Tu Aura Brilla Mas: Let Go/ Nada Surf 15 Aniversario (p)2018 Mardev/ Ernie
I’ve been the massive fan of Nada Surf since 2003 when I first observed video of “Inside Of Love” aired by the [best ever] German music channel onyx.tv. This video made me searching for the band’s records, and the first album I purchased the same year it was “Proximity Effect”. I quickly embraced their lyrical imagery and subdued bittersweet undertones that led them to stand tall amongst the short list of my all-time favorite bands. I consider “Lucky” their best effort to date as it includes the set of songs I can personally relate to both melody-wise and lyric-wise the best way possible. However, it was 2003’s “Let Go” that brought them out of the gloomy grunge-obsessed subterranean dungeons of the 90’s right into the bright light streak of the post-millennial indie rock. While their second album (the aforementioned "Proximity Effort") was declined by their label Electra it was released first in Europe. Following this the band was dropped by Electra. With two albums and one massive hit ("Popular") in the back catalogue Nada Surf were set to replicate the fate of zillion of the 90's bands that silently fell into obscurity. But the new album ("Let Go"), new hit ("Inside Of Love"), new label (the Seattle-based indie imprint Barsuk Records) and the new direction (less grunge more power pop) led them into the indie stardom in 2000's.
The band gained the substantial cult following in Europe (especially in non-English speaking countries) thanks to the lengthy tours through the Old World and both Matthew Caws’ and Daniel Lorca’s multilingual abilities. Moreover, they are really concerned of what’s going on with music in Europe. I deeply appreciate this last year's story about Nada Surf members appearing on Ebrovision festival a day before the schedule just to check out Rufus T. Firefly performing, of whom they were told it would be worth it to look at. Their European record-selling headquarters is based in Spain (the Galician finest Ernie Producciones) but anyway I was kinda surprised to know that Nada Surf were going to release the collection of cover versions made by a bunch of Spanish indie bands.
Digitally it was released over a month ago and recently it was released officially on CD. So what could I say… It is definitely one of the best cover albums I have ever listened to. What makes a great cover version great? For me, it’s when a certain band takes someone else’s song and rewrites it into their own the way you could place it into the band’s album and it wouldn’t be sounding as an alien. Thus, the final result takes the best from both summing up the original's best features and the cover maker’s own tricks. Regarding the most of the tracks here, this criterium is fulfilled completely.
For the better authenticity 8 of total 12 songs were translated into Spanish. Even for me as a person largely familiar with the original album sometimes it’s hard to separate what I know from what I hear because, for instance, “No Es Tan Rapido” sounds nothing like Nada Surf’s song – it sounds exactly like a song by Second, as well as “Nubes De Mosquitos” sound exactly like Lori Meyers’ own. The same thing I could repeat for almost every track and every band on the album be it Niños Mutantes with their newfound synth-laden sound on "Blizzard Of 77/ La Tormenta Del'77" or La Habitacion Roja with their classic post-"Ayer" warm pop-psychedelia on "Inside Of Love/ Dentro Del Amor". Be it the lush guitar-driven pop of Anni B Sweet ("La Pour Ca/ Estare Ahi") or slightly fuzzed out alternative rock of Shinova (the Basque band stepped back to the sound of their pre-"Volver" albums to make this version of "Treading Water"). Be it Villanueva's delicate rendition of "Hi-Speed Soul/ Hablemos De Soul" or the Noise Box's version of "Happy Kid" that turns the original power pop hit into the 6 minute long psychedelic pop masterpiece.
I think it’s really great achievement.
