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среда, 12 декабря 2018 г.

Best Of 2018. Honorable Mention

This is the first time for me when the main Top50 list doesn't contain an album by a 'big' band. This doesn't mean that the big bands have released poor albums this year. It isn't so, I'm not that stubborn purist who discards the big bands' music by default. Indie credibility is the great thing only when it doesn't come to sectarianism. But what I'm eager for the most is the sense of wonder that catches you all of a sudden. So, did they surprise me? Obviously no. To put it clear, when you grow up in terms of public attention, even on the scale of indie rock world... It sounds strange and contradictory but you somehow lose the ability to surprise. I mean, when you come to a certain level you've got the clear way to come ahead of you. You try to get your songs better, your sound cleaner, your lyrics more meaningful... But this is exactly what the audience expects from you! You may release an album that's better than the previous one in all possible dimensions - and it's no surprise at all. Second have released "Anillos Y Raices", their strongest effort since "Fracciones De Un Segundo". Did this fact surprise anyone? For good or bad, the big bands should make the great records. This is how the things should be, this is the way the things should go. By the way, with "Anillos Y Raices" the band from Murcia steps pretty close to pop perfection. The songs are brilliant, the sound is clean, the satisfaction is guaranteed.

Carmen Boza "La Caja Negra"
(p)Etiqueta Negra
OFFICIAL SITE
I am prone to Carmen. And, though I still like her first album more than the fresh one, I can’t deny the latter’s advantages as it is sonically wider, melodically more unpredictable and still works well emotionally. It was easy to lose something important beneath all these new sounds, new tricks and new twists and turns but, fortunately, it didn’t come true.
Ran Ran Ran "Ran De Mar"
(p)Bankrobber
BNDCMP
This band surprised me way too much. The last year’s “L’hereu” was the perfect example of lo-fi folk pop. But the short gap between the releases has made the crucial impact on sound. New album sounds… lush!? It's... ambitious?! I wasn’t ready for this, I can’t correlate this new-found sound with Ran Ran Ran's portrait that was built up based upon the band's previous releases inside my head. I need more time to spend with this album, and chances are it will grow on me later.
Pau Vallve "Costa-Roja (Sessions d'assaig al mig del no-res)"
(p)self-released
BNDCMP
Amazingly, the new release of Pau Vallve is just as great as "Abisme Cavall Hivern Primavera I Tornar" that sat on the very top of the last year's list. It consists of the alternate versions of the various tracks from the previous releases – and performs rather like an intermediate station between "Abisme..." and the next album that is set to release in 2019. But it's valuable in its own right!
Basanta "Colorama"
(p)C4Music
BNDCMP
The Galician five-piece Basanta are the Spanish answer to the ‘occult rock’ revival. There are some true gems (“Emperador”, “Tentacion”) amongst these eleven songs.
p3z "Puzzle"
(p)self-released
BNDCMP
Post-everything mixture of… you know, literally everything. It's apparent that the auteur of p3z - the producer Javi Pez - hasn’t considered any stylistic borders for his brainchild, so his album is quite an adventurous listening.
Muttura "Esbossos Perduts"
(p)Edita La Servidumbre
BNDCMP
A cassette-only release by Edita La Servidumbre, a tiny record label born inside the Ultra-Local record store. It’s a free-from post-rock'y music, both beautiful and meditative. A perfect choice for the fans of Hood.
Malaspecto "Alejate De Esto (Proximos Fracasos)"
(p)El Hombre Bala
BNDCMP
All these songs were recorded live during the short string of performances, mostly in one take, in the presence of the audience. And some of these songs were recorded when I was right there! So I feel some kind of connection to this album.
Cigüeña "El Vuelo"
(p)Repetidor Disc
BNDCMP
You may consider these guys the Cala Vento followers but the truth is Unai Lilly and Martin Arles began to play together a few years before their Catalan colleagues started a band. It's post hardcore. Cool, potent and melodic post-hardcore.

Capita Pilgrim "Corbs"
(p)No Me'n Records/ El Mamut Tracut/ Bestiar netlabel
BNDCMP
The lo-fi grunge album by the band I know nothing about. But I like it very much.


