Показаны сообщения с ярлыком best of 2015. Показать все сообщения
Показаны сообщения с ярлыком best of 2015. Показать все сообщения

среда, 9 декабря 2015 г.

The Best Of 2015. 10x10

In terms of longplays it was some kind of a martyr for me to choose the better albums out of the good ones. I've spent hours and hours after hours writing and re-writing the lists. What you see below is the result of many iterations.
So let's go. The 10th place, ten albums, 10x10.

La Perra De Pavlov "Cronica De Un Movimiento" (p)self-released
AMA "Nada Dos Veces" (p)Jabalina Listen/Buy
Perro "Estudias, Navajas" (p)Miel De Moscas Listen/Buy
Bye Bye Lullaby "Origen" (p)self-released Buy
WANN "We Knew It Was You" (p)self-released Listen
Hazte Lapon "No Son Tu Marido" (p)El Genio Equivocado Listen/Buy
Tulsa "La Calma Chicha" (p)Gran Derby Buy Listen
Vacaciones "Soy Tu Fan" (p)Discos De Kirlian Listen/Buy

  • The second effort of Argentinean garage/noise punks Los Rusos Hijos De Puta (how could I discard the band with such the name!?) is less psychotic and more controlled than their "Hola" EP that was released 2 years ago. And their song "Fan" is the one you definitely are to listen to. 
  • La Perra De Pavlov seems to me a fake pop band in the best sense of the term "fake pop": actually they make pop music in the vein of Two Door Cinema Club but their rock roots are not fully hidden in the sand. The tracks "Huellas" and "Retratos" are the evidences.
  • The tight and moody indie pop of AMA's "Nada Dos Veces" was the constant in my playlist all the year through, and most likely will continue to live in there.
  • The Murcian noise popsters Perro have released their best release to-date. Being the longtime fan of such bands as Enon and Skeleton Key as well as of many post-hardcore bands, I can embrace the music of "Estudias, Navajas" pretty easily.
  • Bye Bye Lullaby impressed me much by their performance on Sonorama 2015. So I've purchased their album "Origen" in iTunes immediately by return a la casa. There is a couple of the traditionalist country tracks ("Gravedad Cero", for example) on the album, but on the most part of "Origen" the band successfully manages to widen the borders of the genre to make more interesting and diversified music. 
  • The members of the post-hardcore duo WANN name the releases of the labels Polyvinyl, Jade Tree, Deep Elm and Dischord amongst their main influences. This means alot to me. The place where the new album "We Knew It Was You" was recorded means to me even more. "Recorded, mixed and mastered in La Caterva Grabaciones (Telde, Gran Canaria) by Jose A. Lopez". Just look in the liner notes of Pumuky's "Justicia Poetica".
  • The second longplay of the twee/nugaze quintet Grushenka sounds like the twin brother of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's debut. Sincerity in every note.
  • To name the folk pop duo Hazte Lapon a folk pop duo is the wrong way because Hazte Lapon is some kind of avant garde folk pop duo. In fact the band is beyond all borders and is quite difficult to be categorized. The new album is diversified yet tight music that has folk pop only as a base for planting the strangely attractive with-the-smile-in-the-corner-of-the-mouth compositions above it. 
  • Miren Iza was silent for enough time to start to miss her. This year she has returned with the new release, and "La Calma Chicha" is the major step aside from her previous country/folk-based releases. Now her music is the somber inward-looking experimental rock with the leanings to the likes as Marina & The Diamonds or Joanna Newsom
  • 13 years were gone since the previous effort of twee/indie pop combo Vacaciones. This indie-pop-how-it-should-sound-like album "Soy Tu Fan" was released through the bookstore-turned-record label Discos de Kirlian, and now the band runs the crowdfunding campaign to release it physically as LP.










четверг, 3 декабря 2015 г.

