Best Of 2018. Honorable Mention

This is the first time for me when the main Top50 list doesn't contain an album by a 'big' band. This doesn't mean that the big bands have released poor albums this year. It isn't so, I'm not that stubborn purist who discards the big bands' music by default. Indie credibility is the great thing only when it doesn't come to sectarianism. But what I'm eager for the most is the sense of wonder that catches you all of a sudden. So, did they surprise me? Obviously no. To put it clear, when you grow up in terms of public attention, even on the scale of indie rock world... It sounds strange and contradictory but you somehow lose the ability to surprise. I mean, when you come to a certain level you've got the clear way to come ahead of you. You try to get your songs better, your sound cleaner, your lyrics more meaningful... But this is exactly what the audience expects from you! You may release an album that's better than the previous one in all possible dimensions - and it's no surprise at all. Second have released "Anillos Y Raices", their strongest effort since "Fracciones De Un Segundo". Did this fact surprise anyone? For good or bad, the big bands should make the great records. This is how the things should be, this is the way the things should go. By the way, with "Anillos Y Raices" the band from Murcia steps pretty close to pop perfection. The songs are brilliant, the sound is clean, the satisfaction is guaranteed.

Carmen Boza "La Caja Negra"
(p)Etiqueta Negra
OFFICIAL SITE
I am prone to Carmen. And, though I still like her first album more than the fresh one, I can’t deny the latter’s advantages as it is sonically wider, melodically more unpredictable and still works well emotionally. It was easy to lose something important beneath all these new sounds, new tricks and new twists and turns but, fortunately, it didn’t come true.

Ran Ran Ran "Ran De Mar"
(p)Bankrobber
BNDCMP
This band surprised me way too much. The last year’s “L’hereu” was the perfect example of lo-fi folk pop. But the short gap between the releases has made the crucial impact on sound. New album sounds… lush!? It's... ambitious?! I wasn’t ready for this, I can’t correlate this new-found sound with Ran Ran Ran's portrait that was built up based upon the band's previous releases inside my head. I need more time to spend with this album, and chances are it will grow on me later.

Pau Vallve "Costa-Roja (Sessions d'assaig al mig del no-res)"
(p)self-released
BNDCMP
Amazingly, the new release of Pau Vallve is just as great as "Abisme Cavall Hivern Primavera I Tornar" that sat on the very top of the last year's list. It consists of the alternate versions of the various tracks from the previous releases – and performs rather like an intermediate station between "Abisme..." and the next album that is set to release in 2019. But it's valuable in its own right!

Basanta "Colorama"
(p)C4Music
BNDCMP
The Galician five-piece Basanta are the Spanish answer to the ‘occult rock’ revival. There are some true gems (“Emperador”, “Tentacion”) amongst these eleven songs.

p3z "Puzzle"
(p)self-released
BNDCMP
Post-everything mixture of… you know, literally everything. It's apparent that the auteur of p3z - the producer Javi Pez - hasn’t considered any stylistic borders for his brainchild, so his album is quite an adventurous listening.

Muttura "Esbossos Perduts"
(p)Edita La Servidumbre
BNDCMP
A cassette-only release by Edita La Servidumbre, a tiny record label born inside the Ultra-Local record store. It’s a free-from post-rock'y music, both beautiful and meditative. A perfect choice for the fans of Hood.

Malaspecto "Alejate De Esto (Proximos Fracasos)"
(p)El Hombre Bala
BNDCMP
All these songs were recorded live during the short string of performances, mostly in one take, in the presence of the audience. And some of these songs were recorded when I was right there! So I feel some kind of connection to this album.

Cigüeña "El Vuelo"
(p)Repetidor Disc
BNDCMP
You may consider these guys the Cala Vento followers but the truth is Unai Lilly and Martin Arles began to play together a few years before their Catalan colleagues started a band. It's post hardcore. Cool, potent and melodic post-hardcore.

Capita Pilgrim "Corbs"
(p)No Me'n Records/ El Mamut Tracut/ Bestiar netlabel
BNDCMP

The lo-fi grunge album by the band I know nothing about. But I like it very much.

There are many more releases that are mentioned neither here nor in the main list. Really, a lot of good records have seen the light of the day this year. It's just impossible to fit them all into the Top50.

Top20 EPs and mini-albums
50 - 41 >>>
40 - 31 >>>
30 - 21 >>>
20 - 11 >>>
10 - 01 >>>

Best of 2017. Albums 11-20

Step by step we are getting closer to the very top of the list.

<<< 41 - 50

<<< 31 - 40

<<< 21 - 30

20. Nudozurdo "Voyeur Amateur" (p)Mushroom Pillow

After beautiful but too calm "Rojo Es Peligro" the metropolitan trio returns with the album full of  emotions and bursts of guitar noise where Leo Mateos and his pals are swimming like fish in the pond.

SPTF

19. Les Sueques "Moviment" (p)El Genio Equivocado

Read the full review

18. Cala Vento "Fruto Panorama" (p)BCore Disc

The last year's eponimous album of Catalan duo sounded more like the step onto Nueva Vulcano territory, the new one is the major step forward in terms of finding their own way. Sonically and melodically it is more refined record, the sound is thicker and the songs are catchier.

