Best of 2017. Albums 21-30

<<< 41 - 50
<<< 31 - 40

30. The Unfinished Sympathy "It's A Crush!" (p)BCore Disc
After spending 7 dormant years that helped to establish and develop the solo careers of Eric Fuentes and Joan Colomo, The Unfinished Sympathy returned this year with the BCore Disc's reissue of "We Push You Pull" (their last effort before dissolution initially released via Subterfuge) and absolutely new release "It's A Crush" also on BCore that found one of the Spain's most important millenial alt-rock bands in the perfect form.
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29. Kitai "Piromanos" (p)Entrebotones/Sony
The enormous progress for the Madrid-based alternative rock quartet whose masterful performance techniques somehow overshadowed their songwriting abilities. Led by my compatriot Alex the band starts to move from funk-rock crossover of their previous "Que Vienen" LP to Deftones-like alternative rock with stunning melodies and huge choruses.
SPTF

28. Murciano Total "Cencia" (p)El Genio Equivocado
This year Jose Lozano's talents in audiovisual productions (especially his trademark 'moving collages' style) became popular within the local indie community making him quite busy with providing his abilities to the third parties (as to fellow labelmates Birkins as to the all-Spanish indie giants Los Planetas) but this didn't spoil his musical achievements at all. "Cencia" is the third LP of the duo released within the three consecutive years, and it sounds even better than the previous ones that were awesome themselves.
BNDCMP

27. Tulsa "Centauros" (p)I*M Records
I've purchased the album via iTunes, downloaded it to my iPod and then headed to the railway station to catch the train to Moscow. In the carriage I put my headphones on and… fell in love with this strange genre-bending form of pop music that's peculiar for the modern days' 'girls with guitars' from Feist to Butterfly Boucher and many others.
SPTF

26. Saim "Accidents" (p)Bubota Discos
The clear evidence to the fact that The Catalan Post Hardcore ™ splashes out the birthplace reigning over the nearby territories. The Mallorcan trio recorded an album that precisely reflected the genre's most attractive features without sounding too much thought over or artifcial.
BNDCMP

25. Captains "Captains" (p)Jabalina Musica
Fee Reega has put out two albums this year: one (darker, moodier, more foggy) under her own name via Humo Records, and another as Captains via Jabalina Musica. "Captains" contains the post punk'y rhythm section aggregated with the one-of-a-kind vocals of Fee and the lots of influences from the 80's synth-pop to krautrock and shoegaze that as a result brings us the inventive and purely underground album of good pop potential.
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24. Mordem "Fragments To Dominate The Silence" (p)The Winter Hunters
The album created by Elba Fernandez sits perfectly within the borders demarcated by the quieter moments of Madonna's "Ray Of Light" (which upon release was honored as a sound production masterpiece), the hip hop-less side of Massive Attack and the darker emanations of the contemporary female-fronted acts like Florence and the Machine who pave their convoluted ways through the pop/trip hop-bordered sonic experimentalism.
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23. I Am Dive "Music For Silent Running" (p)WeAreWolves
Being released in December of 2016 this wordless soundtrack never entered the 2016 annual polls, though as all other works of I Am Dive it deserves the closest attention. Not the planned album itself, "Music For Silent Running" is an imaginative soundtrack for 1972's science fiction movie "Silent Running" recorded by the duo back in 2015. But even the by-product by this band is of the highest quality possible.
BNDCMP

22. Anchord "As A Real Return" (p)Saltamarges/ BCore Disc
Initially released via Saltamarges imprint and later commissioned by BCore Disc this album is all what you have ever wanted from the classic post-hardcore album: the energy, the unpolished sound, the tight melodies wrapped up in the harsh guitars.
BNDCMP

21. Birkins "Aqui Hay Dragones" (p)El Genio Equivocado
The trilingual Canarian band abandons the article 'the' in its name simultaneously abandoning the english language almost completely as if acquiring additonal valency instead: "Aqui Hay Dragones" is way more eclectic musicwise than the previous Birkins' efforts, but in the same time it sounds tighter and more coherent.
BNDCMP

Best of 2016. EPs and mini albums

There's a lot of people around who tell us creating lists is stupid. Fuck'em. Creating lists is cool indeed, and it always gonna be cool. So I'd like to start my regular year-end ranking process from the EPs and mini albums Top10. It wasn't any easy to confine the strict 10 out of multiple items of the great music in shortened formats. I was forced to strip out the extended plays of such cool bands and musicians as The Trunks, Lua Gramer, Nuria Graham, La Maniobra De Q as well as the pack of Canarian delegates Ponyboy, Cumbia Ebria, Edui Bercedo and Noiseed.