The Best Of 2015. 11x11, The EP's and mini-albums

My official 'best of 2015' selection starts with the Top11 EP's and mini-albums. Yes, I know that ones of Bala and Axolotes Mexicanos are treated rather as longplays than as EP's - but their running time counts in 20 minutes, so I put them into this category.
Here we have fast and furious sludge metal from two Galician girls (Bala), the thoughtful alternative rock with touches of Pearl Jam and Muse (Paciente Cero), the best Canarian-bred electro rock from Estaretega Pencherjevsky, MINIATURa and K0manec1, the lo-fi covers mini-album by one of the best Spanish singers/songwriters (The New Raemon), the new project of ex-Muy Fellini frontman Juan Maravi (Exnovios), the quiet post-rock in its most intimate form (Paracaidas), the twee-pop-goes-punk trio Axolotes Mexicanos, the perfectly crafted post-hardcore by catalanes Pedro Parque, and the fragile sadcore/slowcore you're not going to shake off  from your head once you have a listen (Jon Koldo L. Salas).

Paciente Cero "Viene" (p)self-released Listen Buy
The New Raemon "El Yeti" (p)BCore Disc Buy/Listen
MINIATURa "Estrategias De Perdicion" (p)El Hombre Bala Buy/Listen
Exnovios "Exnovios" (p)self-released Buy/Listen
K0manec1 "Retroactiva" (p)El Hombre Bala Buy/Listen
Jon Koldo L. Salas "Tardes de Arena" (p)Miusichole/Ultra-Local Buy/Listen
Pedro Parque "Victoria" (p)self-released  Buy/Listen













среда, 2 декабря 2015 г.

The Best Of 2015. Honorable Mention


First of all, I should mention the albums that finally haven't made it into the main 'best of 2015' selection. These are the great albums, and while there are certain reasons that made me to put them aside they deserve to be mentioned anyway.

Nixon "El Ultimo Fuego" (p)self-released
El Lobo En Tu Puerta "Grabaciones Sumergidas 2015" (p)Familia Palmer/Knockturne
Las Ruinas "Siesta Mayor" (p)El Genio Equivocado
Carla Morrison "Amor Supremo" (p)Cosmica
Copiloto "Los Puentes Hundidos" (p)Grabaciones En El Mar
Dover "Complications" (p)Sony
Nudozurdo "Rojo Es Peligro" (p)Everlasting
Murciano Total "Quereres Y Dejenes" (p)El Genio Equivocado
Disco Las Palmeras! "Asfixia" (p)Sonido Muchacho
Spheniscidae "Nuevo Espacio" (p)Animal Iceberg
Automatics "Big Ear" (p)Clifford
El Relevo Aleman "Liberacion" (p)Gran Tigre
Que Bailen Los Demas "El Disco de Que Bailen Los Demas" (p)Discos Del Rollo
Mi Capitan "Drenad El Sena" (p)Music Bus
Harrison Ford Fiesta "Harrison Ford Fiesta" (p)Foehn
Coleccionistas "Coleccionistas" (p)Demian/Gran Sol
Cuello "Trae Tu Cara" (p)BCore Disc
Diego Hdez "Autotrophic Music" (p)Foehn
Alberto Montero "Arco Mediterraneo" (p)BCore Disc
Lupulo "Lupulo" (p)self-released
Ricardo Vicente "Hotel Florida" (p)Cydonia
Wilhelm "How High Lily?" (p)Origami
Za! "Loloismo" (p)Gandula
Tupperwear "Catanga EP" (p)Micromusic
Elena "Concepte Vitrina" (p)Warner
Joaquin Pascual "Una Nueva Psicodelia" (p)Subterfuge
Febrero "Ya!" (p)self-released
Fominder "El Circo Robado" (p)Polar
Las Historias De Una Lagartija "Ahora Que Somos Miticos EP" (p)Animal Iceberg
The Trunks "Bipolar" (p)self-released

вторник, 1 декабря 2015 г.

