The Best Of 2015. 7x7

Step by step we are getting closer to the end very top.

Alborotador Gomasio "Los Excesos De Los Ninos" (p)Limbo Starr Buy

Nueva Vulcano "Noveleria" (p)BCore Disc/La Castanya Listen/Buy

Papaya "No Me Quiero Enamorar" (p)Jabalina Listen/Buy

Blacanova "Regiones Devastadas" (p)El Genio Equivocado Listen/Buy

L.A. "From The City To The Ocean Side" (p)Sony Buy

Pasajero "Parque De Atracciones" (p)Ernie Producciones Listen Buy

(lo:mueso) "Hoiden Limother Petity Vefucker" (p)Aloud Music Listen/Buy

• The energy, the cool melodies, the provocative videos and a lot of noise around. The sophomore release of Alborotador Gomasio was forged on the noisey side of Madrid punk rock.
• Another post hardcore-fueled fruit in my top lists garden. If the previous album of Nueva Vulcano "Los Peces De Colores" sounded quite edgier and stripped-down, "Noveleria" is a smoother record. There's more space in it, and while "Los Peces..." was really cool record, the new one is just better by all measures. 
• Tight and gorgeous yet quite minimalistic country-soaked baroque pop from the latest bird of the Jabalina Musica nest. Papaya's Yanara Espinoza seeks for happiness in more or less traditional formats of a song but somehow she manages to sound absolutely unique. 
• Before recording the new album the Sevillan post shoegaze rock outfit Blacanova moved from Foehn Records to El Genio Equivocado but did not change the artistic vision. Subtle и slow-paced tracks with psychedelia, shoegaze, post rock and dark folk influences for the fans of the band's previous works. 
• Luis Alberto Segura slowly moves towards his painfully underappreciated "Heavenly Hell"'s sound back from the stripped-down-to-the-core "SLNT FLM" template.
• "Parque De Atracciones" definitely is the step forward for Pasajero. The band has matured for these three years that divide the second album from the first one. The songs got stronger, the arrangements got wiser, the sound got more concerned in nuances. Another success for Manuel Cabezali as a producer.
• Experimentation with (or refusal of, in better words) the standard rock song format, flirting with pure stream of consciousness noise, and skipping between genres. With these things involved it's a pure artistic achievent for (lo:mueso) that this album doesnt sound quirky or pretentious. 

The Best Of 2015. 8x8

Hey! Beware! There's a guy  from the land far far away who takes our albums and makes lists of 'em! He's crazy!"

The previous entries:

11x11 (EP's)

10x10

9x9

La Maniobra De Q "El Dano Esta Hecho" (p)Clifford Listen/Buy

Moonflower "Round Trip" (p)Sello Salvaje Listen/Buy

Havalina "Islas De Cemento" (p)Origami Listen Buy

Correos "Seres" (p)Warner Music Listen/Buy

Jorganes "The Science Was Wrong Before" (p)El Hombre Bala Listen/Buy

Penny Necklace "Este Es El Disco De..." (p)self-released Listen/Buy

Bullitt "Sparks" (p)BCore Disc Listen/Buy

Autumn Comets "We Are Here/You Are Not" (p)Subterfuge Buy

• The first longplay of La Maniobra de Q evokes the spirit and soul of the most prominent years of shoegaze with the swirling guitars, multi-layered wall of sound and male/female dueling vocals. 
• Singing in English may not be the strongest skill of Maria Perez, but the ability to create the honest americana-tinged college rock songs successfully avoiding the not-so-innovative genres' cliches - definitely is.
• Lyrically based on "A Drunken Driver's Guide", the novel written by J.J. Cabezali (Manuel's father), "Islas De Cemento" is Havalina's heaviest album to date where the catchy tracks ("Luces", "El Reloj De Pulsera Con La Esfera Rota") are neighbours with the louder bombs like, for instance, neurotic shout-out "Donde" or the pure sludge "Cementerio De Coches".
• Call them punk ("No Creas Las Promesas", "Snobs"), call them powerpop ("Todo El Mundo Necesita Un Corazon"), call them alternative rock ("Como Si Fuera Ideal") but there's a fact about "Seres" which is hardly debatable - this album can offer something for everyone.
• Just let me copy/paste the sentence that I've written on Jorganes' "Science Was Wrong Before" half a year ago: "the beat, the scratch, multiple references in the range from Leftfield to Dilated Peoples, and a lot of good vibrations inbetween".
• With Manuel Cabezali (Havalina) and Victor Cabezuelo (Rufus T. Firefly) at the control panels these three chicks have created the beautiful, intimate, vulnerable and dreamy album I fell in love with from the first listen.
• The 'Interests' section on the Bullitt's Facebook page contains such names as Starmarket, The Promise Ring, Hot Water Music, Jets To Brazil and a bunch of other names that could make my heart go wild. So does the music of "Sparks" which is melodic, upbeat and extremely catchy.
• Eastbound from Appleseed Cast, northside to Silversun Pickups lies the territory of Autumn Comets. This way Smashing Pumpkins should have walked after their promising (but turned out senseless) reunion. But despite such the remarkable names in influences the Madrid-based band manages to create multi facet music with tons of guitars and lots of changes in dynamics without losing their identity.

