Best of 2016. Albums 41-50

After all the preliminary moves and preparations it's time to present to you the 1st load of Top50 albums. So, here we go!

Previous entries:
Top10 - EPs and mini albums
Honorable mention #1
Honorable mention #2

50. Noise Box "Every Picture Of You Is When You Were Younger" (p)Son Buenos

BANDCAMP

Dreamy, foggy, blurred photographs of what was your past. The moments you're not sure if they were for real, or they are just some strange faults of your imagination. This is what these songs definitely are.

49. San Jeronimo "Salinas, 20:15" (p)WeAreWolves

BANDCAMP

The quiet semi-acoustic slowcore album that's made of beautiful sounds and distinct melodies. A good album to dive into the atmosphere of the thin air and fragile visions ahead.

48. Belako "Hamen" (p)Mushroom Pillow

OFFICIAL SITE

One of the best Pais Vasco bands creates majesty through post-punk marching rhythms, synth-generated noises, guitar bursts and occasional no-wave shrieks. The tools they use are pretty the same as earlier, but "Hamen" delivers their best melodies ever.

47. Señores "La Luz" (p)Cuatro Barbas

BANDCAMP

Less post-hardcore syncopes, more indie rock kicks? No, I'm not going to say Señores go pop. Their new album is hardly accessible for those who doesn't come to terms with Jawbox or Braid back catalogues but for me it's a nice pool to sink in.

46. Briotica "La Maldicion De Los Galacticos" (p)Warner

DEEZER

The grunge'ed, noise'ed and extremely sped-up form of shoegaze. I'd consider it a successor of JAMC's painfully underrated "Munki" LP. Full throttle from the fisrt beat to the last one.

45. It's Not Not "Fool The Wise" (p)BCore Disc

BANDCAMP

This is how to make melodic punk record without making pop punk record. The residents of emblematic BCore Disc label know how to make it perfectly.

44. Jorganes "Brokn" (p)El Hombre Bala

BANDCAMP

Less abstract hip-hop more pure electronica. Less beats more elegy. The Dilated Peoples' gloomy MC'ing allusions are [almost completely] gone and what we've got instead is the pure beauty.

43. Yes I M "#Borabora" (p)Foehn

BANDCAMP

Oceania in my head. The new record by Mario Gutierrez Brun by all means outdoes his previous work "Vietnam". It's captivating majesty can transfer you to the places where the words 'atoll' and 'haven' describe the reality much better then 'the pressures of urban lifestyle'.

42. Guerrera "Guerrera" (p)Matapadre

BANDCAMP

The hard-boiled psychedelia meets the suffocating sludge. ¡TchKung! meets the nuclear meltdown. The Santiago-based all-star team have done it again on their double-LP album.

41. Galaxina "Evasion Y Victoria" (p)Clifford

BANDCAMP

Before I ever listened to this album I assumed it's a dreampop album taking into account the bandname and the album cover. At that moment I 've already got the most part of the Top50 prepared, and I didn't want another dreampop album in my list cos it was already too many dreampop albums in there. But Galaxina's "Evasion Y Victoria" really made me to love it from the first listen cos the songs are great, and some songs are really great. Just listen to "Lejos De Ninguna Parte", for example.

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.

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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