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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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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Mariana "A Partir Del Final"

 Mariana "A Partir Del Final" (p)2020 Discos Delejos

It's sad, it's slow and it's quiet. The dreamlike (and the dream is rather unsettling) acoustic folk songs that sound like the silence occupies the major part of the album, and the music and words are in minority - just like in the earlier Low or Songs:Ohia records.

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Not A Number "A Life Made Of Wood"

 Not A Number "A Life Made Of Wood" (p)2000 El Hombre Bala Records

The ideal emo-rock of the 21st century as it should be if it only skipped its appalling third wave and jumped from Braid, Rainer Maria & "Clarity" straightaway to the fourth one – the rough, spiny and disheveled as a canary pinetree pictured on the disc’s front cover. With greater exposure this band and this album could rival this year's heatseekers like Sorry or Retirement Party on an equal.

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Ajeeb "Toss And Turn"

 Ajeeb "Toss And Turn" (p)2020 El Hombre Bala Records

This album by a Lanzarote-based threesome is the inflammable – and highly enjoyable – alternative rock seasoned with the lesser amounts of psychedelic rock, post-hardcore and alt-metal much in the vein of the British rockers Pulled Away By Horses and a bunch of American bands that single out Husker Du as their main influence. Genre-wise it’s not the most apparent entry for El Hombre Bala's back catalogue – but this imprint never (and when I say ‘never’ I mean exactly ‘never’) submerges below ‘very good’ notch.

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Elodie "Biologico"

Elodie "Biologico" (p)2019 label tbd

You can’t call this indie rock combo prolific but it’s well worth waiting for “Biologico” all these 5+ years that passed on since Elodie’s previous effort “Tu Reloj” was brought to light.

Such gap couldn’t go by without causing some changes. Above all it translated into the considerable stylistic shift from electro rock that incorporated some guitar-fueled concomitants to purely guitar-driven rock with the touches of synths. The next modification is structural. Formerly one man project by Argentina-born Tenerife-settled Marcos Estrella, during the recording sessions of “Bilologico” it was converted into the duo with involvement of Marcos’ recording/production assistant and longtime friend Gustavo Molina into the creative process. His impact - along with providing these songs with the live drumming - is the most evident in the tracks “Nacimiento” and “Muerte” where the synths operated by Gustavo are the anchors for the melody. The latter is the most danceable track of the album. I can imagine it sounding over the sweaty people rockin’ out at the alternative dance parties. The rest of tracks is led by Marcos' guitar (the introductive part of "Reincarnacion" is so fucking cool) and his brave singing.

Thematically, “Biologico” revisits the Vedic concept of Samsara cycle as all the songs are following its pattern: “Birth” – “Growth” – “Reproduction” – “Death” – “Reincarnation” – “Samsara”. As far as I could get through the lyrics, this idea is applied to human relationships but I’m not sure as my aural Spanish skills are still not that great.

For me as a 90’s indie rock junkie the album recalls some lower profile (in the best sense of the term) bands like Small 23 along with their more well-known contemporaries such as Velocity Girl. The traces of post-punk and power pop are easily recognisable as well. In addition, "Crecimiento" (my favourite track on the album) reminds me of Mi Pequena Radio's first longplay "Esquiando Hacia Arriba". Though its roots are obviously planted in at least decade-long distance the album sounds crispy fresh. All the songs are catchy but there’s something more important than catchiness. It's emotion it delivers. This album's gonna bring you a whole lot of positive emotions. All these 20 minutes I've spent with the happy smile on my face, and the first thing I wanted to do right after the running time drew to a close was jumping around while shouting out something inarticulate.

FCBK

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GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte "Gamma Bay"

GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte "Gamma Bay" (p)2018 Foehn Records

These people they are The Crusaders Of What

Whatever you think of them, in fact they are not ©

“Andromeda”, the single that preceeded the release of “Gamma Bay”, is one of the sweetest and the most accessible songs ever penned by the Canarian psychedelic orchestra GAF y La Estrella de La Muerte. It sounds like a cross-breed between Spacemen 3 and This Mortal Coil (or any other piece of delicate music 4AD Records released back in the 80’s). Guided by this track you may feel like you’re on the verge of listening to the sweetest and the most accessible GAF’s album.

