Lo Mejor De 2023. Top 50 Albums. 31 - 40

BC = Bandcamp, SP = Spotify

40. TOU "Creixin Els Arbres" 

BC

The Catalan artist Albert Segura mixes electronica, synth-pop, kosmische musik, early era Depeche Mode on his debut longplay to make a listener dive into some unsettling atmosphere. The track "La Guerra" could easily fit for a totalitarian sect drama's soundtrack. 

39. Charnego "Regreso Al Futuro"

BC

This indie supergroup consists of Atención Tsunami, Biznaga and Being Berber members. At the beginning of the disc it seems like Biznaga connection prevails but as it rolls on the tense electro-rock rhythms of Atención Tsunami along with overall psychotic atmosphere of their peers Disciplina Atlántico starts to dominate.

38. Sonic Beast "Accidental" 

BC

Another supergroup in this list. Bad Mongos, Bullitt, No More Lies, Illinoise, Ultramarinos Costabrava Studios, brothers Garcia, Sant Feliu de Guixols... For those initiated, each and every word here could cause an urge to grab it immediately.

37. Bons Nois "Delta" 

BC

This delicate and tight indie rock album with touches of dreampop shocks with its sonic excellentce - especially taking in mind that it was recorded by the young band entirely on their own.

36. Belén Bandera "Bamboo, Nature's Calligraphy" 

SP

A neo-classical ambient masterpiece. 70% of this disc is silence - but what a beautiful silence it is.

35. La Paloma "Todavía No" 

BC

The metropolitan quartet effectively juggles the Everclear, Weezer, Cala Vento and Triangulo De Amor Bizarro influences adding huge amounts of youthful anergy.

34. Bullitt "Major B" 

BC

For a time being I had no idea how to tag Bullitt. The term "melodic punk" gets too close to "pop punk" who Bullitt surely aren't. Power pop? Alt rock? Yes, but not really. This album helps greatly to come to conclusion, so now I know how to describe their music correctly: just imagine Bad Religion recruiting Noel Gallagher for lead guitar.

33. Triángulo de Amor Bizarro "SED" 

SP

Arguably the best TdAB album? I believe "Salve Discordia" is still at the top spot but "SED" comes close. Less emotionally chaotic than its predecessor "triangulodeamorbizarro" (p)2019, "SED" adds some new colors to the band's palette without spoiling anything they brought to perfection before.

32. Florent Y Yo "Florent Y Yo" 

SP

The songs of Los Planetas' founding guitar player are covered with haze of dreampop and lightweight psychedelia, at times sounding like if The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart turned to kraut rock.

31. Havalina "Maquinaria" 

SP

After sonically entertaining but otherwise non-consistent and emotionless "Muerdesombra" Havalina crafted their best album since "h" along with former bass player Ignacio Celma returning to the fold.

An Introduction

41 - 50

21 - 30

11 - 20

01 - 10

Havalina "Muerdesombra"

Havalina "Muerdesombra" (p)2016 Ernie Producciones

This is the first Havalina album where, whilst listening, you may go to the kitchen to make yourself some tea and then start brushing your panels after noticing some spots on them, and then to be like: ‘Gosh, I've been listening to Havalina! How many songs I've missed?’ “Muerdesombra” has everything you may want from the band - the great melodies, the intricate guitar work, the sound that can take you far far away, the rhythm section that could beat the shit out, the crisp production – it’s got all you need except nerve. It’s got little emotional lows – and in reverse it’s got little emotional highs. For everyone else it could be the favorite album of Havalina, but for me at the time it’s just too plain being compared to any other release in their perfect back catalogue. Maybe it will grow on me a bit later.

Ernie Producciones
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The Best Of 2015. 8x8

Hey! Beware! There's a guy  from the land far far away who takes our albums and makes lists of 'em! He's crazy!"