The Best Of 2015. 9x9

The previous entry: 10x10

Les Sueques "Educacio Fisica" (p)El Genio Equivocado Buy/Listen

Maronda "Vibraciones" (p)self-released Buy/Listen

Christina Rosenvinge "Lo Nuestro" (p)El Segell Del Primavera Buy Listen

Tachenko "El Comportamiento Privado" (p)Limbo Starr Buy Listen

Isasa "Las Cosas" (p)La Castanya Buy/Listen

Nothing Places "Tidal Love" (p)Foehn Buy/Listen

The Birkins "Souvenirs" (p)El Genio Equivocado Buy/Listen

MOR "The Magic Boooooom!!!" (p)Familia Palmer/Discos Del Rollo Listen

Morenas "Tres" (p)Discos Humeantes Buy/Listen

• They're from Barcelona, and they got vibe. Meet Les Sueques, a post-punk quartet with Dadaist attitude!
• La Habitacion Roja's "Fue Electrico" is the great album by all means. "Vibraciones", which was created much in the vein of "Fue Electrico", is great too. And it's no surprise that Marc Greenwood who plays bass in LHR is also the co-leader of Maronda.
• The Spanish indie rock's most renowned woman has added another remarkable album to her back catalogue. Nuff said.
• Without applying any major changes to their core sound Tachenko have recorded the albumful of their tightest and the most consistent songs to date.
• The completely wordless and extremely beautiful album from the former A Room With A View guitar player.
• The moody dreamy psychedelic band Nothing Places is alter ego of the constant Ivan Ferreiro collaborator Emilio Saiz here backed by such the relevant personas as Marti Perarnau (Mucho) and Ricky Falkner (you know, he's a man of many talents). If you think these names are setting the coordinates or frames for what you could expect as the final result - that's a complete mistake. There's something you couldn't have expected at all.
• One of the most prominent Canarian bands has returned with the new album. 10 songs with the lyrics in English and French (as usual) and the great potential of growing up on you. One more El Genio Equivocado's album in my list - this label is responsible for the large part of this year's great music, I swear.
• The space rock from Cadiz (that seems to be this year's most musically burgeoning town). Spearheaded by Juan Antonio Mateos (Homeless, Grabaciones Sumergidas recording studio), the band MOR delivers the multy-layered and breezy psychedelia that for these days is probably the most cutting-edge genre in the rock world. Being not so flamboyant and dazed as one that Kevin Parker has made us familiar with, the music on "The Magic Booooom!!!" is well-nuanced and cohesive enough to really hear the songs here, not these free-form compositions the most of the top psych contemporaries are well-known for.
• One of the last releases by now-defunct Oviedo-based garage/punk-oriented indie label Discos Humeantes. The creative source of "Tres" lies somewhere in between Biznaga and labelmates Futuro Terror, definitely it's not that fast short and shiny guitar pop music you might now associate with the term 'punk'.

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.

Los Rusos Hijos De Puta "La Rabia Que Sentimos Es El Amor Que Nos Quitan" (p)self-released Listen/Buy

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

Grushenka "La Insoportable Levedad Del Ser" (p)El Genio Equivocado Listen/Buy

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.

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).

Bala "Human Flesh" (p)Matapadre Buy/Listen

Paciente Cero "Viene" (p)self-released Listen Buy

Estratega Pencherjevsky "Sentinel" (p)self-released Free Download

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

Axolotes Mexicanos "Holi <3" (p)Elefant Buy/Listen

Paracaidas "Pensamiento de Paz Durante Un Ataque Aereo" (p)Records Del Mundo Buy/Listen/Free Download

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

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

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'.