But it’s not. Otherwise, “Gamma Bay” is probably the most uncompromised record since “Sociedad De Bienestar” – their Foehn Records’ debut. It seems like Mladen Kurajica’s longtime friendship with Stephen Lawrie (the core member of the Staffordshire shoegaze-gone-psych outfit The Telescopes whose latest efforts "Hidden Fields" and "As Light Return" seem to be the key references to the GAF’s newly revised sound) finally took over. So forget these mild designations like ‘a bit noisy’ or ‘slightly droning’ that you might apply to “Sunriser”, [at some point] more accessible “Gamma Bay”’s predecessor. Now, if it’s noisy – it’s the kind of ‘noisy’ that could make your ears beg for compassion (“Pitch Black”).

Definitely it’s not the kind of record you may choose to listen to while looking at your record collection guessing ‘what would I like to listen to right now?’ You’re in doubt? Go listen to Feeder. “Gamma Bay” needs the right mood and the right time. It needs your attention – I mean, ALL your attention. It’s nothing like ‘Ok, I’d have a cup of tea in the meantime’. It’s nothing like ‘Oh, how cool and nice is that!’ There’s nothing about ‘cool’. There’s nothing ‘nice’ in here. It’s the complete opposite to ‘nice’. It’s uncomfortable. It’s disturbing. It manages to sustain the certain degree of your anxiety even in the quieter or repetitive moments (aforementioned “Andromeda”, the 1st half of “Firewater”).

As you follow the album’s ups and downs getting trapped by its spins and swirls you come to conclusion that GAF y La Estrella de La Muerte have got their own inner cause and the instincts that guide them wherever they go to – even if you have no idea of what that cause is and does their final destination really exist. They know it better as at the end of the day every burst of noise builds up the melody.

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Avernessus "Azul Terminal"

Avernessus "Azul Terminal" (p)2017 self-released

In the run-up of my visit to La Palma island I've undertaken a brief search for the local bands and discovered a band that exists starting from 1996. Though for the most of their career Avernessus stayed out of the public eye this never prevented them from making interesting music. "Azul Terminal" is their 4th studio album and it presents the band being comfortably located somewhere in between the stripped-down folksy rock of the Canarian pals Mento ("Volar"), the piano-laden arrangements of the Catalan lostlings Cyan ("Camisa", probably the best track off the album) and... Izal??? ("Turkia DF", "Aterriza"). The stylistic fluctuations within the album don't get the listener's attention blurred, so all ten tracks of "Azul Terminal" flow along flawlessly, leaving behind some true gems for your ears.

The best tracks: Camisa, Aterriza, Volar, Aprendiste

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Trinidad "Karma"

Trinidad "Karma" (p)2015 El Hombre Bala

The Replacements. Sebadoh in their rawest (more Eric Gaffney and Jake Loewenstein, less Lou Barlow), Zuzu's Petals (the long-forgotten 90's band of Paul Westerberg's ex-wife Laurie Lindeen), Scout Niblett on speed. Lo-fi? No, mostly it's no-fi. Fuck Wavves, fuck Hinds. It's the real spontaniety and the real honesty transmitted to this world through the mind and soul of the real riot grrrl. This album is mindblowingly fucking cool.

The best tracks: Puto Retrasado Emocional De Mierda, Autoengano A Terceros, Love Song #2, El Jardin Del Gatillazo

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Jorganes "Science Was Wrong Before"

Jorganes "Science Was Wrong Before" (p)2015 El Hombre Bala

Can you imagine how many great music acts are there on Canary Islands? A lot of, really. For me it's like there's something special in the atmosphere: all you need is just to wake up, open your eyes, breathe the air - and you're already high on fresh ideas.

"Science Was Wrong Before" is another bright example of Tenerife-bred electronica released by local label El Hombre Bala that stands at the forefront of Canarian indie surge. Juanjo Jorganes masterfully mixes, crosses and pairs 'Chicago school' trance, Ninja Tune-esque electronica-based free jazz, lazy beats and analogue noise to the perfect results. Unlike his pal/labelmate Postman whose strangely attractive abstract/break-core experiments stand in relative contradiction to pop phenomenon, the music of Jorganes showcases enough pop elements to dance along to or at least to nod your head to the beat.

The conclusion is as follows: the beat, the scratch, multiple reminiscences in the range from Leftfield ("Unprotected", "Long Coffee") to Dilated Peoples ("Flames") and a lot of good vibrations inbetween.