The previous entries:

11x11 (EP's)

10x10

9x9

La Maniobra De Q "El Dano Esta Hecho" (p)Clifford Listen/Buy

Moonflower "Round Trip" (p)Sello Salvaje Listen/Buy

Havalina "Islas De Cemento" (p)Origami Listen Buy

Correos "Seres" (p)Warner Music Listen/Buy

Jorganes "The Science Was Wrong Before" (p)El Hombre Bala Listen/Buy

Penny Necklace "Este Es El Disco De..." (p)self-released Listen/Buy

Bullitt "Sparks" (p)BCore Disc Listen/Buy

Autumn Comets "We Are Here/You Are Not" (p)Subterfuge Buy

• The first longplay of La Maniobra de Q evokes the spirit and soul of the most prominent years of shoegaze with the swirling guitars, multi-layered wall of sound and male/female dueling vocals. 
• Singing in English may not be the strongest skill of Maria Perez, but the ability to create the honest americana-tinged college rock songs successfully avoiding the not-so-innovative genres' cliches - definitely is.
• Lyrically based on "A Drunken Driver's Guide", the novel written by J.J. Cabezali (Manuel's father), "Islas De Cemento" is Havalina's heaviest album to date where the catchy tracks ("Luces", "El Reloj De Pulsera Con La Esfera Rota") are neighbours with the louder bombs like, for instance, neurotic shout-out "Donde" or the pure sludge "Cementerio De Coches".
• Call them punk ("No Creas Las Promesas", "Snobs"), call them powerpop ("Todo El Mundo Necesita Un Corazon"), call them alternative rock ("Como Si Fuera Ideal") but there's a fact about "Seres" which is hardly debatable - this album can offer something for everyone.
• Just let me copy/paste the sentence that I've written on Jorganes' "Science Was Wrong Before" half a year ago: "the beat, the scratch, multiple references in the range from Leftfield to Dilated Peoples, and a lot of good vibrations inbetween".
• With Manuel Cabezali (Havalina) and Victor Cabezuelo (Rufus T. Firefly) at the control panels these three chicks have created the beautiful, intimate, vulnerable and dreamy album I fell in love with from the first listen.
• The 'Interests' section on the Bullitt's Facebook page contains such names as Starmarket, The Promise Ring, Hot Water Music, Jets To Brazil and a bunch of other names that could make my heart go wild. So does the music of "Sparks" which is melodic, upbeat and extremely catchy.
• Eastbound from Appleseed Cast, northside to Silversun Pickups lies the territory of Autumn Comets. This way Smashing Pumpkins should have walked after their promising (but turned out senseless) reunion. But despite such the remarkable names in influences the Madrid-based band manages to create multi facet music with tons of guitars and lots of changes in dynamics without losing their identity.

Havalina "Islas De Cemento"

Havalina "Islas De Cemento" (p)2015 Origami

When Ignacio Celma who played bass for Havalina since 2009 decided to quit the band an year ago it made me curious about the band's future because it seemed like Ignacio was the ideal kind of supporter for the Havalina frontman Manuel Cabezali's complicated ideas trapped within the power trio format (the drummer Javier Couceiro remains the second constant of the band's lineup since 2004) with its natural limitations - in the numerous videos like the ones which Havalina made along with Bandalismo or Acordes Urbanos you may see how the guitar player and the bass player interact within the songs to support one another through the songs' unusual structures. But despite my fears the band quickly found the replacement in Jaime Olmedo - and the substitution was so trouble-free that it hardly impacted the band's ability to construct the sound of their own. So, flowing along in the vein of melodic stoner rock - the template the band is mantaining for the last five years - "Islas de Cemento" sounds like the continuation of two previous successful releases ("Las Hojas Secas" and "h"). But it goes that way only until the track #9 starts. 7 minute long "Cementerio de Coches" is by far the heaviest song ever performed by Manu Cabezali and his allies. It steps over the border and walks away from the Kyuss-penned cult classics like "Gardenia" or "Asteroid" into the sad and depressive territory of doom metal. Moreover, this earcrushing machine is followed by the rain - really, the next track is called "Lluvia en el Cementerio de Coches" - almost 9 minute long "La Pared" or "Musica Para Peces"-type of song that rises from relative quietness to the short circuit thunderstorm making these paired compositions the album's logical centerpiece.

Under the bottom line, the good news about "Islas del Cemento" is that the band still moves ahead and finds the place to evolve, as well as to apply new elements to their core sound. Another nice feature of this album is that the tracks "Islas de Cemento" and "Luces" could successfully compete with "Desierto" from "Las Hojas Secas" and "La Antartida Empieza Aqui" from "h" as the catchiest Havalina's songs since Manuel decided to abandon the Smashing Pumpkins-inspired alt-rock in favor of the thick layers of stoner/southern gloomy fog.


"Islas de Cemento" in Origami Records

Los recuerdos de Sonorama 2013

Just spent some time editing the [mostly poor quality] photos I've made with my mobile phone till Sonorama fest in August.

