DOM "Emergency"

DOM "Emergency" (p)2020 Discos Delejos

At the first sight "Emergency" is less consumable than last year's "2019" by another Domingo Aleman's avatar Sunday German Flowers. However, it is clear that it inherits as to "2019" as to the past works of now-defunct combo Ruin Man Band (also led by Domingo) "Beyond Panzaburro" and "Paraiso". It may lack Ruin Man Band's dance groove or "2019"'s cohesion but it's still got a lot to offer. Lyrically "Emergency" is dedicated to the contemporary world issues (environmental crisis, the conflict of new human-centered values and capitalistic system, etc). Partnered again with his long-time ally Manuel Estevez, this time Domingo invited his frequent collaborators: the local Canarian mainstays Fajardo and Diego Hdez - along with less frequent ones Arico and Acid Buda - to represent his world view the best way. As all of the mentioned persons are far from 'your usual songwriter' type, the album boundlessly mixes leftfield electronica with trip hop, dub, freak-folk and even abstract hip hop to produce strange music that may seem too complicated at the first listen but causes the effect of dependency with every subsequent time you push the play button.

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Conjunto Podenco, Lullavy "Garabato"

Conjunto Podenco, Lullavy "Garabato" (p)2020 Repetidor

This is not that sort of homogenous split album. United by the imprint (Repetidor) and the recording space (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria's La Caterva Grabaciones) sound-wise the bands - Catalan three-piece Lullavy and Gran Canaria-born combo Conjunto Podenco - differ a lot. 

While listening to Lullavy's lone LP "Ruina" (which is completely perfect for my taste) you might apply such tags as 'ethereal' or 'hypnotic' to their 2nd wave emo/post-hardcore odes, but this time the band took different approach to make the stripped-down 'flesh-and-bones' record like if it was produced by Steve Albini. So the result is considerably harsher than "Ruina". When Saul Ibañez sings here you can almost feel his vocal chords are bleeding. The songwriting is still great, "Si No Lo Piensas" is one of the best tracks that saw the light of day this year.

Conjunto Podenco is a tough subject to describe. The band consists of the persons more than well-known within Canarian music community: Fajardo (psych-folk singer-songwriter with successful solo career), Jose A. Lopez (owner of aforementioned La Caterva Grabaciones, recording engineer and producer of multiple local bands) and Angel Clavijo (head of local event agency Conexion Canarias). Based on this info it's hard to predict what their music would sound like before you start to listen to them, right? It's strange, but it doesn't get easier to debrief what you have just listened to afterwards. Like the most of the Canarian bands, Conjunto Podenco act beyond all possible limitations creating the music that seems completely uncategorizable. You may call them post-hardcore but please take in mind that they use post-hardcore angular rhythm base only as a thin layer below all and everything they place on top of it. You're hardly gonna define a cake by the glossy cardboard pad you put it on, ain't you?

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Diego Hdez "Paisajes Confinados"

 Diego Hdez "Paisajes Confinados" (p)2020 Discos Delejos/ Foehn Records

The prolific Canarian musician Diego Hernandez is not your average songwriter as he intentionally escapes any repetition, cyclic structures and linear melodies. His music is not 'songs' in the ordinary sense of the word. It's more like boat trip across the sea when at times it's calm and soothing and at times it's not. It may sound quite disturbing for an unprepared listener but it's not that kind of uncontrolled drift through the waves. It's just an expression of the non-linear mind of its auteur, and you can be sure that this expression is unique.

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Terry Vs. Tory "Heathers"

Terry Vs. Tori "Heathers" (p)2020 El Genio Equivocado

Jangle pop at its best with the references to everyone in wide array from Wedding Present to The Luxembourg Signal all the way through Trembling Blue Stars and earlier era Los Planetas along with touches of twee, C86 and dreampop. This genre experiences some kind of revival in recent years so the Sevilla-based quartet fits perfectly not only for the national music map #rightnow but also for the global trend confirmed by the critical acclaim of such releases as Desperate Journalist's "In Search Of The Miraculous" or Jetstream Pony's self-titled album.

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Pumuky "Castillo Interior" EP

Pumuky "Castillo Interior" (p)2020 Keroxen

It's never easy in the world of Pumuky. While having been stripped down to the core duo of brothers Jair and Noe Ramirez looked like streamlining of the internal communication, the creative process only got more complicated with both brothers having their own families now - in addition to them residing on the different islands. The necessity of finding the balance between making art and household duties significantly slowed the band's activities down. Now the new Pumuky releases are as frequent as your 29th of February birthday parties. 

Anyway, whatever they lose in output they compensate it in quality of songwriting. Recorded and mixed completely in Jair's own apartment the new EP still delivers every emotion Pumuky have always been honored for throughout their career. I still haven't listened to it via my home hi-fi system so as of now I can't check it out is there anything on the record that depicts 'bedroom origin' of it. But I don't feel like I have to. Everything I need to know about "Castillo Interior" has nothing to do with hi-end nuancing. So it might need a cheaper headset only to figure out what this record is. A piece of music as an antithesis to socializing. A soundrack of falling into the rabbit hole of your own mind. A sonic equivalent to hypnagogia. 

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