The best tracks: Unprotected, Flames, Sun & Sand, Watch



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Diego Hdez "Autotrophic Music"

Diego Hdez "Autotrophic Music" (p)2015 Foehn

The new album of Canarian-born singer/songwriter Diego Hernandez (the participant of folk band Keiko as well as the dub orchestra Pachumba) follows the steps of his first solo record "Small Songs For New Beginnings" (p)2012 also on Foehn. It's a free-form 'stream of consciousness' psycho folk - sometimes dreamy, sometimes noisy, sometimes trippy. Being seemingly unstructured for an unprepared ear, these songs are constructed of tiny sounds (hisses, clicks and cracks, etc) placed here and there using athmosphere as glue. But though the parts are glued by such the fragile (read: unreliable) substance, the music never stands on the verge of falling apart.
There's nothing about 'introversion as amusement'. It's not about amusement at all. It's about thinking, it's about looking inward, it's about pulling together the things that you'd never thought to be pulled together.

The best tracks: Come The Summer, 9 to 5, The Map, Heisenberg

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Living through the jet lag, getting back from the vacation

Taking in mind my passion to Canarian rock, visiting Tenerife for the fourth time I shouldn't been spending time there only for burning my skin in the sun and then soaking it into the cold salty waters of the Atlantic ocean. If our previous Canarian trip was marked by a brief (not so brief though) encounter with Pumuky guitarist and co-founding member Noe Ramirez then this time not only we spent a night with Noe and GAF leader Mladen Kurajica but also we attended the Tenerifean stop of the ongoing pan-Canarian concert tour Conexion Canarias in the good company of GAF's trumpet player Alejandro Padron. Also, we've attended the El Hombre Bala bar, the headquarters of the prominent Tenerife-based indie label of the same name. I'm not saying we were diving deep into Canarian rock scene - but I consider it relatively deep for the persons from so far away.

I'm not going to speak about the details of our supper with Noe & Mladen cos it was absolutely private event. So let's start from El Hombre Bala (The Bullet Man).

The day before we came there, there was the presentation of the first effort of Trinidad (the lone girl Zaynab Esther is hiding behind this moniker) - the "Pop Terror" EP. To attend this event was our initial intention but Alejandro proposed us to go to Banda Aparte bar for the Conexion Canarias-organized concerts the next day. Because to drive the island through at night three days in a row wasn't the easiest thing to do for us we decided to abandon Trinidad's presentation in favor of Conexion Canarias. But before walking to Banda Aparte we came to El Hombre Bala where I took a couple of beers and made a purchase of Trinidad's effort (along with the new full lenghts of Brutralizzed Kids and Velcro). Also we received two guitar pickups as the memorabilia.

Then we paved our way to Banda Aparte but it seemed like there was a shift of timeline because at 10 p.m. no one was going to make some noise like it was scheduled. The music program started an hour later with the acoustic set of Mento. Usually the band is not acoustic but only three members out of five were present there. Their songs sounded like they were intended to sound much louder, the guys were able to catch the listeners' attention so now I'm waiting for more music from them.
The next band to play was Navy Blue Socks. This band reminded me of Versos Rotos whom we have seen earlier this year on Sonorama. With catchy songs and the distinct contemporary indie rock sound they have the potential to be well-known amongst young people.
Then we left the bar cos it was already too late for us, and my wife Tanya felt bad.

Navy Blue Socks

Regarding Trinidad.

Now I worry that we didn't visit her show because the girl really has 'it'. The "Pop Terror" EP contains only 5 songs but these songs are speaking much. The tiny fragile acoustic melodies create the atmosphere which befriends you with "Pop Terror" with the greatest of ease.  Honestly speaking, the comparisons with Russian Red are too obvious to be 100% true so we need to find the better reference point. Let's look: lo-fi sound cross honest emotions cross sence of humour... oh wait... Liz Phair?

The best ever lines in credits are saying: "This disc is dedicated to all my neighbours. For bearing the guitar noise, impossible chords and the discs of Pantera and Mariah Carey. Except the neighbour from behind. Not for you. Put yourself the chainsow in the ass"

Gaf y la Estrella de la Muerte - Balayo Sunrise

Upon my return from the sweet Canarian vacation I'd like to put here this composition as a bridge to what's coming next.

Las Resenas Casuales. Bel Bee Bee "Still Unstirred"

Bel Bee Bee "Still Unstirred" (p)2014 The Note Company

As you cam clearly see, I have a bent to Canarian indie rock. Bel Bee Bee is another Canarian-born act with one young girl named Belen Alvarez Doreste behind this moniker.