Let's talk a bit about the structure of Top10. Geographically it covers vast territories from Galicia (Bestlife) to mainland southends (Murciano Total, Apartamentos Acapulco) through metropolitan area (Pasavento, The Levitants, Disciplina Atlantico) and then to Baleares (The Prussians), African enclave Ceuta (Higinio Orduña) and Canary Islands (Estratega Pencherjevsky, San Borondon).
In terms of acquaintance there are 3 bands that could be labeled as 'Sonorama discoveries' (Disciplina Atlantico, The Prussians, The Levitants) - I was learned about their existence but never listened to them before I saw their names on the Sonorama 2016 poster. 3 more bands (Pasavento, Higinio Orduña, Apartamentos Acapulco) are totally new to me while the other 4 are 'the old pals' (Bestlife, San Borondon, Estratega Pencherjevsky, Murciano Total).
Genrewise the list could be divided onto two large 'umbrella brands' of contemporary rock music - indie rock and electro, but it can be easily structurized further to the lesser particles. Of the 'electro' albums the one of Higinio Orduña is the foggy indietronica/ folktronica, while other two are inclined to synthpop (Murciano Total) and futuristic slo-mo techno that perfectly fits for sci-fi movies' soundtracks (Estratega Pencherjevsky). Of the 'indie' albums Apartamentos Acapulco are pure and perfect dreampop - this year is really the year of dreampop for me. San Borondon are the sunny bright power pop with catchy tunes and lo/fi sound. Disciplina Atlantico are the noisy post-punk band whose sound is as energetic as icy-cold. I really want more from them in 2017 as their eponimous 4-song EP is the good appetizer with these stop/start dynamics and masterful use of upbeats. For two 'The …s' bands there's some kind of strange situation. First I saw The Levitants performing on Sonorama's Burgos stage they seemed like the Spanish version of The Foals to me, but studio recordings are far from this impression. Otherwise, The Prussians didn't sound like The Foals onstage, but from the laptop speakers their "Kerala" EP sounds much in these British indie stalwarts' vein.
My dearest Bestlife (Under Your Seat) have added the new elements to their music so the sound pallette (yes, I use this cliche for the first time this year) of "Invincible Anymore" is quite diverse - from the Paul Weller'esque power pop "She's A Whisper" to grunge-laden rocker "As If I Needed Someone". Being compared to their previous "Taking You Back Home" EP the new mini album sounds like the improvement or the logical progression, and it's really interesting what will they do on the next effort.
Pasavento. This Madrid-based four-piece explores the sound I adore the most: the mixture of the 90's post-shoegaze britrock with hardly distinguished but tasty touches of intelligent 00's post-post-hardcore (The Jealous Sound's "A Gentle Reminder" is the best reference to what I'm trying to describe by the newly invented term 'intelligent post-post-hardcore'). All six tracks of "Tuvo Su Momento" are perfect, but they could be even better if they were ten (or twelve).

10. The Levitants - "Coimbra" (p)self-released

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09. Higinio Orduña - "La Cuesta Del Recinto" (p)Discos Imaginarios

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08. Estratega Pencherjevsky - "Conache" (p)self-released

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07. Apartamentos Acapulco - "Justo Y Necesario" (p)Discos Imaginarios

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06. Murciano Total - "Enquinias" (p)El Genio Equivocado

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05. The Prussians - "Kerala" (p)GreenUFOs

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04. San Borondon - "POP!" (p)self-released

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03. Disciplina Atlantico - "Disciplina Arlantico" (p)Limbo Starr

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02. Bestlife (Under Your Seat) - "Invincible Anymore" (p)self-released

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01. Pasavento - "Tuve Su Momento" (p)self-released

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Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. #3 The Happiness And Things Like That