The Best Of 2015. A Disclaimer

This situation really needs a disclaimer.
This was a tremendous year. And now it is totally impossible for me to choose my 'classic' Top30 albums out of the great quantities of the perfect examples of what Spanish rock music really is. When I started to summarize the year-end results I discovered that there are at least 96 albums and EP's that, from my point of view, need to be marked out as 'best of 2015'.

So I thought it over and found out the following decision:
- there will be Top10 places,
- the tenth place will contain 10 albums, the ninth place will contain 9 albums and so on up to 1 album in the first place, a winner,
- the certain positions of the albums within the certain place are irrelevant (in other words, the order within the place doesn't matter),
- the best EP's will be put in the separate section as '11x11'.

To prevent the possible misunderstanding of any kind every 'best of 2015' entry will be preceded by the following header:

The black background of the header would emphasize additionally the importance and the weightyness of the 'best of year' selection. 
No kiddin'.

среда, 21 октября 2015 г.

The Bright "Lineas Divisorias"

The Bright "Lineas Divisorias" (p)2015 Subterfuge
14 months ago two of us were standing before the Plaza del Trigo stage waiting for the first full day of Sonorama 2014 to start. Then The Bright - the band I knew nothing about - came onstage and pretty easily made our lives brighter (additionally, after their set I caught them backstage and asked for the photo, and they didn't decline).
On the new album "Lineas Divisorias" (again under Subterfuge wing) Miryam Gutierrez and Anibal Sanchez have done the same trick that Zahara or Russian Red did before them: they have abandoned their former country/folk roots in favor of [at times] loud guitars, [at times] danceable rhythms, [at times] vintage-sounding synths and [almost everywhere] absolutely timeless melodies. These songs might've been written now or 30 years earlier - the only visible difference is just the quality of production (this time arranged by renowned indie mastermind Paco Loco).
Dunno 'bout the lyrics but the music itself provides you with the freshness of the seaside breeze and the spotlessness of young souls. For me the best tracks off the album are the quite moody "El Final Del Amor" and "Tarde", but there is a lot of more lighthearted hymns of youth and beauty - including the first single "Aire" supported by delicate-yet-provocative video - that can add some splashes of bright colours to the grey everyday life.

The best tracks: El Final Del Amor, Tarde, Aire, Visceral


четверг, 23 июля 2015 г.

Clara Plath "Grand Battement"

Clara Plath "Grand Battement" (p)2015
The first full lenght of the Murcian female-fronted band Clara Plath follows the path of the last year's EP "Hi Lola !!" - and these are definitely good news because the EP only slightly uncovered the band's potential to create the 'all killer no filler'-plateful of songs. After the album was released physically the band sent me a copy (you may see my happy face below) but I couldn't stand waiting when it would arrive, so I purchased the digital copy on iTunes just to get it faster.
Apart from the track that opens and closes "Grand Battement" (the 2 minute long "Kisses Goodbye") the canvas of the album is divided in equal proportions into the loud smash rockers ("Crazy Liar", "Waiting For My Dog", "Like A Rocket", "American Do") and calmer tracks like "Broken Dolls", "Grand Battement", "Distance" and "Second Floor" where the guitars share the leading role with the keyboards. The both types of songs are remarkable. The Kathleen Hanna-inspired hysterical screams on "Crazy Liar" refrain add some new dimension to the picture, so does the folk tune "Little Sue" only available as the bonus track. The songs are not that polished, they're not that hair-brushed. They're just real. These songs are from that perfect world where "simple" doesn't mean "mediocre", "melodic" doesn't mean "commercial", and "catchy" doesn't mean "calculated".
Under the bottom line "Grand Battement" is a kind of album where you may start to play any song just to give it a try and then accidentally find yourself having been auditioning all the album through for the second round just not being able to press the "STOP" button.

The best tracks: Crazy Liar, American Do, Distance, Waiting For My Dog



вторник, 21 июля 2015 г.

