I’m curious what people may think about being included into my annual poll. The people, you know, who are in the list and who have no idea, basically, why. It goes like this: one day Facebook informs them of a post that mentions their album as a national TOP50 entry, and they guess, what does it mean? So, how should we react to this? Is it good or is it kind of freaky? Who’s that guy? Is he credible? Let’s see, who he is. He is from where? Russia? The guy from Russia has an opinion on what’s going on here in Spain – sounds kinda strange, doesn’t it? What’s the matter?
Or it goes like: ‘Okaaaaay, guys. We’re in somebody’s annual poll now, and this is great by default!’
I’m just curious, really.
So, here you are. The best albums of the year. The most delicious part of the TOP50. The Big Ten.
Merry Christmas!
10. Atencion Tsunami «Vltra»
(p)Records del Mundo
The sounds of the alternative dance halls of the 22nd century. The danceable rock music with no dance invented for it as of now.
9. Exfan «Exfan»
(p)Gatuela
All of Patricia Escoin's ongoing projects (Los Amantes, Lula and Exfan) deserve nationwide praise, I swear.
8. Furious Monkey House «Love, Scum & Dust»
(p)Esmerarte/ Atresmusica/ Universal Music Spain
Somewhere in the middle of the first track of "Love, Scum & Dust" I was like: 'Holy fuck, how come I have never heard of them before? They’re so cool!'
7. Yo, Estratosferico «Limbo»
(p)self-released
The struggling band that deserves more attention than it's got now. The creators of the last decade's most underrated great song ("?motin?") have got another bunch of great songs to be proud of.
6. Capsula «Bestiarium»
(p)Gaztelupeko Hotsak/ Vicious Circle/ Dynamo Tapes
Their strongest release since "Solar Secrets", as simple as it gets.
5. Sunday German Flowers «2019»
(p)Discos Delejos
Put your headphones on and float away from your daily grind with this beautiful and stylistically undefinable record.
4. Chavalan «Un Aire Visible»
(p)Mascarpone Discos
The great successor of now-defunct Betunizer. From my point of view it's even better than "Gran Veta', the generally recognized apex of Betunizer’s career.
3. Los Punsetes «Aniquilacion»
(p)Mushroom Pillow
Without a doubt the most cohesive album of the renowned band. It seemed to me like something was always missing on their previous releases. They were always quite good with the emphasis on ‘quite’. Now all the parts of the puzzle are on their right places finally.
2. Holywater «Arboreal»
(p)Ernie
Take any cool southern rock-meets-grunge record (Dead Confederate's "Sugar" first came to my mind), replace the electric guitars with the acoustic ones and then clean the sound off to kill that druggy fog - and you'll get the idea of what "Arboreal" sounds like.
1. Yawners «Just Calm Down»
(p)La Castanya
For the most part of the year it was all pretty clear about the number one. Not only the best album but also the best song ("La Escalera").