There are many more releases that are mentioned neither here nor in the main list. Really, a lot of good records have seen the light of the day this year. It's just impossible to fit them all into the Top50.

Top20 EPs and mini-albums
50 - 41 >>>
40 - 31 >>>
30 - 21 >>>
20 - 11 >>>
10 - 01 >>>

понедельник, 3 сентября 2018 г.

5 años. Participation in crowdfunding

The year 2018 marks the 5-year jubilee of this tiny music-related blog. Now I'm finalizing the string of kinda 'special issues' to celebrate this. The penultimate special issue is right here right now, and it's dedicated to 5 albums I participated in financing (in temporal order).
The sixth album, La Perra de Pavlov’s “Cronica De Un Movimiento” is the only one I’ve never received physically.

Sin RumboLUZ” (p)2014

Baden bah!Futuro/a” (p)2014

NixonEl Ultimo Fuego” (p)2015

SecondViaje Iniciatico” (p)2015

Proyecto SolazPropaganda” (p)2017

пятница, 23 марта 2018 г.

Tu Aura Brilla Mas: Let Go/ Nada Surf 15 Aniversario

Tu Aura Brilla Mas: Let Go/ Nada Surf 15 Aniversario (p)2018 Mardev/ Ernie
I’ve been the massive fan of Nada Surf since 2003 when I first observed video of “Inside Of Love” aired by the [best ever] German music channel onyx.tv. This video made me searching for the band’s records, and the first album I purchased the same year it was “Proximity Effect”. I quickly embraced their lyrical imagery and subdued bittersweet undertones that led them to stand tall amongst the short list of my all-time favorite bands. I consider “Lucky” their best effort to date as it includes the set of songs I can personally relate to both melody-wise and lyric-wise the best way possible. However, it was 2003’s “Let Go” that brought them out of the gloomy grunge-obsessed subterranean dungeons of the 90’s right into the bright light streak of the post-millennial indie rock. While their second album (the aforementioned "Proximity Effort") was declined by their label Electra it was released first in Europe. Following this the band was dropped by Electra. With two albums and one massive hit ("Popular") in the back catalogue Nada Surf were set to replicate the fate of zillion of the 90's bands that silently fell into obscurity. But the new album ("Let Go"), new hit ("Inside Of Love"), new label (the Seattle-based indie imprint Barsuk Records) and the new direction (less grunge more power pop) led them into the indie stardom in 2000's.
The band gained the substantial cult following in Europe (especially in non-English speaking countries) thanks to the lengthy tours through the Old World and both Matthew Caws’ and Daniel Lorca’s multilingual abilities. Moreover, they are really concerned of what’s going on with music in Europe. I deeply appreciate this last year's story about Nada Surf members appearing on Ebrovision festival a day before the schedule just to check out Rufus T. Firefly performing, of whom they were told it would be worth it to look at. Their European record-selling headquarters is based in Spain (the Galician finest Ernie Producciones) but anyway I was kinda surprised to know that Nada Surf were going to release the collection of cover versions made by a bunch of Spanish indie bands.
Digitally it was released over a month ago and recently it was released officially on CD. So what could I say… It is definitely one of the best cover albums I have ever listened to. What makes a great cover version great? For me, it’s when a certain band takes someone else’s song and rewrites it into their own the way you could place it into the band’s album and it wouldn’t be sounding as an alien. Thus, the final result takes the best from both summing up the original's best features and the cover maker’s own tricks. Regarding the most of the tracks here, this criterium is fulfilled completely.
For the better authenticity 8 of total 12 songs were translated into Spanish. Even for me as a person largely familiar with the original album sometimes it’s hard to separate what I know from what I hear because, for instance, “No Es Tan Rapido” sounds nothing like Nada Surf’s song – it sounds exactly like a song by Second, as well as “Nubes De Mosquitos” sound exactly like Lori Meyers’ own. The same thing I could repeat for almost every track and every band on the album be it Niños Mutantes with their newfound synth-laden sound on "Blizzard Of 77/ La Tormenta Del'77" or La Habitacion Roja with their classic post-"Ayer" warm pop-psychedelia on "Inside Of Love/ Dentro Del Amor". Be it the lush guitar-driven pop of Anni B Sweet ("La Pour Ca/ Estare Ahi") or slightly fuzzed out alternative rock of Shinova (the Basque band stepped back to the sound of their pre-"Volver" albums to make this version of "Treading Water"). Be it Villanueva's delicate rendition of "Hi-Speed Soul/ Hablemos De Soul" or the Noise Box's version of "Happy Kid" that turns the original power pop hit into the 6 minute long psychedelic pop masterpiece.
I think it’s really great achievement.