Cuzin "Problemas Epicos"

Cuzin "Problemas Epicos" (p)2015 Gran Tigre
This metropolitan trio includes the members of such the perfect guitar-driven bands as El Relevo Aleman and Buena Esperanza. I wasn't informed about it when I started to listen to "Problemas Epicos" for the first time. In fact, I've learned about the mere existence of the band only via the poster of their mutual concert with my other Y2015 favorites - Monte Del Oso. The pairing of these two bands on the same poster isn't accidental - the bands wear the same aesthetics on their sleeves, and their roots feed from the same soils: the american indie rock of the 90's. While Monte Del Oso lean to pure 90's indie (Sugar, Dinosaur Jr, etc), Cuzin are more about post-hardcore crossed with 2nd wave emo: Jawbox, Fugazi, Braid and the first two records of Jimmy Eat World, you know the names. And they play this kind of music to the mesmerizing results: "Problemas Epicos" is the absolute winner. Crafted with the distinct DIY approach, this album delivers quite minimalistic rock sound with tunes so tight and catchy* that for the fisrt time I hardly can exstract the best tracks here - they're all perfect.

*Please don't forget that when I say 'catchy' I mean "Frame & Canvas" & "Static Prevails" kind of catchy.


среда, 8 июля 2015 г.

The semi-annual report: TOP30 albums, TOP10 EP's and more...

First of all I should emphasize the fact that 2015 is the hell of the year - at least its first half. My head's got totally wound up with the albums listed below - not only because of the albums that confirm the abilities (or even set the watermarks much higher than before) of their creators (Pumuky, Havalina, Reina Republicana, Zahara), but also due to some great discoveries like Cuzin, Monte Del Oso, Homeless, Detergente Liquido or Moonflower. It's always so nice to find the new jem in the ocean. And this always makes me wonder how many great things I'm missing.

1. Pumuky "Justicia Poetica"
3. Cuzin "Problemas Epicos"
4. La Maravillosa Orquestra Del Alcohol "La Primavera Del Invierno"
5. Reina Republicana "El Despertar"
7. Homeless "La Ciencia Lo Sabe"
8. Monte Del Oso "Esto Tiene Que Doler"
9. Zahara "Santa"
10. El Lado Oscuro De La Broca "Beta"
11. Havalina "Islas De Cemento"
12. Clara Plath "Grand Battement"
14. Nueva Vulcano "Noveleria"
22. La Maniobra de Q "El Dano Esta Hecho"
26. Correos "Seres"
28. Jorganes "Science Was Wrong Before"
29. AMA "Nada Dos Veces"
30. L.A. "From The City To The Ocean Side"

10 best EP's and mini-albums (in alphabetical order):
Big Summer "Big Summer"
Estartega Pencherjevsky "Sentinel"
Fifteen Years Old "Abecedario"
Jon Koldo L. Salas "Tardes De Arena"
Paciente Cero "Viene"
Paracaidas "Pensamiento De Paz Durante Un Ataque Aereo"
Pedro Parque "Victoria"
Proyecto Solaz "Proyecto Solaz EP"
Seward "Second Two: Chapter Home"
Vufalo "El Jinete Electrico"

20 more albums to listen to (in alphabetical order):
Automatas "El Infierno Y Otros Miedos. Introduccion"
Axolotes Mexicanos "Holi <3"
Boreals "Boreals"
Blacanova "Regiones Devastadas"
Christina Rosenvinge "Lo Nuestro"
Diego Hdez "Autotrophic Music"
Dover "Complications"
Febrero "Ya!"
Maronda "Vibraciones"
McEnroe "Rugen Las Flores"
Mi Capitan "Drenad El Cena"
Nudozurdo "Rojo Es Peligro"
Ocellot "Jelly Beat"
The New Raemon "Oh, Rompehielos"
Tulsa "La Calma Chica"
Wilhelm "How High Lily?"

And let's just finalize these long lists with the standalone song that is yet to appear on an album.