The Best Of 2020. Top50. 31 - 40

40. Junco Y Mimbre "Junco Y Mimbre" (p)Hidden Track 

Call it jangle pop, call it college rock. What Junco Y Mimbre lack in ambition they compensate it in quality of songwriting.

BNDCMP

39. El Lobo En Tu Puerta "Santana Bendita" (p)Spinda 

One of the best metal releases of the year - I mean, one of the best worldwide. Quirky, heavy, inventive, sarcastic and ultra-melodic record whose creators should be proud of. 

BNDCMP

38. Arista Fiera "Cromatismo Domestico" (p)El Genio Equivocado 

The dreampop band from Malaga. There are songs where you think: "Wow, it's the best release of the year!" There is a couple of songs that leave you less enthusiastic. But the weighted average is undoubtedly high.

BNDCMP

37. Ana Bejar "Sahara Star" (p)Discos Belamarh 

What you see is what you get. Hot, dry, scorched like a world's most famous desert - that's what this music is.

BNDCMP

36. Llum "Los Anos Liquidos" (p)Discos De Paseo 

It took 8 years for indie pop singer/songwriter Jesus Saez to release the successor to "Limelight" (his previous LP) though he released some singles and EPs in the meantime. What could I say - for sure it was worth waiting for Llum's return.

SPTF

35. Nueva Vulcano "Ensayo" (p)La Castanya/ BCore Disc 

Read this 

BNDCMP

34. Kracauer "Diferencia Y Repeticion" (p)Subterfuge 

This name is abolutely new for me. I mean, I know that "kracauer" or "krakauer" means "from Krakow" in German. I know who Jon Krakauer is. But as a band, the name is new. This band is from Murcia, they successfully blend guitars with synths to get a pack of potential hits.

SPTF

33. Breis "On" (p)Sweet Song/ Producciones Acaraperro 

Read this 

BNDCMP

32. Atlantic "Volem Els Ponts" (p)self-released 

This is how to make Weezer's music better than Weezer themselves. The two-faced band (with Maria Lopez as frontwoman they perform as Moonflower) shows considerable progress against their debut record as Atlantic ("1976") which was good in its own right but sounded less concentrated.

BNDCMP

31. Nucli "Ephemeral Water Courses" (p)Hidden Track/ La Plana Sola 

With links to Nueva Vulcano, Bullitt, Cala Vento, Power Burkas and Bad Religion the Catalan band Nucli has created the ultimate punk rock album of the year.

BNDCMP

 

Best of 2016. Honorable mention #1

To put it clear, it was a busy year. I rarely posted to this blog cos for the most of 2016 I was suffereing the writer's block but I never put myself out of the discource. So I spent a lot of time listening to the new records and a lot of money purchasing the new music - both physically and digitally. I've listened to 300+ albums - more than in any previous year. So now I'm not that easy-minded guy who tried to select 30 good records out of overall 55. Now the task is way too complicated.
Initially my aim was to select 50 best albums and say 'enough' but the more I dove into the more I felt like this aim is indistinguishable. There's huge amount of albums that didn't make it to the main Top50 list, but it would be the greatest injustice if their names were not pronounced. Respectively I've corrected the plan and added 40 more albums (that in sum with Top10 EPs and the main Top50 list will give us the amount of 100 albums in total). That's why the 'Honorable Mention' section is so wide this time. I've decided to divide the whole section onto two tiers only to keep the posts readable. There are no certain places within the tier as well as certain differences between the albums from the different tiers. All the albums within the tier are presented in alphabetical order (by band name). So you could presume all these 40 albums are allocated to the place #51.

Atlantic "1976" (p)self-released
BANDCAMP
This band is the other side of one of my last year's favourites - Moonflower. And this incarnation (fronted by Josep Bartual instead of Maria Lopez) is equally great.
*walks around singing along to "...no pueda superarmeee..."*

Amaro Ferreiro "Biologo" (p)A Records
SPOTIFY
Please omit the fact that Amaro's creative abilities are often overshadowed by the stature of his elder brother. The main thing about "Biologo" is that you can listen to these songs without imagining them being sung by Ivan.

Chicharron "Postal" (p)Prenom
BANDCAMP
Very warm and beautiful indie pop/slowcore album by a Galician band. Low and Yo la Tengo influences are on the sleeve.

Como Vivir En El Campo "CVEEC3" (p)El Genio Equivocado
BANDCAMP
The freak folk pop trio is strangely attractive and beautifully quirky as ever.

Delbosque "Interferencias" (p)self-released
BANDCAMP
The burgeoning dreampop/shoegaze wave meets southern psychedelia.

Doctor Lobo "Metodologia" (p)self-released
BANDCAMP
The Valencia indie rock/dreampop quintet fronted by Pablo Naharro makes the big step forward since their 2014's mini album "Reiniciar".
"Mastered by Manuel Cabezali" is the trademark.

Fiera "Aljarafe" (p)Humo
BANDCAMP
The experimental duo from Sevilla makes minimalistic and uncomfortable noise rock/electro that causes dependence in high doses.

Kill Kill "Reacciones A Distancia" (p)Miel De Moscas/Gran Sol
BANDCAMP
The Spanish Black Keys with digital effects.

KUVE "Kuve 3.0" (p)EO! Musica
SPOTIFY
This work reminds me of the last efforts by Zahara and The Bright.

Lecciones De Vuelo "Caza" (p)self-released
BANDCAMP
Lecciones de Vuelo play quite original mix of shoegaze and twee with distinct elements of post punk. For me, some melodic decisions are questionable - but mostly the band is good at what they do.

Los Amantes "Open 24 Hours" (p)Lucinda
BANDCAMP
The new power pop band fronted by Pat Escoin follows the pattern of any other band fronted by Pat Escoin: melody, high voltage energy, 'take no prisoners' approach. The voice of Pat is the national treasury.

Malandromeda "Os Corenta E Oito Nomes Do Inimigo" (p)Matapadre
BANDCAMP
The alternative form of hip hop from Galicia is something like the median of Delafe and Malaspecto.

Matoll "Matoll" (p)Repetidor Disc
BANDCAMP
All I know about Matoll is that they play the 90's indie rock. This album is a good reason to learn more about them.

Noiseed "Almost Human" (p)El Hombre Bala
BANDCAMP
The catchy Canarian-born electro-industrial with aggro elements (mostly in vocals).

Novedades Carminha "Campeones Del Mundo" (p)Ernie Producciones
SPOTIFY
Their best record by far. Been way too simplistic before, now Novedades Carminha have got that cool vibe that makes the heart beating harder.

Odio Paris "Cenizas Y Flores" (p)Mushroom Pillow
SPOTIFY
[At times] the lightweight drums' sound, [at times] beautifully jangling guitars and [at times] thick layers of synths give this record the possibility to cover the vast spectre of genres.

Parade "Demasiado Humano" (p)Jabalina Musica
BANDCAMP
Probably the best Parade album.

Pinocho Detective "La Vida Privada de..." (p)Delia
BANDCAMP
The angles of this record are too rounded to produce really strong emotions, but it's beautiful and pleasant anyway.

Solletico "Erra" (p)self-released
BANDCAMP
The twee/indie/folk pop band from Madrid released the new album pretty quietly, and it came relatively unnoticed. But it's warm and beautiful enough to be the good companion to the glass of whisky and a twist of good grief.

Tucan Morgan "Moon Cabaret Rooms" (p)self-released
BANDCAMP
Read this