четверг, 7 сентября 2017 г.

#Sonorama20. The Report. Part Three

There are some bands whose fans/haters ratio is close to 50/50. This pool of bands is widely known as ‘successful bands’. You know, even some freaky outfits like Ojete Calor or Las Bistecs surely have more fans than haters. But when you start talking about Love Of Lesbian… Indie community is cruel to its former babybirds now flying too high. The commercial success, the recording contracts, the number of gigs per year, the ability to sustain 10000+ crowd – sometimes these things come with their opposite sisters. The most important thing there is – it’s not about envy. There’s some kind of real ‘not commercial/too commercial’ dichotomy: the ones considered 'too commercial' are consequently considered free from any form of artistic aspirations. For me, I’ve got a bent for ‘little’ bands, and one of this blog’s aims is to speak about lesser-known bands. But also I like a lot of commercially viable bands, and, frankly speaking, I don’t feel guilty about it.

11/08/17. The Morning. Locations: Santa Catalina stage, Maria Pacheco, El Charco stage
This Saturday morning Rufus T. Firefly were set to return onstage as 'artista sorpresa' at Plaza Obispo Acosta where the new Santa Catalina stage was arranged. When we came at the place there was only a handful of potential spectators. They were hiding themselves in the shades of the buildings around, as this morning was really hot. But we weren't the last ones to come, and quite quickly the square got full with the people that pressurized us to step into the light. The band partially used the gear of Second who were set to perform here in the next timeslot. Rufus played the [more or less] same set of songs as two days earlier in camping and though they again omitted my favorite song “Demerol Y Piedras” off “Nueve” the satisfaction was 110%. 
Anyway, in the middle of their set I left the venue and made a run to Maria Pacheco stage, where El Lado Oscuro de La Broca were performing at the moment. I had a fear of being too late so this fear forced me to run pretty fast. The Zamora-based quartet played the songs from both of their albums. As loud & noisy as melodic, the strange birds in El Genio Equivocado's roster were successful in transcending their studio shoegaze-on-speed guitar swirl into the live performance. For a couple of songs the band was accompanied by a girl who later revealed to be Maria Mieres, the singer of San Jeronimo whom I like as well. 
When the band completed their set I met with Joan and Rafa (also known as Pin y Pon djs) - the heads of El Genio Equivocado - and then returned to Santa Catalina.
If Rufus got Plaza Obispo Acosta full with the people, Second got it totally overcrowded. The crowd splashed out onto the square’s sidestreets where people were staying without any hope of seeing the band. Fortunately, Tanya managed to secure the great place in two steps from the stage so we were happy to observe the performance from the close distance. Second have got a lot of good songs. They’ve got a lot of great songs. So every Second show is the total pleasure.
When Second's show was over, and the people started walking around to find themselves some beer, we decided to walk away. But when we stepped aside we noticed the guys from Rufus T. Firefly packing their equipment into the van and decided to catch Victor for a photo. But we felt it was the wrong moment to distract him as he looked too loaded with all these pedalboards and other things so we stayed aside waiting for the moment he’d get free. Right before our eyes there was a gap between the vans, and in this gap we noticed another person we’d like to meet and greet: Josete Diaz from Villanueva who stayed at the opposite side of the square. We approached him and hugged him and talked to this nice and friendly person for 15 minutes or so. And what made this moment even greater was the sudden appearance of Javier Ajenjo. Thursday’s night we met him for a brief talk, and he proposed to meet the next day to have a lunch together. But the next day it became apparent that to access him in the middle of the day is rather impossible. I can’t even imagine what amount of calls and messages he gets through the day to keep the festival moving along. Really. It’s huge amount, and our message was somehow lost in this vast ocean. Apparently, Javier also considered it way too optimistic trying to cut an hour at the midday for us, so he asked would it be ok if he reserved a table in the restaurant for us. We said ‘It would be great!’ and he did so. We left Javier and Josete with our heads in the cloud nine.
