GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte "Pyramids" (p)2023 Foehn/ Keroxen/ Discrepant

They did it again. "The Canarian combo just released an album that bears little resemblance to their previous releases" - the phrase that can be attributed to every Gaf's album. The band never showed any trace of desire to be placed into a certain genre or category or scene but it's apparent that with each subsequent release they try to "try harder" on that way. Every album is a step - or a jump - aside. 

First, "Pyramids" is mostly electronic. At least, its first half.

Second, it's 100% instrumental. Carolina doesn't sing, Mladen doesn't sing. No one says a word.

"Pyramids" was recorded in El Tanque (the former petrol tank 50 m in diameter and 18 m in height converted into art space) during 3 day long improvisational sessions. 

It's two LP album but it contains only 7 tracks. Three are two synth-laden tracks ("Pyramids 1", "Pyramids 4"), a bass-driven kraut piece ("Pyramids 2"), an atonal jazz piece with leading trumpet ("Pyramids 3"), two meaty post-rocky tracks ("Reptylian", "Speed Of Darkness") and a space rock elegy ("Wormhole 74"). Structurally they are sequenced to make the whole picture evolve constantly like a spoonful of mercury splashed onto the surface. Album starts from tiny synth musings, then it grows up to guitar-fueled storm and finally calms down descending slowly to serenity and peace. That's the main course but there are multiple pitch roll and yaw corrections on the way.

Summed up, it's not so mindwrenching as "Garden Island" (the album by GAF's another avatar GAF And The Love Supreme Arkestra recorded in the similar circumstances) but it's still an adventurous experience. The listener's discretion is advised.

BNDCMP 

Monkey Week 2018 - 10th Anniversary. 24.11.2018

The summary >>>

23.11.2018 >>>

The next morning I woke up at 9 am having three hours of sleep only. Surprisingly, I felt myself alive enough to come out immediately as I had an urge to visit the record shops of Sevilla. As I travelled without any luggage except for a backpack it could be a major problem for me if I had purchased some vinyls but it appeared that the record shops I visited were specializing on second hand records having little of the most recent releases. The only records I'd like to purchase were La Estrella De David's "Consagracion" and Basanta's "Colorama" but finally I decided to avoid the possible transportation issues.

Despite my nondirectional territorial fluctuations I was just in time at Ron Contrabando stage (Alameda de Hercules square) to catch the very beginning of the Radio3 La Batalla de las Bandas hosted by one of the most famous Radio3 anchors Angel Carmona. The time limits were the same as for yesterday's mini showcases (also MC'ed by Angel): 6 minutes for the whole round of 'come out - plug in - play a single song - walk away'. The event started with the performance of the new local heroes Derby Motoreta's Burrito Cachimba that obviously represented the [arguably] the main contemporary trend of rock music: the 70's revival. The band that exploited the completely different direction - my new friends San Jeronimo - replaced the Sevillian six-piece onstage. Then I managed to see two more bands: the Foehn Records' residents Alien Tango, and the cock-rock combo Los Jaguares De La Bahia. Then I escaped the event to come to the opposite side of the Alameda de Hercules for Yawners. This was one of my best decisions because this metropolitan girl/boy quasi-punk duo was enormously great. I can't explain what was that decisive element of their show that made me surrender and convert myself into a devoted fan. But this was such the pleasure to see this band in action.

According to the schedule, the OffMonkey session was the next event I should attend right after Yawners. This one was organized by my friends from WeAreWolves Records to showcase the bands of the roster: the dj sessions by Pumuky and I Am Dive and two full-fledged performances by Kindata and San Jeronimo. This event should be started at 2 pm inside the Hops & Dreams gastro bar but when I came to the place only three persons were there. I was quite embarassed as I tried to consult a barman but he didn't understand me. So a guy who revealed to be Berni from Kindata came to me trying to resolve the problem. We quickly got in contact, and then I introduced myself to Tero, the second half of Kindata. This band was my biggest discovery of the year so I was completely happy to see them live and to talk to them within a month from the moment I had learned of their mere existence.

Little by little the venue got full of people. I got in touch with a man named Fran who revealed to be a photographer and a friend of Jose A. Perez. We sat together and discussed our further plans and past experiences of Monkey Week 2018. Moreover, Berni introduced me to the guys of Palo Alto who were nice and welcoming as well. In the meantime the bands started playing. San Jeronimo were the first to play, and then Kindata stepped in. These bands were the pure delight - both musically and personally.