Sin Rumbo:

Cyan:

Igloo:

Leon Benavente:

Pumuky:

Havalina:

Stay:

Xoel Lopez & his band:

The New Raemon & Maga:

Mi Pequena Radio:

Garamendi:

Dorian:

Sonorama Ribera 2013. The Report. Day 3, 17.08.2013. El final and other hesitations - Part 2

We missed the show of McEnroe so the 1st band we saw in the evening were Barcelonians Stay. Stay are the britpop act with the psychedelia touches, and as for me their presence on the main stage was kinda difficult to explain. The venue was definitely too large for these guys. I don't want to say they were bad or playing poorly or anything. No, they were playing well and bandleader Jordi Bel was really good in stretching the psychedelic vibe out of his guitars - but it was really too large for them. Plaza del Trigo or Carson Camping would be much more appropriate.

Stay

Havalina is one of the bands whom I really adore. But for Tanya, they seemed to be too loud to fall in love with before Sonorama. So the Castilla y Leon stage was lucky for loud bands this year. And two of us were on the first line of defence again - we were standing pressed to the security bars right in front of the bass player Ignacio Celma. 

In terms of the playing techniques all three members of the band - Manuel Cabezali, Ignacio Celma & Javier Couceiro - were amongst the best musicians on the fest. Their control over the sound they made was almost unbelievable. They produced such the solid wall of sound that it would be undistinguishable for many bands of larger 'capacity'. We were absolutely stunned during their show. We were so stunned that even did not noticed how the man behind the scene turned them off while they were in the very beginning of "Incursiones" due to they got out of timing so the rest of the song was some kind of unplugged with the audience singing all the lyrics.

Havalina

After the unforgettable set of Havalina we started running to the escenario principal - started and... all of a sudden stopped at the same moment. In the falling curtains of the dusk we saw the 'footballfieldful' sea of people who were just standing there. All of them were awaiting for Xoel Lopez. So the mean plan to get to the stage as close as possible fell apart.

Xoel Lopez is the reason I'm here. Not only in Sonorama. Globally 'here'. This is the musician who, performing under the alias Deluxe opened for me the door to the world of the spanish indie music. Searching for his recordings in Internet I had discovered all the rest of the bands I love now. So this would be the heartwrenching moment for me. And it was, really. Xoel and his band were playing, and I was standing in the middle of the crowd with my eyes shut and listening to his voice not being able to make a single move. The set consisted mostly of the songs from Xoel's lates release "Atlantico" with only one new song and only one song from his past days (it was gorgeous "Historia Universal"). And his supporting band was so harmonious that there was no single wrong note in the whole hour-long show. And Xoel's artistic magnetism kept the crowd as the whole entity with the thousands of hearts beating as one.

Xoel Lopez

Then was the time for us to spend a couple of sonos for sparkling water and calimocho. Our legs were crying for us to give them some rest so we placed our tired bodies on a sidestep against the FutureStars stage, where we noticed the band playing in there. The band was good, so we stood up again and came in. According to the schedule this would be Llum. I had never heard about this band before so it was another good discovery for me (later that night that band revealed to be Garamendi, not Llum). We had made some jerky dance for half an hour anf then came to Castilla y Leon for The New Raemon. 

Garamendi

For the last couple of years Ramon Rodriguez is acting in the close connection with the band Maga from Sevilla, and here they were promoted as The New Raemon & Maga. Before their show started we had to listen to the part of Standstill set. Standstill is the renowned band who began in 90's as 2nd wave emo act but lated changed the direction and started making music with post rock-tinged chamber pop in its core base. What the fuck were they playing there I could not understand. It was something tribal, with doubled drumkit on the stage, dense strumming of acoustic guitar, all very repetitive and disturbing. Sorry, not my kind of music at all.

The New Raemon & Maga were the opposite thing. With the whole bunch of the good songs where the Ra(e)mon's songs were interleaved with Maga's power-pop singalongs this show was driving and upbeat. Both acts were very warmly received by the audience. But at the end of the show we hardly could stand on our feet. Fatigue have knocked us down to the ground, and three Supersubmarina songs ago the Sonorama Ribera 2013 was over for us.

The New Raemon y Maga

It's a pure grief and disappointment that we have lost the chance to watch the show of L.A. and now I am deemed to cope with it. The only reason to lower the grade of self-disappointment is the fact of L.A.'s "Dualize" album purchase on the mercadillo. 

And for the most part, that's all.