Date: August, Friday 14th
Place: Spain, Burgos Province, Aranda de Duero, Plaza del Trigo & Recinto Ferial

The second day of Sonorama promised us even more than we had yesterday, so we slept a bit more to 'recharge the batteries' and did not managed to arrive at Plaza del Trigo in time. As a result, we skipped almost entire performance of Jacobo Serra, the young singer-songwriter who presented his melodic Beatles-tinged songs to the crowd with passion and honesty. This day we made the decision to stay on the Plaza constantly due to the necessity to save good places for 'concierto secreto'. So when the people started to flow off the square to get themselves some beer or calimocho in between of performances we stayed without any move.

Jacobo Serra

Belize, the next band to perform, appeared to be a bunch of boys and girls who looked like the high school students. Really, they looked very young. Their music was a mix of warm and sunny lounge with the most poppy form of indie rock. Visually they were a bit nervous being granted with the possibility to perform on Plaza but the crowd was warm to them anyway.

Belize

Full were the most well-known band in the morning session. Based on the songs from their latest album "Mi Primer Atraco" their program have shown the band's best sides with the melodic alternative rock much in the vein of Supersubmarina. In the middle of their set all the guys from Izal appeared backstage. Are Izal today's secret band? - the unasked question was almost palpable in the air. The next surprise was when Sean Frutos came onstage to support Full's frontman Javi Valencia for the song "Adios". Are Second today's secret band again?

Full & Sean Frutos

Apparently the answer was "no" for both. Because, occasionally, we were granted with the opportunity to see La Habitacion Roja for the third time within 8 days. 

This secret concert have shown us the most energetic side of the band. And it was absolutely unforgettable. From the very beginning of the show Jorge looked a bit tipsy but if it was really so it did not spoil anything. LHR did the same thing as Ninos Mutantes an year ago - they have made a set of cover versions. "Heroes" of David Bowie, "Boys Don't Cry" by The Cure, "Man On the Moon" by REM, "Song 2" by Blur... Finalizing the set with their own "Ayer" Jorge crashed down on the ground with the t-shirt totally wet from sweat. We felt ourselves like the lemons squeezed dry but happiness was our second name because of this crazy smashing groundbreaking show.

La Habitacion Roja

After having a nap (and a cup of wine) in the hotel room we came to recinto ferial to start the evening with the Grupo de Expertos Solynieve. The supergroup with Jota and Manu Ferron as co-leaders and two primary songwriters played some sort of electrified alt-country rock where one song could lean to blues, and another could be arranged in pure indie rock key. We stayed with them until the performance was wrapped up and then went to VIP zone to look around.

Grupo de Expertos Solynieve

In VIP zone we run into Javier Ajenjo and we talked a bit. He asked us if we attended the Morente Vive! show yesterday (of course, yes!), and I praised him for being capable to get all the pieces together in his hands and for making Sonorama better and better with every new edition.

For Arizona Baby we decided not to dive deep into the crowd, so we took ourselves some perfect DO Ribera del Duero wine and moved our bodies to the place within VIP zone from where we could observe the main stage. It surprised me how cool this band sounded live. I've tried to listen to their albums but I definitely couldn't fall in love with cos I considered the sound too thin, and the vocals too. But live it gave me absolutely different impression. It didn't sound thin at all. It sounded vital.

Arizona Baby

Jero Romero is a special band. You might not be much into their music. You might not want to listen to them. You might come there for the couple of songs just to tick a box - but surely you will stay there for the whole set of songs. There is something magnetic in this bunch of musicians gathered in the center of the stage like if they are jamming in very small room. It is impossible to say 'OK, let's go to see something else' and walk away. It's always some kind of magic.

Jero Romero

Before starting the "Calexico - Mi Capitan - Murciano Total - Supersubmarina" long run we came to VIP zone again to visit less overcrowded WCs. Standing in the queue I noticed the Grupo de Expertos Solynieve musicians coming into VIP zone. I felt stupid to run away from the queue and ask them to take a photo together with the toilets as the background - though to take a photo together with Jota for me it was the same as taking a photo with God for any religious person. Just to react to the situation I started to applause. In two seconds all the queue started to applause. The musicians waved hands to us, everybody was smiling. It was pretty nice moment but I felt like I've lost the momentum, and I would never see them again from such the close distance. But when we went up for the next doses of wine they were just standing there and having the conversation together.
Jota!!! - I was almost crying. - Sorry for disturbance! We're your fans from Russia! One photo, please!
From Russia? - Jota cracked a smile. - You've come a long way!