The actuation of Da Souza at the nearby Mangaroca stage drove me away from Hops & Dreams. This Mallorcan band released the new album "Futbol D'Avantguarda" (p)Famelic that appeared to be kind of indie sensation, and I liked it as many others did so it was no way to avoid visiting their performance. It was a bit spoiled by the rain. The band played inside the tent but I beheld it getting soaked with the raindrops. Anyway it was quite low price for making it possible. Good music always defeats the rain.
By the way, at the entrance of Santa Clara I met Joan and Natalia of Saim. I approached them and expressed my respect, we talked a bit and they gave me a t-shirt as a gift. Moltes gracies!  

Then I made a short run to Jagermeister. Puma Pumku already started playing there. Like Yawners before the Galician neo-psych combo demonstrated the ability to win over the unprepared observer from the very first glance. I wasn’t totally unprepared as I used to listen to their first album for quite a while – but I never caught them before and had no idea how could they sound live. They quickly made me realize that coming up there I did just fine. This band is great, don’t miss the opportunity to see them.

Uniforms are only going to be great. The nugaze starlets just released their debut ("Polara" (p)Oso Polita) and managed to gather a considerable crowd inside Fun Club. Thus I was forced to stand behind the pillar and could see a little. Anyway, their performance wasn't perfect but their potential was obvious.

The populous and stylistically omnivore rock collective Los Jaguares De La Bahia spearheaded by the one of the most renowned indie rock producers of Spain performed at Ron Contrabando. I saw Paco Loco onstage once when he performed with Australian Blonde, but as a frontman he was even more... ummm, impressive. Shamelessly unleashed, he was like an uncontrolled beast there upon the stage. Despite his anti-star appearance, I think, he made every photographer there loaded with the whole lot of ‘rock star pose and gestures’ photos.

The Donostarrian indie rockers Pet Fennec sounded good performing in the open air (I witnessed it at Sonorama) but now within the limited space of Fun Club they sounded really massive. I placed myself in front of the bass monitor and every beat and every low note made my insides tremble. As I spent most of their time limit at Los Jaguares I caught only three songs. It was not enough - but what could I do.

Regarding the all-female garage band Melenas from Pamplona I'd like to say the following: I can’t call myself a fan of garage rock, but the girls do their thing with palpable honesty. It shouldn’t be omitted despite the fact is the listener a fan of the genre or not.

I liked the second album of the Galician art punks Travesti Afgano so they were in my own schedule from that very first moment I saw the #mokeyweek10 line up. They performed at gay bar Itaca - the southernmost location of the festival. Live the band positioned themselves as stylistically and behaviorally unpredictable act that could easily interact with public whilst changing the genres three times within a song. One of the irrefutable wins of the festival that, unfortunately, was sparsely attended.

Then I headed to La Calle rock club for the Canarias Crea/ Keroxen showcase. When I passed along Teatro Alameda I witnessed a queue that splashed out from the entrance and flew around the corner.
I walked along the queue guessing who the hell might gather such the crowd. In the middle of the queue I met Fran who explained me that all these people were there for Pony Bravo. This band had created a considerable cult following during the years of activity so the audience welcomed their first performance in years with huge enthusiasm.
Nevertheless, I came further to the club. It could be nice to see Pony Bravo but the prospect of losing some amount of time in passing through this queue was up to kill the possible perks of seeing one of the scene-defining bands in action.
Saletile, the experimental rock duo from Tenerife, opened the Canary Islands night at La Calle. The schedule was cruel for them as their slot coincided with Pony Bravo’s. On the other hand, Saletile’s music is not for everybody and the focus groups of the bands were hardly coincident. For me, I enjoyed their set of long instrumental passages and digital noise drones a lot.

I’m not going to spread much words about those two bands that followed Saletile onstage. What could I say… Pumuky and GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte, my favorite band and the best live act of the scene respectively, that’s exactly how I'd like to label them. I feel some kind of personal connections to both of the bands. I can’t judge them with due objectivity so I should pull them off the scale. For me it’s like, you know, there are Messi and Ronaldo – and there are the real people.
Unfortunately, the actuation of GAF was my final concert of the festival. The bell rang for me. I wasn’t happy to say goodbyes to all the people that accompanied me through the Monkey Week 2018 but the Ryanair’s flight schedule forced me to do so.
Then I walked outside and then lost the next 23 hours of my life in taxi cabs, aircrafts, stopovers and trains.

