Colorado "Nuestros Circuitos"

 Colorado "Nuestros Circuitos" (p)2020 Clifford Records

I like "Nuestros Circuitos" but I don't fall in love with it, and I'm so sorry for not being able to explain why. For me this album is a solid four out of five but I do understand that it's got all the ingredients for better estimation. It's got strong melodies and elaborated instrumental parts. It manages to appear as the case of 'the sum is greater than its parts' where the parts are indie pop and dreampop and the sum is neither of them. But the arrow set to my heart slightly misses it.

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Renaldo & Clara "L'Amor Fa Calor"

Renaldo & Clara "L'Amor Fa Calor" (p)2020 Primavera Labels

Post-everything crossover pop with a human face, or the complicated music with multi-dimensional approach that tries to sound simple and lightweight - that's what it is. The pop side of trip hop (Morcheeba rather than Portishead), indietronica, sunchine/balearic pop, minimal electro, Joan Miquel Oliver - this is what came to my mind first I started to listen to "L'Amor Fa Calor". 30+ minutes later it was all over leaving the sense of weightlessness in the aftertaste.

SPTF

Uniforms "Fantasía Moral"

Uniforms "Fantasía Moral" (p)2020 Oso Polita

I expected them to grow gradually with every new release but the Andalusian indie darlings decided to go the hard way covering the whole distance in one take with their sophomore effort. While their maiden release was cute enough but quite understated in terms of the songs' memorability, the recent one sounds like the band on the creative peak. "Fantasía Moral" proudly wears its influences on its sleeves: "One Hit Wonder (Cheni's Song)" sounds like an El Columpio Asesino "Diamantes"-era lost anthem while "Sunflower Sea Star" might fit into any release of paisanos Blacanova. It may sound disparate as the former is the vigorous post-punk'y slasher, and the latter is the warm and subdued dreampop elegy but instead of causing any stylistic mess it demonstrates the album’s greater strength: the diversity. Uniforms take on literally every shoegaze-related subgenre (with the only exclusion of blackgaze) without ever losing the controls over the process. The final result is a piece of art that positions them as leaders not followers amongst the burgeoning contemporary dreampop scene in Spain: Linda Guilala, Apartamentos Acapulco, Arista Fiera, Berlina, Martes Niebla, Los Marcianos and dozens of other hi-class bands you should start to follow right now - if you haven't started it yet.

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Triangulo de Amor Bizarro “Triangulo de Amor Bizarro”

Triangulo de Amor Bizarro “Triangulo de Amor Bizarro” (p)2020 Mushroom Pillow

This album is the sonic equivalent to seesaw. It starts in the way of forcing the listener into the pretty uncomfortable state: listening to the first track "Ruptura" almost causes you the physical pain. The next two tracks "No Eres Tu" and "Vigilantes Del Espejo" are more conventional in terms of 'classic' sound of Triangulo. The furious fourth piece "Cancion De La Fama" is up to try your auricular system out again. Then it abruptly comes to the three consecutive tracks of celestial beauty ("Fukushima", "Asmr Para Ti" and "Acosadores"). Then the album's landscape changes one more time to wrap you with the sonic entity I would like to tag 'emogaze' - only to morph again into the drones of the last track "Los Golpes Olvidados". An uneasy listening as it is, this album can amaze you with its most beautiful moments while soaking you into the perks and pains of a bipolar disorder.

SPTF

Mist3rfly “Vortice”

Mist3rfly “Vortice” (p)2020 Flor Y Nata

Decades ago, the freshman year of college my posse tried to convert me into a rave music fan. For my hardcore grunge/ black metal soul it felt strange to switch from MTV's Headbangers Ball to MTV's Chillout Zone, and though I didn't get fully into it I managed to find myself a niche where I could stay on [more or less] the same grounds with my friends who embraced the likes of the happy hardcore acts Westbam or Marusha never getting through any aesthetic concerns I got through (despite the fact some of them played in death metal band). It was the mere border of progressive techno and electro industrial with Biosphere and Banco de Gaya on one side, :Wumpscut: and X-Marks The Pedwalk on another and Prodigy’s “The Fat Of The Land” as the [theoretically achievable] arithmetical mean of both. "Vortice", though 25 years younger, sounds like the integral part of that era. It sounds like flesh and bones of that time and place. Where is my compact cassette player? I need to listen to a string of Moonraker compilations right now, and maybe to record “Vortice” on the B side of a 90M cassette whose A side is Leftfield's "Leftism".