When the photos were taken everything I could was just to shout "Aaaaaaaa!!!" in the air, and I did so. The happiness became my first name. Really, for some amount of time I was the most happy person in the whole world.

We skipped Calexico because, you know, I'm here to observe the local bands rather than the international stars. They sounded great, and they were great in fact - but I wasn't there for them. So we ran to Burgos stage to see Mi Capitan. Mi Capitan is somewhat new name for the scene with the debut album "Drenad El Sena" released this year - new name but with familiar faces. The members of Standstill, Egon Soda and Love Of Lesbian are here to accompany longtime friend Gonçal Planas, the tour manager and sound engineer of the aforementioned bands. Mi Capitan have presented most of the songs from "Drenad El Sena" including their emblematic "Es Suave La Voz"  - the song the band is going to be remembered for in years. With unexpected appearance of Sidonie members onstage for the final song their perfomance definitely was worth abandoning Calexico.

Mi Capitan

Then we stayed before Burgos stage awaiting Murciano Total. The residents of El Genio Equivocado label that initially had been hiding their names under Lena & Sema monikers (later revealed to be Jose Lozano (of Automatics and Universal Circus fame) and Elena Molino) reproduced the sound of their cool and fresh "Quereres Y Dejenes" album quite literally, and their set was the pure pleasure for me as I like that album very much.

Murciano Total

While the Castilla Y Leon stage was sieged by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah we were hidden somewhere in the middle of the crowd before the Ribera stage. Supersubmarina were the headliners of this night so half an hour before the concert the crowd was already enormous. Considered 'too commercial' by fellow musicians this band presented the loud and colourful show with heroic poses and all these attributes of successful rock band. Anyway, the sound was not ideal, and while the performance was very professional and energetic the impression was not quite what we expected overall.

Supersubmarina

To finalize our activities this night we came to the Castilla Y Leon stage to look at La Maravillosa Orquesta del Alcohol. In comparison with the last year the local Burgos province heroes were promoted from openers to headliners in terms of the timeslots. The crowd was also significant so we didn't manage to get closer to the stage. But all the songs were familiar to us as we listen to their albums frequently in our everyday life, and we got enough pleasure just standing there behind the crowd and singing these songs along with the band.

La Maravillosa Orquesta del Alcohol

Text: Mikhail
Photos: Tatiana & Mikhail

Murciano Total "Quereres Y Dejenes"

Murciano Total "Quereres Y Dejenes" (p)2015 El Genio Equivocado

Murciano Total have released a string of digital singles over the last 4 years, and frequently appeared in the social networks here and there so it sounds almost unbelievable that "Quereres Y Dejenes" is the first full lenght of this duo. Jose Lozano who established the considerable career as the frontman for renowned post-'Cool Britannia' veterans Automatics - as well as for the equally cool band Universal Circus - this time teamed up with his female pal Elena Molina now paves his way through the mellow synth pop meadows. Their travel through the relatively unusual (for me Jose's name was always associated mostly with the rock sound) territories sounds as naive as, I dunno, the early Depeche Mode and as old-school as Human League's "Don't You Want Me" (or even the most pop-oriented excerpts from the legacy of techno demiurges Kraftwerk). But I dare to consider Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark the main influence for the pair of Murcians. Like these new wave pioneers Murciano Total aren't afraid of the live instruments (mostly guitars - and honestly speaking, the tracks that do include guitars are my favourite ones here), and like OMD they have the bent for writing the tunes which are tight and sublime in the same time and everchanging like a ball of quicksilver - but unmistakably catchy.
Another fine entrance to the El Genio Equivocado's back catalogue.

The best tracks: El Espejo, Ventas De Ocasion, La Casa Parisina, Eficacias Y Mentiras, El Castillo de Roman

"Quereres Y Dejenes" on El Genio Equivocado BC