The Best Of 2013. Albums 10 - 4

10. Cyan “Delapso” (p) Sony/BMG

Under the wing of the international major label the Barcelonians Cyan have perfected their sound for the 3rd album, having now all the components in the right proportion and delivering the stark guitar/piano-pop melodies (both easily sing-alongable, as "Philippe Petit", and not so easily distinguishable, as "Solo Es Una Herida") brushed with ethereal strings and translucent electronica.

09. Maryland “Los Anos Muertos” (p) Ernie Producciones

From the very beginning of their 3rd album the band do it full-throttle: the drums are banging, the guitars are ringing and buzzing, and overall picture makes me recalling the international punk-rock acts such as Alkaline Trio, for instance, or the 1st album of the fellow countrymen Mi Pequena Radio. 

It seems to me that the Galician indie-label Ernie Producciones, who are also the home of such the renowned musicians as Julio De La Rosa or Ninos Mutantes, make no faults at all in selection of the artists they promote. Really, I haven't ever listened to the bad album with the 'balancing man' stamp on it.

08. Dorian “La Velocidad Del Vacio” (p) PIAS

The first impression: Dorian started to move towards the Great Britain islands, so it's no surprise that "La Velocidad Del Vacio" was recorded with Phil Vinall (the british producer who worked with Elastica, Black Box Recorder and Placebo, to name a few) behind the dashboard. But the experience of the band prevented them from being another Bastille or someone like that, and Marc Gil and his companeros got no problems with self-determination. The sound of the album is a bit colder in comparison with the previous effort "La Ciudad Subterrania" but their electronica truly have the heart. And the small amount of guitar noise.

07. Igloo “04. El Conjunto Vacio” (p) Ernie Producciones

The previous album of the Galicians (yes, they're also on Ernie Producciones) Igloo was much more straightforward rock, but the band is inclined to improve the sound with every subsequent release, and in terms of the sound palette "El Conjunto Vacio" is the major step forward. This album isn't easy, it doesn't wear all its insides on its sleeves. You should listen to it deeper and deeper, and then even much deeper to reach the comprehension of what Beni Ferreiro ans his pals have created for us. Gone is the sheer post-punk of the previous releases, let's meet the best rock band of Gattaca.

And don't forget the best cover of the year!

06. Mucho “El Apocalipsis Segun Mucho” (p) Marxophone

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away there was the band who almost reached international success, and the band was The Sunday Drivers. After the dismissal of the band in 2009 the leader Jero Romero launched successful solo career, and the other members teamed up with Martin Perarnau from Underwater Tea Party and started Mucho. “El Apocalipsis Segun Mucho” is the second full lenght work of the band. It's the concept album dedicated, as you might see from the title, to the end of the world. 'The end of the world according to Mucho' is accompanied by the pleasant melodies you can easily sing along with. What really makes this album so good is the Mucho's ability to create the song that is lightbodied enough to attract listeners while being not too conventional at the same time - in the wide pallette of rhythms, tempos, dynamics etc.

05. Ivan Ferreiro “Val-Miñor – Madrid. Historia Y Cronologia Del Mundo” (p) Warner Music Spain

“Val-Miñor – Madrid. Historia Y Cronologia Del Mundo” is also the concept album of sorts. It was conceived as the vehicle to transfer the solipsist vision of its auteur to the grateful listeners. So it is probably the most personal album of Ivan Ferreiro. The good thing about "Val-Minor..." is that Ivan rejected the sound and rhythms of cheap cabaret ballroom which was usual on two of his previous works: "Mentiroso Mentiroso" and "Picnic Extraterrestre". The bad thing - the album doesn't contain the direct hit of "Cancion Humeda" or "Fahrenheit 451"-like grandeur. Despite this fact, the album has shown that creative form of today's Ivan Ferreiro is somewhere between 'mighty' and 'omnipotent'. You can't resist to the atmosphere of his travel, and you simply fall into - and it doesn't matter whether or not (or how) you relate to the world named 'Ivan Ferreiro'.

04. Miss Caffeina “De Polvo Y Flores” (p) Warner Music Spain

Luckily I can just repeat something I have said previously: "With the new album "De Polvo Y Flores" ("Of Dust And Flowers") Miss Caffeina distinguished almost unbelievable level of melodicism. The songs 'Gigantes', 'Venimos', 'San Francisco', 'MM' and especially 'Hielo T' got such the armour-crashing choruses that it seemed like the band had written them for the pan-universal song contest where Miss Caffeina would be the only contestant from planet Earth". 

Vertigo, sparkles and the pack of melodies any given renowned hitmaker would kill for.