Monkey Week 2018 - 10th Anniversary. 23.11.2018

22.11.2018

It was 4 am (Moscow time) when I stepped out of my appartment, locked the door and then lost the next 20 hours of my life in buses, taxi cabs, trains, aircrafts and stopovers. I never used to visit Seville before so when I finally came to the city and left my backpack in a booked room, I went out immediately to look at the night in the old town. If my Cologne - Seville flight wasn’t 1 hour delayed I could make it to get my pulsera before the box office booth at the Alameda de Hercules square got closed at 10 pm. Anyway, when I came to the place it was all over, only the happy people teamed up in small companies were wandering off the square. It was mildly raining in Seville that night but it didn’t prevent me from walking the narrow streets of the old town with the smile on my face.
The only poor thing was that due to my late arrival I missed the performance of the gaditanos The Magic Mor whom I had wanted to see alot.

23.11.2018

In contrary, the next afternoon I had the brief lapse of tristeza while walking alone along the streets north of Alameda De Hercules. I felt so detached from everything what was going on as I looked at the people around who were smiling and talking to each other and no one was alone there – no one except me. Just a lone man deep in his forties trying to run away from his problems, I was on the verge of crying when I came to the Jagermeister stage arranged upon the former bumper car minidrome. Baiuca was set to perform there at 4 pm. Just imagine the Banco De Gaia’ “Maya” album with all the Tibetan ethno motives being replaced with the Galician ethno motives to get an impression of what Baiuca’s music sounded like. 

The Galician ethno-trance techno band was not the first band I saw that day. The DITTO stage mini-showcases were my first 'check' in the 'to-do list'. I had no idea what it would be like but it appeared to be the sequence of the performances when a band gets 5-6 minutes to come out, plug in the gear, play a song and get offstage. I was a bit late and caught only the last few seconds of Palo Alto’s performance. Then a sole guy with an acoustic guitar and a loop recorder came out. Unfortunately, I couldn’t recognize his name so he was marked simply as ‘a looper guy from Madrid’ in my travel notes. Amongst the others there were: the young band from Granada Vita Insomne, the Bjork-alike chick Mounqup, the minimalist electropop duo Fru Katinka, the slightly dreampop’y post-punk trio from Colombia Las Yumbeñas and death/core duo from Mexico Los Viejos. 14 bands in total.

That time I met no persons I wanted to meet there so I went out to get myself familiar with the surroundings. That’s exactly when I was stricken by the grief.

Upon returning to the main festival locations I saw Baiuca and then rushed to the Santa Clara buildings to see Saim. I like post-hardcore in common, and I like Saim’s post-hardcore in particular. Their album “Accidents” performed pretty well in my annual 2017 ‘best of’ list almost making it to Top 25. So their set was one of the main attractions for me. I came in and within two minutes they started playing. This made me completely satisfied as they were just as great as I might thought of them. The classic post-hardcore vocals, the perfectly synchronized rhythm section…

Back-to-back with Saim’s performance the Pumuky’s first actuation was scheduled. I saw them live only once before. My bad. I desperately tried to multiply that miserable number since, but never coincided with their rare performances.  That only show was the one of the Sonorama 2013 where they performed full band (“Plus Ultra” version of the band members plus La Caterva Grabaciones’ Jose A. Lopez on drums). This time it was only Jair and Noe onstage thus the sound have undergone some inevitable changes as compared to what I witnessed before. Now Jair mostly played synths and effects picking up his guitar only occasionally while Noe performed 99.9% of guitar work. Moreover, if previously Jair’s voice might be secluded within the three guitar squall and groundshaking drums now it dominated the square gaining some demonic overtones along the way.

Right before Pumuky’s actuation I met Jose and Esteban from I Am Dive & WeAreWolves Records along with Maria and Nacho from San Jeronimo – the band that was set to perform later that evening at Mangaroca’s. Moreover, I briefly talked to Mladen and Alejandro from GAF. The things finally started to get in the right way, and from that moment on I never felt lonely or detached these days.

There were only two thirds of GAF y la Estrella de la Muerte onstage as Carolina (vocals, drums) and Cesar (guitar) were to arrive only the next morning. “You see the man at drums – he’s our bass player. And that guy with bass – he’s our keyboards player”, Mladen told to audience when they concluded. Nevertheless, it all sounded great. The only poor thing was the reaction of public. Frankly, there was no reaction. The ones who came to their show – most of them – spent more time chatting around than listening to the music.

