Löbison "De Lo Que No Se Habla No Se Olvida"

All the most interesting things are made avoiding thinking too much of the commercial prospects - and there's another proof. Meet Löbison, a tiny little project from Seville not every indie blog would write about.

Juamba d'Estroso has got the "blues" voice - you know that deep low cracked baritone-type of voices. So I would rather expext him playing something in the vein of Madrugada or lesser-known chicagoans The Great Crusades. But what he plays in fact is the 'genre-fluid' underground music rooted in chamber pop and garage rock. 

Listening to his most recent album I wonder if he's aware of French guitar-driven experimentalists Experience because the tracks like "Normalizando La Honestidad" showcase the same approach Michel Cloup and his peers often use, mixing the dense guitar sound with shamanic drums and spoken-word-switched-to-shrieking vocals.

Moreover, I'd like to trace some links to Railroad Jerk, underestimated New York-based indie pub rockers who were one of the Matador Records's first signees. 

The sound is dense and definitely not cheap (what you might expect from a low profile band), the mood is rather neurotic. Juamba's voice takes on operatic tones when needed. “No Me Quiero Morir” goes strictly to the list of the year's best, and so does the album as a whole.

BNDCMP 

Laura Lebone "Como Las Demás" (p)2023 autoeditado

Laura Arías plays synths and sings co-leading vocals in another remarkable indie band from Cádiz area - Detergente Líquido. Also, she serves as a half of marylebone duo from Sevilla where she permanently resides. "Cómo Las Demás" ("Like The Rest Of Them", where the definite article "las" shows that all of "them" are meant to be females) appears as a collaborative project: each and every song is marked with a collab name beside Laura's own. In the first song - largely acoustic tontipop piece "Manifesto" - she restores the creative pair with her marylebone partner Mario P. Recuero. Next, Laura is accompanied by her brother Julian in the vintage bossanova of "Cruda". Then it's Juan Antonio Mateos' turn to provide her with backing vocals (by the way, he produced the whole EP and, moreover, operated most of the guitar-looking equipment) in "Sindrome De Abstinencia" - undeniably the best track here led by Juan Antonio's catchy guitar part. Detergente Líquido's mastermind Alberto Rodway appears in "Dos Historias: Un Balcon Y Una Ventana" - a classic Detergente'y singalong with strong melody and fuzzy sound. The last one is where Ernie Rodriguez comes in not only with his drumming skills but also with his rarely heard before singing abilities (though his backing vocals in the choruses are harder to recognize than Louise Post vocalizing in Foo Fightets' "Everlong" - and you feel his lower notes rather than hear them). The eponimous tender elegy effectively closes the curtain behind this tiny set of songs where Laura approves her capability to star in the leading role after all these years of starring in supporting ones.

BNDCMP