Then we walked half-round the square to see what’s going on with Rufus. Fortunately, we ran into Victor who walked to the minibus with only a pack of beer in his hand. This moment was right, and we jumped in front of him: “Holaaaa, somos desde Rusia!” De facto he’s one of our favorite musicians standalone, and we’re always happy to see him performing even with other bands (Mucho, Zahara, etc.) When we told him our goodbyes and finally left the Plaza Obispo Acosta, the next POI we had in our schedule were El Mato A Un Policia Motorizado at El Charco stage.
We caught most of El Mato’s performance but we could hardly say we beheld it. Initially we rushed right to the stage to make some good photos, and then started roaming around to find some shade to hide in. But what we really found was the company of Jose, the frontman of Yo, Estratosferico, and his friends Gloria and Alberto. Together we talked for most of the show about different things and rarely paid attention to what was happening onstage.
Suddenly I noticed some persons whose faces seemed so familiar to me passing along in ten yards before my eyes. I couldn’t stand but ran for them to get closer to prove them to be Juan Alberto and Nani from Niños Mutantes. Upon returning to Jose and friends I said: ‘Yeah, that’s really the guys from Niños Mutantes!’ ‘Have you already met them?’ Jose asked. I told, no. And that moment I noticed them returning to our location and standing just in front of us. ‘Do you want to?’ asked Jose. ‘Yes, we’d like to!’ I replied, so Jose walked to them and asked to join us for a minute. We briefly talked and the man who accompanied Juan Alberto and Nani (probably their manager) made the photos on my phone. But something went wrong, and later when we looked into the photo gallery in my LG we saw no photos with Niños Mutantes. What a disappointment, especially taking in mind that we were going to meet them later in restaurant and could repeat the photo session!
The first person we ran into when we entered the restaurant La Cantinaccia was Juan Alberto. ‘We ain’t following you!’- what we could say?!
We felt like we’re stepping into the paradise. Oscar from Delafe right next table to us. Guys from Sidonie just upstairs. Niños Mutantes deeper in the hall. Maryan Frutos, the sister of Sean, passing around. Sean himself… We asked Oscar for a photo, asked Mark Ros and Ramiro Nieto for a photo… Sean Frutos smiled noticing at us at the table. We didn’t ask him for a photo as we’d already made it two days ago.
When we were close to finish our lechazo the doors opened and the guys from Izal all covered with sweat entered the hall. We understood they were today’s concierto secreto.
‘Two years ago, in the VIP zone!’ – Mikel exclaimed, pointing a finger at us when we tried to catch his attention. ‘Sure!’ – we were completely shocked (in the good way) of the fact he remembered us. We tried to tell Mikel that we just wanted to express our respect and love and we didn’t need no photos, but he was like ‘Whaaat, no photos? No way! Hey men, let’s go make a photo with our Russian fans!’
It was a moving moment. It ALL was a moving moment. For such a shy person like me to find myself in a situation like this… I felt my heart breaking free from my chest with my feet off the ground. I asked a waiter for a blank sheet of paper, wrote a heartfelt message to Javier and all the bands there and stack it to the wall there.