"Haven't you ever had a burning shower, and when you try to see yourself in the mirror, you need to reach out your finger and draw until you discover yourself again? That's it." - it's written on the band's Facebook profile to describe the modus operandi. A gifted singer, Belen has chosen the path of trip-hop to share her vision with the listeners. So, musically "Still Unstirred" derives from such the sources as her Canarian semi-compatriotas Fuel Fandango or British female-fronted trip-hop combo Kosheen, with the rhythmical patterns more convoluted then ones ever created by both of the aforementioned. Belen plays with her voice masterfully, adding the tracks of backing vocals in their right places. Additionally, the track "Balai Lama" resembles the avant garde pop experiments of Anni B Sweet.

Generally speaking, Bel Bee Bee sounds on this album like a full-fledged international act that seems to be more mature than the girl who in fact has created it.

FYI: The last track - and probably the best - on the album is named after the Sakha-Yakutia (Russia) based village which is known as the Northern Hemisphere Pole of Cold.

The best tracks: Astrays Sculpture, Trust (Serendipity), Oymyakon, I'll Stop This Role Playing

Las Resenas Casuales. Cabeza Borradora "The Jack Nance EP"

Cabeza Borradora "The Jack Nance EP" (p)2014 no label defined at the moment

The former alternative dance Canarian outfit Cabeza Borradora returned to activity with the series of concerts that took place the last year, and now their return is marked by the new release: "The Jack Nance EP" named after the late actor starred in the David Lynch first feature-lenght movie that gave name to the band (Spanish 'cabeza borradora' means 'eraserhead' in English). So gone is the mix of danceable Jesus Jones-like post-Cool Britrannia as well as the trippy left-field electronica the band was known for previously in their active years before almost 15 years long hiatus. Here we have the music as quiet as nervous, creepy, noisy and scary. These four tracks of total 30 minutes long could be the perfect soundtrack to any of the convoluted and frightening Lynch's masterpiece. 

"The Jack Nance EP" on bandcamp

En Directo. GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte in SKIF XVIII, Saint Petersburg, 17/5/2014 - Part Two

Concerning GAF.

We came to SKIF place on time but were not allowed to enter. 'We got no lists for persons with electronic tickets. Please wait for 10 minutes', they told us. 10 minutes were gone quickly, but they told us again that the lists were not there yet. Ten minutes more it would be 8:15 pm. 'Chicks', I outraged, 'We came here from fucking Tula only to see the GAF playing - and they are already playing, but we stay here at your door!' 

'10 minutes', they replied, 'And there's nobody playing right now.'

So we stayed there for ten minutes more, and only after that additional small amount of time we managed to get inside. The girls were right - nobody was playing onstage yet. We stopped at the merchandise desk to see if there were the LPs of GAF. There were no GAF's LPs initially, but then came a man with the box and the box was full of GAF's vinilos. And this man was Alejandro Padron. I stayed in 10cm right beside him but didn't want to embarass him with my unexpected greetings.

In the hall where the gig should take place we saw a man in the pink polo. And this man was Mladen Kurajica. 'Go and talk to him!', Tanya said. 'He's occupied', I replied. Really, Mladen talked to one man, then to another man, then another man took a series of photos of Mladen. And then Mladen walked off to  see the rest of the band.

Before the show the audience was pretty limited. I think there were something like 30 persons. But when the band started playing people started to come in and pretty quickly the audience has grown 5 times or even more. It seemed like the most of the audience formerly had no intention to see GAF, but came to catch the show being attracted by the sounds, especially when they started playing "Alien Love" from "GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte" - the song which is closest to a 'hit' in the band's back catalogue.

The best tag I could use to describe the show of this band is 'the controlled storm'. The band rocked as hell, these Canarian shamen produced the sound which was groundbreaking. Their wall of sound incorporated trumpets, the chants of Mladen and of the female vocalist Caroline Machado, the strange percussion tools... The certain persons before the stage were convulsing like the voodoos trying to catch the rhythm but were always missing it.

The first half of the show has faded fast.

'We're going to play the last song', said Mladen, 'And it's a very long song'.

'Yannakis', said someone behind my back. 

And it was really "Yannakis', the 20 minutes long track from "Sunriser"...

The show came to its final, the light was switched on. The band started disconnecting their equipment. The audience went away. Me and Tanya came to stage. 'Mladen!!!', shouted I with my voice totally broken on flu. He raised his eyes on me: 'Oh, Mikhail! What's with your voice?' He came closer, we embraced one another, his polo was absolutely wet from the sweat. Please take in mind that Mladen was predominantly sitting during the show - these men really rock hard, have I already said that?