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Beladrone “Andévalo”

Beladrone “Andévalo” (p)2020 El Genio Equivocado

The evocative shoegaze Sevilla-based combo consists of the former members of Blacanova and Tannhauser. The guitars are swirling, the guitars are droning, the guitars are crashing through your eardrums all in the same time (I guess, really, how many guitar tracks were recorded for the mix?) which creates the effect of speedball consumption* when the depressant and anti-depressant components of a drug make you soothe and agitate simultaneously. Concurrently hypnagogic and upbeat. The pulsating rhythm section that shifts from post-punk’y marches to hypnotizing semi-tribal kind of drumming and back adds another dimension to dive into. I would like to emphasize the title track as one that showcases the band's modus operandi the best way: the multilayered guitars are curling around the drum patterns and bass lines as minimal as captivating. By the way, the adjective "captivating" fits perfectly for describing "Andévalo" as a whole.

* I never used speedball as well as any other drug in my life but through the mass media and contemporary arts I can imagine what kind of effect it may cause.

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Poomse “Les Gravacions De La Pandemia Vol.1”

Poomse “Les Gravacions De La Pandemia Vol.1” (p)2020 Espora Records

The fourth longplay of Mallorcans Poomse was created, recorded and mixed completely within the most severe phase of COVID19 outbreak in Spain, and it marks another shift in the band's convoluted trajectory: 'lo-fi - sadcore - indie - post-rock'. The band returns to show its potential to create overcompetent music within the frames of any given genre along with the ability to cross those frames if the situation needs this. Moreover, those changes seem neither like facelift nor like a halfway station in the desperate searches of its own way. Rather it's like another stage of constant progress, a slice of some unstoppable motion’s current phase.

P.S. The track “Confinament #5” uses a speech of a Russian politician (I can’t identify him via his voice) on a meeting with the president biggest liar in the history of Russia whose voice we can also hear in the very end of the track. I’m unaware of what it could mean, though.

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Biscuit "Negligencia Programada"

 Biscuit "Negligencia Programada" (p)2020 La Castanya

For the first half of “Negligencia Programada” the coastal art-punks from Vilanova I la Geltru switch from the redd kross'y power-pop of the previous self-titled record (the only one of Biscuit’s back catalogue I have been initially familiar with – so I’m kinda destined to compare “Negligencia Programada” to “Biscuit” all the way) to the spaced-out psychedelic rock. Then for a couple of songs they switch back to the “Biscuit” sound only to sandbag a confused listener with flamenco-ed hard rock when the aforementioned couple of songs is over. These stylistic escapades result in the playing time clocking over an hour. It all may sound quite unsettling and cause awareness of getting buried beneath the album’s collapsed structure but, frankly speaking, in case of this particular album it works great as “Negligencia Programada” has got a lot to offer while having no weak points at all.

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Pinpilinpussies "Fuerza 3"

Pinpilinpussies "Fuerza 3" (p)2020 Aloud Music

A nice fem punk record with cool melodies and the sound that's simultaneously elaborated enough for not to be considered 'underground lo-fi' and rough enough for not to be allocated into 'pop-punk' trashbin. "Noventas" is the 21st century's "Devil Came To Me".

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Fred Fredburguer "Fred Fredburguer"

 Fred Fredburguer "Fred Fredburguer" (p)2020 Elefant

Disarmingly charming sunny indie pop/power pop that is the most enjoyable in the form of singles or the Instagram Stories' snippets. Being consumed as a whole the album, though quite short and cushy, sounds relatively samey. But for fans of Cola Jet Set and Los Fresones Rebeldes or, internationally speaking, the bands of Sarah Records/ Shinkansen Records' roster it's a nice piece of music to fall for.