A couple of years I occasionally run into San Jeronimo’s first LP “Salinas, 20:15“ and fell in love with it immediately. This year they have released the new longplay “El Sur” which marked their shift to more synth-laden sound (the first one was rather acoustic sadcore) like if it was born in Bristol, GB. The dreamy synth passages and the ethereal voice of Maria were backed with the trembling guitar lines operated by Nacho. Their performance was arranged with the dusk and shadows – the best possible way to listen to the music of the Asturias duo. 

Then I rushed to my room to change the clothes and have some meal before walking off for the night section of the fest. 

Cor Blanc were the first ones in my own schedule for that night. The tiny electro pop duo from Barcelona didn’t manage to gather much people inside the bar named Studio 74, but their performance was all nice, warm and funny. To entertain whose who attended their performance they incorporated some famous pop melodies into the canvas of their own compositions which added some more positive impression.

Leaving the Studio 74 in the good mood, I was put before a question how to spend the spare time before the later section of the schedule that should take place in the northernmost rock clubs. The most apparent answer was to attend the nearby Teatro Alameda whoever might play there. So I entered the building to find myself in the middle of the storm. Biznaga were playing there, and they did it ferociously. Really, they were playing so fast and hitting so hard that at times I couldn’t see the palms of the guitarists’ hands as they were motion-blurred but saw well instead how the set of drums is literally jumping upon the plinth.

My next POI were Exnovios. This neo-psych band from Navarra is co-fronted by the former Muy Fellini (whom I’m the massive fan of) frontman Juan Maravi. I managed to talk briefly to him before the concert expressing my respect to his past and present doings. The actuation itself was great. Live the band sounded ten times better than being recorded in studio. The synchronization between both singers/guitarists was perfect, and some of their melodies I was humming for a month.

Terry Vs Tori. Usually the dreampop bands are lacking expression motionlessly staring down to the ground while playing as they follow the template given by the parent genre’s direct meaning – but this particular band apparently had the showman. Their bass player took on dancing duties relentlessly, gaining much attention and approval from public. Regarding the music, for me it sounded like the voice of the female singer wasn’t set up correctly but this was only minor complaint as everything else was fine.

Up to that point I passed over 32 kms in a day so my feet were crying out for help and understanding. My body was on the verge of breaking up. But I had to stay there to see Bifannah. Their album “Maresia” performed great in the 2017’s Top50 list so I was eager to catch them live. And I wasn’t disappointed, to speak in brief. The Galician four-piece made an atmospheric show with the right mood, perfect groove and cool vibe with their psychedelic synth-driven pop/rock strongly alluded to the Doors. It was well worth staying there for them.

I returned to the apartments completely worn out but overwhelmingly happy. I hardly could go to sleep as I was overloaded with emotions. It was 6 a.m. when I finally made myself into the bed.

Best Of 2018. Top50 Albums. 21 - 30

We're slowly getting close to the very top...

30. Un Planeta "Arboles"

(p)El Hombre Bala

The sophisticated acoustic folk from the Canarian singer/songwriter Alberto Alonso. The album was produced by like-minded singer/songwriter Diego Hdez.

BNDCMP

29. Cuzin "Segunda Toma"

(p)Gran Tigre

The sophomore release by my favourite Spanish post-hardcore band.

BNDCMP

27-28. Pasavento "La Trayectoria Ideal"

(p)self-released

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Bestlife (Under Your Seat) "Changes"

(p)self-released
BNDCMP

These two albums of perfect pre-Britpop jangle pop are tied back not only to Echo & the Bunnymen but also to The Go-Betweens (you may keep in mind the solo efforts of Ian McCullogh of the former and Grant McLennan of the latter as the good reference points as well). Brit/Aussie/Kiwi-guitar-pop.

26. Jupiter Lion "We Will Lose Gracefully"

(p)BCore Disc

Sc-fi soundtrack for the 22nd century.

BNDCMP

25. Lisabö "Eta Edertasunaren Lorratzetan Biluztu Ginen"

(p)BideHuts

The undeclared rerurn of the legendary Basque post-hardcore septet. Ground-shaking, totalitarian, anti-utopian.
RCKDLX 

24. Subterraneos "Take A Ride"

(p)Caballito

The noisy gloomy vibrant music by the band from Extremadura. JAMC as the most evident influence.

PS. Every Caballito Records release is in the list. 