We've talked for a minute and then Mladen left us to finish his duty on disconnecting the equipment. While leaving he expressed the wish to meet us later and drink some alcoholic beverages with us. I tried to tell him that we had very limited time but my voice betrayed on me again and all I said was some kind of duckling's squawking. Then we stayed in the hall for 10-15 minutes to catch the possibility of meeting the band members again but they were in the secured room and we hadn't enough courage to try to get inside it.

And then we left because we really needed to leave. When we came out of the building the girls at the entrance checking desk asked us: 'Do you really want to live the place?' 'Yes', we replied, 'because we only came here to see GAF'.

On our way back to Andrey's bar VinyllaSky I felt myself like I was fully recovered from illness (except the voice). And half a bottle of scotch away we paved our way to Pulkovo airport to get onboard and fly away back to Moscow through one more sleepless night spent on salidas y llegadas.

There's a couple of things that I've known about myself during this trip (sorry for these personal details though):

1. I'm not a fan. I don't need these things like autographs and mutual photos, etc. I just need to support my favorite musicians and mostly that's all.

2. I'm too shy and I should do something with it the sooner the better. 

The stage. The Kaleidoscope background is on.

The band in the dark

The Fog Forest background

The Cosmos background

Las Resenas Casuales. Velcro "Hojalata"

Velcro "Hojalata" (p)2014 El Hombre Bala Records

I'm more than excited on this one.

As far as I know "Hojalata" is not album in the whole meaning of the word - it's more like collection of songs from early demos and self-edited works which were revised, renewed and re-recorded to the undeniably wonderful results. From the very first track you find yourself trapped into the velvet walls of post-'Cool Britannia' dance rock (does anyone remember Jesus Jones?) mixed with quasi-industrial electro-wave and leftfield electronica. Some may call them 'the Spanish Primal Scream' and it would be not so far from truth but I suppose that the musical pallette of Velcro in comparison with Bobby Gillespie's drug-soaked angst-ridden cynicism-based vehicle (if not counting PS's stylistical fluctuations back and forth from psychedelia to arena rock to electronica over and over again) is even wider.

You may write off a considerable part of admiration which is more than noticeable here on my general adoration of Canarian rock but even if you divide the emotional component of this review by 3 you will nevertheless get the great tunes and catchy choruses and happiness for everyone in the bottom line.

The best tracks: Me Rompe El Alma, Final, Que Va A Hacer?

Las Resenas Casuales. Letters From Reykjavik "Kalt"

Letters From Reykjavik "Kalt" (p)2012 El Hombre Bala Records

Another rock band from Canary Islands I have got acquainted with right now. Starting from year 2010 this six-piece indie-rock combo was successfully mixing La Habitacion Roja's translucent pop-psychedelia with shoegaze-touched sounds and angular post-punk bass lines in the vein of Galicians Igloo. The detached vocals of the singer Ruben Guisado made me recall at times The National's Matt Berninger, at times Esteban Ruiz from Sevilla-based band The Baltic Sea (another great band that I have to tell about a bit later).

I have found them some time ago through El Hombre Bala Records' bandcamp page and bought an album for just 1 Euro - but started listening only today while having my weekly trip from my native Tula to Moscow. And I was pretty shocked in a good way. This obscure band produced such the powerful music that within the first minute of the first song I came to conclusion that I was listening to the great band (yes, usually I make this kind of decisions pretty quickly). With every subsequent song I was frightened that the band might not be able to maintain the certain level of greatness they'd already approached - but every time my fears were false. It seemed like all six members of the Letters From Reykjavik had enough imagination to apply the amount of creative freedom into the tight structures of a post-punk based pop song. And don't forget about really cool melodies here.

Overall, "Kalt" is the powerful and melodic guitar-driven music that sounds fresh and can make you nod your head to every beat of the drums. Great album with no strings attached. It's so sad that the band finally called it quits last autumn after 4 years spent together.

The best tracks: Broken Fences, Suddenly, Ballad

A Brief Overview Of The Canarian Rock, Vol. 1

What makes me wonder about the Canarian music scene the most - is that dichotomy between this impression of the enclave of Heaven on Earth which Canary Islands appear in the eyes of the outside beholder, and the gloomy music this place generates. Really, instead of being as merry and sunny as the beaches of Las Americas or Maspalomas the music is mostly dark and inward-looking and unconventionally structured and convoluted as the bound limbs in the forests of Anaga.

