one the best live acts of the scene" - I can apply this phrase to both of them. The only reason for you to avoid visiting their shows in your town is death. No kidding, I saw the persons amongst the audience who cried after their sets. 

And I was crying after their sets too.

During these two over-saturated days I’ve seen live the following.

Full Concerts:

Mini Showcases (Friday 23, DITTO)

Saim (Friday 23, Mangaroca)

Pumuky (Friday 23, DITTO)

GAF (Friday 23, DITTO)

San Jeronimo (Friday 23, Mangaroca)

Cor Blanc (Friday 23, Studio 74)

Exnovios (Friday 23, Sala X)

Yawners (Saturday 24, Jagermeister)

San Jeronimo (Saturday 24, Hops & Dreams – OffMonkey)

Kindata (Saturday 24, Hops & Dreams – OffMonkey)

Melenas (Saturday 24, Vinilo Rock Club)

Travesti Afgano (Saturday 24, Itaca)

Saletile (Saturday 24, Sala La Calle – Fiesta Keroxen)

Pumuky (Saturday 24, Sala La Calle – Fiesta Keroxen)

GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte (Saturday 24, Sala La Calle – Fiesta Keroxen)

Partially Seen:

Baiuca (Friday 23, Jagermeister)

Dreyma (Friday 23, DITTO)

Biznaga (Friday 23, Teatro Alameda)

Terry vs Tori (Friday 23, Sala Even)

Bifannah (Friday 23, Sala Even)

Da Souza (Saturday 24, DITTO)

Puma Pumku (Saturday 24, Jagermeister)

Uniforms (Saturday 24, Fun Club)

Los Jaguares De La Bahia (Saturday 24, Ron Contrabando)

Seen Only Episodically:

El Imperio Del Perro (Friday 23, Ron Contrabando)

Las Yumbenas (Saturday 23, Mangaroca)

Baywaves (Friday 23, Sala X)

RADIO3 La Guerra De Las Bandas (Saturday 24, Ron Contrabando)

Los Estanques (Saturday 24, Ron Contrabando)

Dani Llamas (Saturday 24, Ron Contrabando)

Pet Fennec (Saturday 24, Fun Club)

Planned But Not Seen:

Alien Tango, Futuro Terror, Vulk, Joan Colomo, Aliment

Best of 2017. Albums 1-10

Finally, this is the closing part of the list. Enjoy it!

<<< 41 - 50
<<< 31 - 40
<<< 21 - 30
<<< 11 - 20
<<< Top10 EPs & mini albums
<<< Honorable Mention

10. Igloo "Aquellos Maravillosos Danos" (p)La Alianza Rebelde/ Ernie Producciones

The long-awaited successor of "04. El Conjunto Vacio" presents the band in the best form since the brilliant "La Transicion De Fase". The production is crisp, the melodies are sharp, and Beni's voice is powerful and velvety as ever. There are moments on the album where Igloo clearly go pop - but if this band goes pop without a doubt this is the best guitar-drenched pop possible.

SPTF

09. Os Bru "Hvala" (p)The Indian Runners

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08. Bifannah "Maresia" (p)The John Colby Sect

"Maresia" is like the magic seaside wind that whirls the synth-driven indie pop into the power pop melodicism and upbeat rhythms. It filters into your system and just makes your day brighter. Up to this moment I know nothing about the band, so this short review is just a reflexion of the emotions I get while listening to this album.

BNDCMP

07. Detergente Liquido "Mirad Lo Que Me Habeis Hecho Hacer. Por Favor" (p)self-released

The definitive indie pop record made by the members of the same community responsible for the intelligent noise pop of Homeless and mellow psychedelia of The Magic Mor - so expect a lot of sonic surprises all over here along with the pack of perfect songs.

BNDCMP

06. Havoc "Amado Lider" (p)Subterfuge

Read full review

05. Disciplina Atlantico "Gran Oriente" (p)Limbo Starr

Read full review

04. Mazoni "Carn, Os I Tot Inclos" (p)Bankrobber

You don't know yet what album is on the top of this list - and I tell you there's something you could hardly predict. But what really shook me to the core is this album by Mazoni purchased solely as a companion to some items I've bought via the Bankrobber website - I noticed the name and thought something like 'Hey, they performed at Ultra-Local so it's gonna be cool!' And it appeared to be way better than cool. Jaume Pla manages to create magic with only his voice and his guitar. That shows us the simpliest of the facts: if you have a great song you don't need much to make it work.

BNDCMP

03. Tuya "A War Is Coming" (p)El Rayo Verde

The new album of David T. Ginzo's projrect Tuya is the fine piece of electronica-fueled psychedelia - some drastic change for the band whose previous album sounded rather like an almanac of post-Guided By Voices lo-fi sketches. "A War Is Coming" is undoubtedly an ears delight as for those who prefer the precise sound sculpturing over the singalong simplicity as for their tastewise opposites, as Tuya's sonic experimentations never domineer over Her Majesty The Song.

BNDCMP

02. Rufus T. Firefly "Magnolia" (p)Lago Naranja

Full review

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01. Pau Vallve "Abisme Cavall Hivern Primavera I Tornar" (p)self-released

What I would like to tell you now is something like: "Since I was listening to this album for the first time there was no subject to concern what album would top the annual poll", but it's nothing like that. The truth is that for the last couple of months I constantly changed the places of these three albums within the top 3. These are the tremendous records but finally I came to conclusion that Pau Vallve's double album is the best of them. This Opus Magnum contains different emotions as well as different styles (indie pop, noise rock, psychedelia, urban folk, singer-songwriter in the vein of Josh Rouse, singer-songwriter in the vein of Elliott Smith's "Figure 8" or "From A Basement On The Hill", etc.) You may listen to these songs at morning or at night, in any state of mind, in any mood, when it's raining or in a sunny day, while driving or preparing yourself to sleep - and there always is a song that matches the moment.

BNDCMP