BNDCMP

23. Jordi Lanuza "Com A Casa"

(p)Bankrobber

I feel jealous looking at (as well as listening to) the Catalan singer/songwriter scene...

BNDCMP

22. Disco Las Palmeras "Calida"

(p)Sonido Muchacho

The most stripped-down Disco Las Palmeras! album contains their most memorable songs.

BNDCMP

21. GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte "Gamma Bay"

(p)Foehn

Read this >>>

BNDCMP






Top20 EPs and mini albums
Honorable Mention
41 - 50 >>>
31 - 40 >>>
11 - 20 >>>
01 - 10 >>>

Monkey Week 2018 - 10th Anniversary. The Summary

Just some info in brief.

My average “go/not go” decision-making term for travels is 6 months.

The decision-making term for this particular trip was less than 5 days. Even while sitting in Cologne airport stopover I was under threath of coming back.

The whole 4 days of the travel. 

The whole 2 days of the Monkey Week 2018 festival.

This was an adventure ad-lib, the most unprepared trip in my life.

My first visit to Seville, my first visit to Andalusia.

70 km passed on feet.

40 bands seen onstage. 

The new encounters. The re-encounters with the old pals. 

The new bands to follow.

Estrella Galicia under the rain. Lots of Estrella Galicia under the rain.

These were the happiest of days.

I felt like every person I run into was a musician.

I was happy to see Saim, Da Souza, Travesti Afgano, Bifannah and Exnovios live. I expected them to be great onstage – and they were truly amazing.

I was happy to get soaked into the magic sounds of Dreyma, Terry vs Tori, Kindata and Saletile.

I was happy to discover and immediately fall for Yawners and Puma Pumku (regarding the latter – I liked their “Is It In You?” LP alot but they spent plenty of time quite quiet since, and I had no idea on what they were up to now).

San Jeronimo, my greatest live discovery of the fest both musically and personally.

And, last but not least. Pumuky and GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte. "One of my favourite bands and one the best live acts of the scene" - I can apply this phrase to both of them. The only reason for you to avoid visiting their shows in your town is death. No kidding, I saw the persons amongst the audience who cried after their sets. 

And I was crying after their sets too.

During these two over-saturated days I’ve seen live the following.

Full Concerts:

Mini Showcases (Friday 23, DITTO)

Saim (Friday 23, Mangaroca)

Pumuky (Friday 23, DITTO)

GAF (Friday 23, DITTO)

San Jeronimo (Friday 23, Mangaroca)

Cor Blanc (Friday 23, Studio 74)

Exnovios (Friday 23, Sala X)

Yawners (Saturday 24, Jagermeister)

San Jeronimo (Saturday 24, Hops & Dreams – OffMonkey)

Kindata (Saturday 24, Hops & Dreams – OffMonkey)

Melenas (Saturday 24, Vinilo Rock Club)

Travesti Afgano (Saturday 24, Itaca)

Saletile (Saturday 24, Sala La Calle – Fiesta Keroxen)

Pumuky (Saturday 24, Sala La Calle – Fiesta Keroxen)

GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte (Saturday 24, Sala La Calle – Fiesta Keroxen)

Partially Seen:

Baiuca (Friday 23, Jagermeister)

Dreyma (Friday 23, DITTO)

Biznaga (Friday 23, Teatro Alameda)

Terry vs Tori (Friday 23, Sala Even)

Bifannah (Friday 23, Sala Even)

Da Souza (Saturday 24, DITTO)

Puma Pumku (Saturday 24, Jagermeister)

Uniforms (Saturday 24, Fun Club)

Los Jaguares De La Bahia (Saturday 24, Ron Contrabando)

Seen Only Episodically:

El Imperio Del Perro (Friday 23, Ron Contrabando)

Las Yumbenas (Saturday 23, Mangaroca)

Baywaves (Friday 23, Sala X)

RADIO3 La Guerra De Las Bandas (Saturday 24, Ron Contrabando)

Los Estanques (Saturday 24, Ron Contrabando)

Dani Llamas (Saturday 24, Ron Contrabando)

Pet Fennec (Saturday 24, Fun Club)

Planned But Not Seen:

Alien Tango, Futuro Terror, Vulk, Joan Colomo, Aliment

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.