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Mariana "A Partir Del Final"

 Mariana "A Partir Del Final" (p)2020 Discos Delejos

It's sad, it's slow and it's quiet. The dreamlike (and the dream is rather unsettling) acoustic folk songs that sound like the silence occupies the major part of the album, and the music and words are in minority - just like in the earlier Low or Songs:Ohia records.

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Gyoza "Early Birds"

 Gyoza "Early Birds" (p)2020 The Braves Records/ Ciudad Oasis/ Bandicoot Records/ other labels

The band's line-up contains a name that looks familiar: Antonio Postius. You may know him for performing the drumming duties in Mourn – the Catalan band that gained some international exposure in the recent years. Nevertheless, Gyoza and its emocore-tinged alternative rock has little in common with the drummer’s extra job both in music and in international fame potential. It’s just too edgy for getting huge even when the synths are smoothing the picture enough to add some 'big name' flavor, namely of Bring Me The Horizon. “In My Room” starts like Helmet’s “Betty”-era lost song. To round up the list of influences, there is a couple of 'Motorhead-meets-Queens Of The Stone Age' tracks closer to the end of the disc. Well, getting the parts together I’d like to describe this record in the simplest of ways: an epic win. A puzzle where every piece is in its right place.

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Campeon "Dios/Naturaleza"

 Campeon "Dios/Naturaleza" (p)2020 self-released

It's a fantastic album, I'm not kidding. This pack of masterully crafted songs is so melodic, honest and soulful so I can’t help but fall in love with it. Regarding the influences/referential points the first name that comes to mind is obviously Hüsker Dü but the second part of the album rather leans toward the British acts like Echo And The Bunnymen or Teenage Funclub. And if you wonder if switching from angst-ridden art-punk to more textured sound of the Britpop precursors could be quite painful and/or disturbing - please don’t worry, you’re not gonna notice the moment of transition.

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Not A Number "A Life Made Of Wood"

 Not A Number "A Life Made Of Wood" (p)2000 El Hombre Bala Records

The ideal emo-rock of the 21st century as it should be if it only skipped its appalling third wave and jumped from Braid, Rainer Maria & "Clarity" straightaway to the fourth one – the rough, spiny and disheveled as a canary pinetree pictured on the disc’s front cover. With greater exposure this band and this album could rival this year's heatseekers like Sorry or Retirement Party on an equal.

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Ajeeb "Toss And Turn"

 Ajeeb "Toss And Turn" (p)2020 El Hombre Bala Records

This album by a Lanzarote-based threesome is the inflammable – and highly enjoyable – alternative rock seasoned with the lesser amounts of psychedelic rock, post-hardcore and alt-metal much in the vein of the British rockers Pulled Away By Horses and a bunch of American bands that single out Husker Du as their main influence. Genre-wise it’s not the most apparent entry for El Hombre Bala's back catalogue – but this imprint never (and when I say ‘never’ I mean exactly ‘never’) submerges below ‘very good’ notch.

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Hinds "The Prettiest Curse"

Hinds "The Prettiest Curse" (p)2020 Mom + Pop Music

Like any 'brat pack' movie this album is a perfect coming-of-age showcase. When the initial intoxication of hype has mostly come down with the badge of 'the hottest Spanish band' passing to Mourn and then to Melenas it was the best moment to move away from the disheveled pattern of the first two slabs. And the girls just did it right. While "The Prettiest Curse" is not a winner in its entirety (arguably, "Boy", "Come back And Love Me <3" and "This Moment Forever" are the weakest points) the potential of the album's highlights ("Riding Solo", "Good Bad Times") makes me considering them something more than once-overhyped one trick ponys.

