Laura Lebone "Como Las Demás" (p)2023 autoeditado

Laura Arías plays synths and sings co-leading vocals in another remarkable indie band from Cádiz area - Detergente Líquido. Also, she serves as a half of marylebone duo from Sevilla where she permanently resides. "Cómo Las Demás" ("Like The Rest Of Them", where the definite article "las" shows that all of "them" are meant to be females) appears as a collaborative project: each and every song is marked with a collab name beside Laura's own. In the first song - largely acoustic tontipop piece "Manifesto" - she restores the creative pair with her marylebone partner Mario P. Recuero. Next, Laura is accompanied by her brother Julian in the vintage bossanova of "Cruda". Then it's Juan Antonio Mateos' turn to provide her with backing vocals (by the way, he produced the whole EP and, moreover, operated most of the guitar-looking equipment) in "Sindrome De Abstinencia" - undeniably the best track here led by Juan Antonio's catchy guitar part. Detergente Líquido's mastermind Alberto Rodway appears in "Dos Historias: Un Balcon Y Una Ventana" - a classic Detergente'y singalong with strong melody and fuzzy sound. The last one is where Ernie Rodriguez comes in not only with his drumming skills but also with his rarely heard before singing abilities (though his backing vocals in the choruses are harder to recognize than Louise Post vocalizing in Foo Fightets' "Everlong" - and you feel his lower notes rather than hear them). The eponimous tender elegy effectively closes the curtain behind this tiny set of songs where Laura approves her capability to star in the leading role after all these years of starring in supporting ones.

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The Magic Mor "Retrato De Amor Primitivo" (p)2023 self-released

The Magic Mor is the band from the outskirts of Cádiz area - historically valuable harbour town, one of the southernmost trade and cultural centers of the mainland Spain. The band's leader, Juan Antonio Mateos, runs an indie recording studio Grabaciones Sumergidas in the nearby El Puerto de Santa Maria (the same cluster where Paco Loco runs his much more renowned Pacoloco Studios) where he is assisted by Ernesto "Ernie" Rodriguez - The Magic Mor's drummer. The band has three longplays full of the intelligent and tightly constructed psychedelic pop in its back catalogue. The new EP follows in the vein of the previous releases. It's melodic guitar-driven pop crafted to perfection where every little piece falls in its right place. The guitars and synths coexist successfully never blurring the essence of a song. I truly hope this 4 song EP is only an appetizer before the release of the next LP. I'll be looking forward eagerly.

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Homeless "Youthful Ashes"

Homeless "Youthful Ashes" (p)2020 self-released

The third longplay of the gaditanos Homeless is another chapter in the band's own story of the constant evolution. Stylistically "Youthful Ashes" differs from "Solidos Platonicos" as much as "Solidos Platonicos" differed from "La Ciencia Lo Sabe". There's a clue to this (not 100% correct, it's just what I can consider what it looks like from the distance). The band is a part of the southernmost Andalusian bands community closely associated with the Grabaciones Sumergidas - recording studio based in El Puerto de Santa Maria - and the personalities behind it: namely, Juan Antonio Mateos (plays guitar in Homeless, fronts The Magic Mor, produces dozens of local bands including my own favorites Detergente Liquido) and Ernie Rodriguez (plays drums for The Magic Mor and Detergente Liquido as well as for Homeless right now, along with assisting Juan Antonio in production duties). So it seems like Grabaciones Sumergidas sometimes acts like a think tank, a trading post, a pool of ideas from which the musicians could drink using the pieces of those collective ideas for their own purposes.

The first major change of the pattern is pictured right on the sleeve. As the title shows, after two LPs sung completely in castellano Diego Pozo - the frontman and primary songwriter of the band - started to sing in English. The more habitual situation in the Spanish indie scene is when a band starts its career from singing in English and then converts to Spanish. “Youthful Ashes” is the opposite case. It’s neither good nor bad – just a thing worth mentioning.

While the English language is the first thing you notice when putting the record on, the advanced role of synths is the second. There is a pair of songs in the middle of the album ("Breaking Up" and "The Trip") where the synths take leading role to make them sound so new wavey you could feel like going back to the 80's. However, for the most of the tracks Linda Guilala-esque synths, fragile-sounding (please don't confuse it with 'thin' – ‘fragile’ is good, ‘thin’ is mostly not) guitars and crispy clean sound of Slowdive's "Souvlaki" are the main sonic dominants. Despite the mention of both Linda Guilala and Slowdive in one phrase, only minor dreampop influence is detected. Melodically the album pays more debt to post-millennial 'non-aligned' British rock acts - for example, "Behind Us" sounds like amalgam of IAMX and The Cooper Temple Clause. It also reminds me of the last year's magnificent "In Search Of The Miraculous" by Desperate Journalist. It's not about any direct comparisons - it rather feels like when listetning to both records I get more or less the same emotions. And just like "In Search Of The Miraculous", "Youthful Ashes" is another strongest contender to compete for the year’s end pole position.

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