BNDCMP

FCBK

Estratega Pencherjevsky "Sentinel"

Estratega Pencherjevsky "Sentinel" (p)2015

Estartega Pencherjevsky is the solo project of Jose J. Martin, one of the components inside the universe of GAF y La Estrella De La Muerte. So what we've got here is the Canarian-bred sci-fi electro rock - the music that derives from old school 70's synth pop experimentators Tangerine Dream ("I Can't Remeber") as well as from the present day Grammy nominees Daft Punk ("Neon Shield"). As eclectic as the 5-song EP can be, "Sentinel" creates and incorporates 8-bit Nintendo sounds on par with Eastern Block cosmic television dramas' soundtracks ("Apocalyptic Rhythm Machine" could work well for some Stanislaw Lem adaptation) to receive the dizzy, foggy and warm soundscapes with the large portion of nostalgia.

The best tracks: The Neon Shield, Sentinel

LISTEN/FREE DOWNLOAD

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.

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

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

When I learned about GAF would come to Russia to participate this year's SKIF festival in Saint Petersburg it was really nice shock cos GAF is not only the Spanish band, but it is also the band from Canary Islands, the corner of the world that I truly adore.

Also, in the middle of the spring Andrey, the friend of mine, has opened the doors of his own bar+LP shop+concertplace named 'culture bar VInyllaSky'. So he ivited me to visit his place which is situated in Saint Petersburg as well. I decided to reach both aims in one time, so my story should be divided into two (or even three) sub-plots almost fully separated.

The plan was as follows:

1. Early in the morning of 17/05 me and my mujer Tanya should leave Moscow by plane to land in Saint Petersburg airport at 11 am. 

2. Right after landing we should go to Andrey's bar and spend some time there with the master.

3. At 8 pm we should get to Vassilievski Island to find where SKIF XVIII would be taking place and see the show of GAF.

4. To return to the bar.

5. To drink with Andrey.

6. To fly back to Moscow early (really early) Sunday morning.

Additionally, not to take this life too easily, in the very beginning of the last week I fell ill with the flu but all the tickets were already bought and all the pacts were confirmed so I had no right to step back.

The first sub-story is about Andrey's bar.

I felt like I should present something to Andrey. And the truth is that I had something to pesent him. Back in 2013 I had purchased two EPs by Pumuky issued within the singles collection of Jabalina Musica records: 'Jabalina Love Songs' and 'Dedicatessen'. But later I consequently bought the full editions of both of these collections which led to the fact that I became the owner of two copies of the same Pumuky EPs. 

The EPs were not ever used and look fine...

From the street

Inside

Yes, these two EPs

Tanya points it out

In the smoking room (just posing)

...much as the place where they now live. VinyllaSky is such the nice place for every music lover who's on  the music of intelligent kind.

Later that night when all the stuff walked home and Andrey closed the door, we opened a bottle of scotch and started listening to these EPs. The reaction was really positive so Pumuky became one step closer to the show in Russia, I suppose ))

A Quick Guide To... Foehn Records

Recently we (me and my mujer Tanya) have spent a couple of days in Barcelona to celebrate Tanya's birthday. On the last day of our short trip we met Marc Campillo, the head of Barcelona-based indie label Foehn Records (before the viaje I contacted him via Facebook so our short encounter was not a surprise for both of us).

It took a small amount of time for us to find the place where Foehn is really based, and shortly after I pressed the button of the intercom and said "Hola! Soy Mikhail desde Rusia!" a man with the natural red-coloured hair appeared on the treshold. Also, he was in the I Am Dive (one of the definitive Foehn bands) t-shirt. He brought us four CDs that I'd ordered, and also 3 CDs additionally as un regalo for us. The Spanish people of music never cease to amaze me - they're all so amicable and welcoming, and Marc is not an exclusion at all.

Foehn Records is the home for the thinkful music. You won't find any pop-oriented moneymakers here.

From Marina Gallardo to Inigo Ugarteburu, from Ursula to Blacanova, from I Am Dive to Oso Leone, from Lucius Works Here to El Gos Binari - at least one common thing unites all these bands and artists as well as all other bands and artists on the label: you can't listen to them on a fly. To feel and to understand this music you should really dive into it. You should sit down and listen to. I said sit. Down.

The CDs I purchased:

Oso Leone "Mokragora"

Poomse "Vs. The Kingdom Of Death"

GAF y la Estrella de la Muerte "Sunriser"

Ursula "10 Anos Por Amigos"

The CDs Marc presented to us:

Blacanova "Blacanova"

tannhauser "Para Entonces Habras Muerto"

Lucius Works Here "Pequeno Almanaque Espacial"

All of them would be reviewed here pretty soon.

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.