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FCBK

Magick Brother & Mystic Sister "Magick Brother & Mystic Sister"

Magick Brother & Mystic Sister "Magick Brother & Mystic Sister" (p)2020 The John Colby Sect/ Sound Effect Records

This should be the first time I managed to coin a completely new term - 'hypnofolk'. But I googled it beforehands and it appeared that it existed already (who the fuck is Pietro Russino???) So my triumph was postponed indefinitely. Then I started to think it over cuz, you know, that feeling when you've got something in your hands and then it's gone - it's embarassing.

Spacefolk? Already exists.

Krautfolk? Exists.

Dreampsych. Yep (out of musical context but anyway...)

Quasipsych? Fuck, how come?! Even 'quasipsych' already exists. I can't believe it!

I give up. Sorry. Not today.

***

I know it seems like the most stupid review ever but I do insist it's not cuz you've got enough information now to consider the subject correctly.

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FCBK

THE JOHN COLBY SECT

Detergente Liquido "Tu Tampoco Eres Como Antes"

Detergente Liquido "Tu Tampoco Eres Como Antes" (p)2020 

This is my seventh review in the times of crisis (for those who are reading this in the year 2230: these are the months of 2020's coronavirus outbreak and as of now while we're still somewhere in the middle of the process we have no idea where for the god's sake it all may lead us) and previously I rarely managed to sustain such density of production. Well, if not now, when?
"Tu Tampoco Eres Como Antes" ("You Are Not Who You Used To Be, Too") is a tiny record, a 4 song EP - and the fact I'm translating the title is important cos the substantial part of the band's charm lies within their lyrical content. "The One Who Thinks About Leaving Is Not Aready Here" is the name of the first track. What do you think? Sounds great, right? I myself think it's great. Moreover, the things are not so lopsided as the most sceptical of you may consider, and the phrase "substantial part" doesn't mean "to the extent where you have to take a microscope to discover any other advantages". On the previuos release "Con Miedo Al Amor Por Las Personas Sin Tiempo" the band reached the point where the importance of the lyrics is harmonized completely with the competence of instrumental part - and they're still working on it trying to evolve further. I believe, as of now Detergente Liquido is the most musically intriguing indie pop band of Spain what is evidenced perfectly by this EP.

FCBK

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Atalaya Roja "Quemad Las Naves!"

Atalaya Roja "Quemad Las Naves!" (p)2020 self-released

If I finally managed to start a band to play the songs I had been writing for my entire life, for good or bad that band supposedly would play something like this: the guitar-driven lyrics-centered rock music that sounded pretty 90's. And if I only worked up the courage to enter a studio to record an album the result most likely would be like this: a pack of songs (half in my native language, half in English) that bear some DIY aesthetics avoiding excessive studio trickery, sound experiments or flirtations with today's fashion trends. Neither pretty clean nor quite hook-heavy - but it would be very 'right in your face'. Love it or leave it - the former is ok but the latter's not gonna kill me. Would it be gorgeous, or ideal, or perfect? I suppose, no. Besides, it wouldn't be targeted at gaining much attention. It would rather be about trying to find like-minded persons to connect to. Just like "Quemad Las Naves!" probably - at least from my point of view - is.

P.S. As revealed once in an interview, the name of the band is traced back to one of best places in the world for me personally: El Medano's Montana Roja, TF. You know, when driving down by TF-64 from Granadilla de Abona it fucking makes me shiver every time I see that piece of coastal area that lies directly below - always lit by the sun and stroked with the seashore ripples...

FCBK
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Palo Alto "Self Defense"

Palo Alto "Self Defense" (p)2020 self-released

Hey, what a hidden gem they are! Unclassifiable Sevilla-based quartet crerates a strange amalgam of Hood, Blonde Redhead, Kodaline and "m b v"-era My Bloody Valentine. Though the abovementioned referential names could hardly be considered a breakthrough in contemporary indie music, the introspective southerners - under surveillance of Tero Heikkinen (Kindata) - have managed to create something fascinating. These are the new fresh sounds of intellectual pop music with plenty of hooks and the aftertaste of innovation.

FCBK

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