11/08/17. The Night. Location: Recinto ferial
We had to omit the actuation of Echo as it coincided with the Viva Suecia performance at much larger venue. Initially I thought that deep, sad and inward-looking music of the Murcian four-piece is not for all and everybody, and I hardly could expect, say, in 2015 that two years later this band would be so embraced by the public. But that’s what it is, and that’s what they deserve for sure. 
Having Facto and Las Flores Azules peeled off, Delafe is still around. He is the greatest performer but all through his show I couldn't escape the feeling the greatest performer was sad. I dunno why but I felt so. 
Then we ran to the VIP zone to observe the mutual performance of Santiago Auseron (Radio Futura) and Sexy Sadie. For me personally, ‘Santiago Auseron sings the songs of Sexy Sadie’ could be much more preferable situation as compared to 'Sexy Sadie play the songs of Santiago Auseron for him to sing' as I’m not the biggest fan of Spanish 80’s rock’n’roll stars. So we escaped the main stage searching for some better life. In 5 minutes we found it at Burgos stage where Kokoshca were performing. This band was one of the previous year’s discoveries for me. Live they were great, the same as their studio incarnation. 
Tierra Vertical became the second biggest discovery for me. I can’t recall now why I was floating around recinto ferial alone, and why I decided to enter La Carpa – but surely it was the moment of blessing, as Tierra Vertical were amazing. As far as I know the guys are in the process of recording right now, and I hope their album will get their live emotion captured. All good bands have some twist in their music that sets them apart from the common pool, and during these minutes in La Carpa I felt like this band has got it.
Berry Txarrak captured us with their groundbreaking music. We occasionally passed along the Aranda stage coming from the marketplace, but stopped and stayed there for the whole set of songs. I have never made my wife to fall in love with post-hardcore, but this Sonorama she sustained two post-hardcore concerts (Willis Drummond and Berri Txarrak) being fully amused with them in the best way possible!
After having some calimocho we headed to the Burgos stage for seeing Eladio y Los Seres Queridos. Eladio Santos and his band didn't play my favorite tracks off "Orden Invisible" but it was no problem as they got a lot of songs to be satisfied with.
Meanwhile, the main stage was under preparation for something special. Earlier we thought the secret show of Los Planetas was being hidden under “Tarta de Cumpleanos” moniker, but when we met JuanMa and Julian from Igloo they told us: ‘No, there would be no Los Planetas’. Nevertheless, there were Los Planetas exactly. The Tarta de Cumpleaños section started from Shinova’s “Volver” as the soundtrack while the stage was covered with the white cloth, and lots of photographs were projected on it from the inside. After the song ending the white cloth fell down, and the well-recognizable silhouettes of J and his partners appeared onstage. After listening to 7 or 8 songs we left VIP zone and headed to Aranda stage to win the first line places for La Habitacion Roja.
For the next hour our only regret was because of the perfect performance of La Habitacion Roja we missed equally great show of Kitai. But it was worth it as Jorge, Pau, Marc, Jose and Jordi were on the peak of their stage form. It was our forth LHR's show and they did it again making us completely happy. Staying right in front of Pau Roca we sent him our remote greetings. Earlier we wrote him a message of love and respect, and he answered hoping to see us on the first line of the audience. And we were there, really!
It was 3 am and only Shinova ahead. They're probably the best band in creating the catchiest singalong choruses #rightnow. As the Next Big Band they're on the verge of becoming 'successful' with all the aforementioned consequences but it doesn't matter when you stand inside the crowd singing along to the best singalong chorus around. And they're the nice guys, we know it, really!
(Unfortunately, we didn't manage to make the good photo of the band as we stood too far).

пятница, 25 августа 2017 г.

#Sonorama20. The Report. Part One

I’ve been writing it for a week, and what I wrote at the moment it covers only the first day of Sonorama 2017. It’s bad. It's inappropriate. I’m fucking up all the deadlines (though there’s no one to set the deadlines for me), and what I really need now is the correction of plans. However, here it goes.