BNDCMP                       

17. Karabash "D'Humans I Essers" (p)self-released

Read more

16. Clara Plath "Yes I'm Special" (p)Flor Y Nata

Read the full review

15. Niños Mutantes "Diez" (p)Ernie Producciones

The recordings of the jubilee album (produced by Leon Benavente's Cesar Verdu) almost killed the band but resulted in the band's best effort to date.

SPTF

14. Exquirla "Para Quienes Aun Viven" (p)Superball Music

Read the full review  

13. Ran Ran Ran "L'Hereu" (p)Bankrobber

Read more

12. Los Planetas "Zona Temporalmente Autonoma" (p)El Volcan/El Ejercito Rojo    

I should admit I've never got into "Una Opera Egipcia". So for me the waiting period was even longer than for those who embraced Los Planetas' 2010 LP. And now I declare it was worth it to wait for it: the long brooding record that can easily take you away from wherever you are now.

SPTF             

11. Arista Fiera "Arista Fiera" (p)Elefant

Welcome to my convoluted world where the 7 song long debut album by a young dreampop band may stand atop the brilliant long-awaited double LP by the Spanish indie rock definitive band.

BNDCMP

Escena Catalana: Ran Ran Ran, Os Bru, Karabash

For a narrow-minded person like me it’s tough to have a finger on pulse all the way. I feel like I’ve crossed that line where you look at your CD collection or into the folder with your mp3 collection – and you really know who every given band from this collection is, when you purchased/downloaded the album, and for what reason. No, that’s completely not my story. And if the collection of CDs is more or less still under my control (though I do own some CDs I don’t understand how and when they got into), the pool of mp3’s is not. I guess, two thirds of the band names look absolutely unfamiliar to me. And the situation goes deeper down the spiral cos I’m always trying to get in touch with what goes on and to find more bands to follow. This leads to the unstoppable flow of the names my mind tries to navigate through, and there are always something like 30+ albums stored in the facebook ‘Saved’ section and 20+ tabs of bandcamp pages, soundclouds and anything like that opened in Google Chrome. To streamline the aforementioned I listen to a couple of tracks of the bands that are new to me and if I find it crap (read: rap, mainstream pop or, say, Meneo) – I delete the page. If there’s an infinitesimal probability it could attract me – I save the page or purchase the album via iTunes. Then the new bands or albums come in place of those deleted. So this process is kinda cyclic. And while I’m alive I never seem to break the cycle. The worst thing about it – some names are getting forgotten. I mean, a lot of names. Quite frequently I listen to a band, then go to iTunes and see this album marked as already purchased. I always feel bad about it cos it's wrong when you forget something that really moves you. The best thing about it – I am always on the verge of finding something great. A totally unknown band, an awfully underappreciated album, a painstakingly overlooked track… There’s always a possibility of a miracle. Fact one: all three featured albums are of this kind.

Os Bru "Hvala" (p)2017 Indian Runners
The cover of “Hvala” presents the tail-rich feline animal that jumps over the tiny figure of the human being on the blue field. The music that hides itself behind this minimalistic cover incorporates precisely measured mixture of chamber pop and slowcore with the lush orchestrations sometimes climbing at the post-rock’y heights of grandeur. This music manages to create such the palpable elation you’d barely expect from a tiny band. It rushes and flows upon you making you shiver and covering your body with goosebumps all over.
BANDCAMP

Ran Ran Ran "L'Hereu" (p)2017 Bankrobber
The duo that consists of local scene mainstays Ferran Baucells and Jordi Farreras – delivers more stripped-down music that is both legs in folk and indie pop. Not being the rarest blend of genres – especially for las tierras catalanas – in case of Ran Ran Ran it spatters some new colours to the well-known painting. It is coloured and flavoured with guitar noise (occasionally) and elegant electronica (almost everywhere) without stepping into the circle of the samey folktronica bands. While not impressing me much at the first listen "L'Hereu" has shown the great results in growing on me later.
BANDCAMP

Karabash "D'Humans I Essers" (p)self-released
If Ran Ran Ran’s acoustic core is tinged with the additional noises (both analog and digital) to create some magic around, the members of Karabash deny the supplementary attachments almost completely, they succeed the impressive sonic pressure only with the standard ‘roots folk’ instrumentation through alterations of tempo and dynamics. Sometimes they are rushing forward full-throttle (“Arquitectura Funesta”), sometimes they lean to more conventional song elaboration (“El Pescador”) - every time they make the memorable song out of the habitual things.
BANDCAMP

Ultra-Local Records (BCN, Carrer de Pujades, 113) is a special place. The record shops are going through the tough times. Now to struggle, to live through, to move along as a record shop it means to be special. So every existing record shop is a special place. But Ultra-Local Records is a special place amongst the special places. Run by ever-cheerful Raul Chamorro who, along with his partner Carme Baques, does everything from drawing the ink posters that look more like the examples of the contemporary art to hosting the radio program Hip-Hip Ultra, this local store is the mandatory point of interest not only for any music lover interested in Catalan scene but for the musicians themselves. The list of activities that the venue carries out on a regular basis also includes the acoustic in-store concerts. Moreover, Raul & Carme organize the Microclima Sound festival – the event that goes on the same dates as Primavera Sound and splashes out of the store’s doors onto the quiet Pujades street to represent the local bands in contrary to the Primavera Sound’s huge international superstarz. Fact two: first I’ve learned about all three featured albums via the Ultra-Local Records’ facebook page. So this post is some kind of huge thank you to the people who do their work the best of the possible ways.
Facebook