Sonorama Ribera 2013. The Report. Day 2, 16.08.2013. Travelling and running - Part 2

When Jero Romero and his band walked off the stage we came closely to the stage trying to occupy the best places before Travis show. It was the 2nd Travis show we attended and it had all the remarkable moments of this band's arsenal: full-band strumming on the same acoustic guitar while performing "Flowers In The Window", Andy Dunlop's walk (limited by the lenght of the guitar cord) through the people during "All I Wanna Do Is Rock", and obligatory audience jumping in the last chorus of "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?" This band is really fine onstage. Fran Healy is pretty good in interacting with the public ("My Spanish is not good so I will talk to you in Scottish"). And all the new songs from the new album "Where You Stand" are mostly good. When the show came to an end no one walked away disappointed.

Travis

There was some time for us to spend before Pumuky. We might walk to Castilla y Leon to look at Delafe y Las Flores Azules or stay at Ribera del Duero and kill some time with the hot indie darlings Lori Meyers - but instead we made a short run to the car to leave there the bag with CDs and t-shirts which irritaded me so much. When we run to the car, Delafe y Las Flores Azules caught our attention so when we returned to the 'recinto ferial' we watched the end of their show. Their music had some similarities to England's punk leftists Chumbawamba - full of the hip-hop singalongs flowered with the beautiful voice of the female vocalist Helena (who is in fact 'Flores Azules' in the band name) and remarkable stage behaviour of the male vocalist Oscar (who is 'Delafe').

Pumuky is the outstanding band for me. Spearheaded by Jair Ramirez, this quintet makes music so somber and so sad that you can never imagine that it was born in such the heavenly place as Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. Their 2nd LP called "El Bosque En Llamas" ("The Forest In Flames") topped almost all the possible Spanish indie charts in 2009 (as long as entered my own Spanish indie rock all-time top10 at 3rd position) and the band became a kind of sensation while their presence on the mainland music festivals was still limited. The 3rd effort "Plus Ultra" was issued in 2011 and it marked the widening of musical pallette as band had incorporated the elements of dreampop and pure shoegaze to their core base of the mournful folk rock mixed with synths and even theremin. Me and Jair became amigos in Facebook not so long before the Sonorama, so me and Tanya prepared some pequeno regalito for him. The absence of the security gap between the FutureStars stage and the audience fitted well for the transfer of the regalito. We only had to wait when the show ended.
First of all, the band faced some trouble when plugging in and tuning. This delayed the show for 10-15 minutes giving the band less time to perform.
Sad and detached on the albums, Pumuky stayed the same live. But while their albums are mostly quiet, en directo they gave us the full-blown three-guitar swirl that could make the bands like A Place To Bury Strangers or God Is An Astronaut jealous. We stood right in front of the monitors, and every punching beat of the drums has tossed the quantums of life out of our bodies. It was not the show - it was the experience.
I suppose, there was the largest audience for FutureStars, and all the people was as shocked and amazed as were we. We all shouted 'Escenario principal!!!' three times as long as the band surely deserved much larger audience. And then the show ended, and guys just walked away and that's all.

Pumuky

"What..." - could only say I. The regalito (now revealed to be the tiny matryoska) was still in my pocket and there was no one to give it to. A couple of minutes we just stayed there being not able to make a move. And then the band came in and began to unplug the instruments. Jair was in 1,5 meters from me. "Jair!" - shouted I. He raised his head, and I threw the matryoska at him. He caught it and without a glance put it in his pocket. "What..." - could only say I, again. But at that moment Tanya shouted 'Rusiaaaaa!' - and it worked well catching his attention. He just understood who was throwing things at him. We just waved hands, shook hands - but it was enough for me and Tanya to become absolutely happy.

But the night was still not over. So we should move quickly to attend Miss Caffeina show.
With the new album "De Polvo Y Flores" ("Of The Dust And Flowers") the band distinguished almost unbelievable level of melodicism. The songs 'Gigantes', 'Venimos', 'San Francisco' and especially 'Hielo T' got such the armour-crashing choruses that it seemed like the band had wrote them for the pan-universal song contest where Miss Caffeina would be the only contestant from planet Earth.
The members of Miss Caffeina looked onstage like the glamourized hipsters - with the glittering guitar belts, pink drumkit plastics and the superhero make-up of the singer Alberto. But the songs were really great, and "Hielo T" was the perfect ending for this massive gig.

Miss Caffeina

Honestly, we could withstand only four songs of the 2nd day headliners Dorian because at that moment they started playing we got absolutely exhausted. The Ribera del Duero stage was upgraded especialy for them, and it was all beautiful around with all these blue and violet lights but... It was 3 a.m. and I could only quote Det. Murtaugh: "I'm too old for this shit". Sorry, Dorian, we will catch you later.

Dorian