San Borondon

This project of another local band Malcortado participant Jorge Miranda plays folksy and at times quirky yet tuneful lo-fi indie-rock. Their music is simple enough to easily attract a listener while having its own roughnesses and angles left unpolished.

Cabeza Borradora

One of the most longstanding musical projects of the Canary Islands, Cabeza Borradora, named after the David Lynch's enigmatic "Eraserhead" movie, appeared from the hot and heavily inclined streets of La Orotava, Tenerife, in 1993 to spread around the sound of Madchester wearing the influences of Primal Scream, Happy Mondays, New Order and Jesus Jones on their sleeves. The band went on to hiatus in 2000 and stayed silent for almost 13 years when returning in the very end of 2012 with the updated line-up, new concerts schedule and new release named "The Jack Nance EP" planned for 2014.

Malaspecto

The idyosynchratic duo focuses on Casiotone-based cartoon-voiced lo-fi techno pop. The band left several years in hiatus but recently returned to making music and released their reedited 2002 album through the local El Hombre Bala imprint in 2013.

Malcortado

This band from Gran Canaria island pays homage to 90's american indie movement playing loud and fresh indie rock in the vein of Superchunk and others of that generation proving that this type of music is not dated. The band only is to record a full lenght.

GAF & la Estrella De La Muerte

Led by Mladen Kurajica, the loose psychedelic and mostly instrumental combo emerged from Santa Cruz de Tenerife. GAF is another Canarian band well-known on the mainland, having 4 LPs in the background - all issued via Barcelona-based Foehn Records - and gigs in such countries as Japan and Mexico. The most recent album, "Sunriser" (p)2013 has received favourable reviews all over Spain. The centerpiece of this record is the gorgeous 20-something minutes long track "Yannakis" which amalgamated almost all basic elements of GAF's music: dreamy pipes and other winds, trippy translucent guitar drones, athmospheric ambient sounds, quasi-ritual drums - all this comes through lightweight first half of the track twisting and coiling up and down to become the armor-crashing wall of sound in second half. And it makes me recalling little-known space rock bands like Poem Rocket or SIANspheric4.

El Pilar Azul

A solo project of Pumuky's current line-up guitarist Adan Zeus. "El Constante Sin Nombre", the debut longplay of the band, reached #14 in my 'Top30 of 2013' list, but now I think that it should have a bit higher ranking - as long as I'm listening to it on an everyday basis. The slow evolving post-rock-oriented music of rare beauty.

Pumuky

Formerly raised from Ycod de los Vinos, Tenerife, this musical vehicle of Jair Ramirez quickly became the most notable band ever emerged from Canarias. Having 'revolving door' cast of musicians in the band (the only constant member of Pumuky besides Jair is his brother Noe) now Pumukies include Adan Zeus from El Pilar Azul, Dani Benavides (one-time member of El Pilar Azul, who also has the project of his own, LuzFuturo), Acaymo D and Jose A. Lopez from Malcortado.

Working for several initial years with no visible results, Jair had crystallized his music vision which resulted in building up the sound of his own. The first longplay "De Viaje Al Pais De Las Tormentas"  ("From The Travel To The Country Of Thunders") (p) 2006 was somewhat of a halfway to the perfection. The album had minor impact on the music scene but established Pumuky as 'persons of further interest' as well as allowed the band to make new connections within the scene.

The things roughly changed in a good way in 2009 when the second full lenght named "El Bosque En Llamas" ("The Forest In Flames") entered almost all the year-end national music polls, and along with the mainland longstays Vetusta Morla who released their debut LP "Un Dia En El Mundo" that year Pumuky were marked as the biggest national indie-rock sensations.

The next full lenght effort "Plus Ultra" deserved 2 years of working, and when being released it marked the slight change of the musical direction with the band now mostly focusing on dreampop sound.

Two years later the band released an EP "Pumuky Y El Eterno Femenino" for their label Jabalina Musica 'Dedicatessen' series. So now Pumuky is the band of absolutely unique sound - unique not only for Spain but for the worldwide music scene as well. The nation's property, not less.

Saletile

The ambient noise post-rock/krautrock duo from the town of Los Realejos, Tenerife. They have several EPs ("Trilogia Acustica", "Trilogia Noise", "SALE TILE") in back catalogue, all of them are up for free download from their BC page. The interstellar travels-inspired music of Saletile sounds interesting and innovative and seems to be free from the shortcomings which are common for the music of such type - it doesn't put you into that totally drugged-out state of mind.

A sampler of the actual sounds of Canarian scene you can obtain now from the BC page of local label El Hombre Bala Records.