Premise 
I was forced to go through a lot of problems with this Sonorama. First of all, at the end of June I was told that my chiefs’ vacations would coincide with mine in August, and they wouldn’t let me go. Previously I’ve discussed my Sonorama vacation with them many times, and everything was ok – so this situation has got me stunned in the bad way. I had no idea what to do, and was only waiting for some miracle to come. The miracle has come in the form of the unexpected pregnancy of my direct chief’s wife. Her first trimester started quite harsh what made her impossible to travel, so the chief postponed his vacation. That apparently opened the doors for me to come along the way out – but one week before Sonorama I fell ill with the tonsillitis that led me to stay in bed for 7 days – with body temp 39*C for 5 days in a row. These circumstances successfully made me coming to Aranda painfully worn-out and totally unprepared. I wanted to precede our visit with a couple of preliminary reviews (the most thought-about and even half-done was “20 bands for 20th anniversary” coverage of 20 most interesting ‘smaller font’ bands to see) – but all plans went crashed with my illness.
Despite my exhausted state of body and mind we did a lot in our 5th Sonorama. This time there were more stages inside the town of Aranda, some of them were located in remote places which made the daytime logistics quite complicated. But we exceeded our usual normative of 10-11 bands per day to observe, and approached the level of 13-15 bands seen in a day. The major difference of this Sonorama for us as compared to the 4 previous festivals is that we didn’t manage to reach the Plaza del Trigo performances. As I told you many times before, this square is the heart of the festival, but this time we found bands to perform on other stages more interesting than the ones of Plaza del Trigo. Thus we omitted the secret shows, because to see these undeclared concerts from the good viewpoint it needs to come to the square before the first band starts performing. If you come later – you’ll be forced to listen to the shows from afar due to the venue quickly getting overcrowded within the first minutes of the first concert. The only secret show we attended was one of Leon Benavente – the vast difference with the previous year when we observed all the secret shows from the very first line. Regarding the plan of the bands to see we made during Moscow Domodedovo – Madrid Barajas flight, we successfully met the most part of it, with some painful omissions:
  • We missed the show of Niños Mutantes almost completely because there were soooo many people when we came from Burgos stage after seeing Paranoid Android
  • We missed the performance of Echo because it coincided with Viva Suecia
  • We missed the show of Noise Box and Correos because their performances coincided with Nixon and Villanueva respectively, 
  • We had no chance to see Nocturnos because of our flight back home at Monday. 
Anyway, we saw a lot of bands and we didn’t die. We met a lot of people. These were the happiest days of our lives.

09/08/17. The night. Location: camping 
La Fiesta Bienvenida should start for us with the performances of Amaro Ferreiro and Rufus T. Firefly. Though Amaro Ferreiro is around here for so much time, his solo career could make James Iha seem prolific. This fact shouldn’t distract you cos he co-penned some of Ivan Ferreiro’s most memorable songs (“Turnedo” is, probably, the best evidence) – so his songwriting abilities are irrefutable. The second album that bears his name alone on the sleeve was put out the previous year. “Biologo” is very sympathetic record – just like its auteur is. Despite some apparent similarities with his brother’s art, Amaro makes something of his own. As a performer he seemed a bit shy (what is rather his personal feature than anything else), so all it was sweet and warm and intimate. We liked it a lot cos his songs and the manner of performing were pretty close to our inner selves.
Rufus T. Firefly is the band whose name first comes to mind when you talk about the bands in the blossom #rightnow. It’s a mistake to call them ‘young emerging band’ with their 10 years long career and the string of amazing albums in back catalogue but it’s obvious that within the last couple of years Rufus considerably increased their popularity. Now they are capable of gathering the crowd that is limited only by the size of the venue. Additionally, you hardly meet a person who doesn’t like them. Everybody likes Rufus T. Firefly, especially those amongst the musicians. The band rocked the Plaza del Trigo two years ago. Now they played not less than 4 times on festival: the first night, the Santa Catalina stage as a surprise band, a close-up acoustic show in Le Club, and as a part of Paranoid Android supergroup covering the tracks of Radiohead. We attended three of those four shows. The first one was the most impressive one. The distorted darkness that surrounded the camping stage in the General Gutierrez Park perfectly fitted the synth-soaked psychedelia the band created onstage. Even if the sound was not ideal it was absolutely clear why the band is so adored by their colleagues. Victor Cabezuelo and Julia Martin are one of the best musicians in their respective fields, and their music is a grandeur. A listener’s delight.

10/08/17. The morning. Main location: Plaza de Sal 
After seeing Vurro and Antes
Vurro: once viral one man band whose face and forehead is covered with the cow skull. He plays a drum kit and three keyboards. Additionally, he has two cymbals standing both sides of his head, and he is playing them with the horns of the skull; 
Antes: alternative rock trio with high quality ‘metallic’ sound and Biffy Clyro stage behavior, 
and the brief unexpected encounter with Sean Frutos (Second)
We had 15 minutes before Antes started playing so I rushed to the Plaza del Trigo to see what was going on in there but was not capable to get into due to the most streets around were banned for trespassing. I quickly returned to Plaza de Sal only to see Tanya making some strange gestures. From the distance I didn’t get what she meant, so when I got close she told me that I had just passed by Sean Frutos, the frontman of Second. In seconds we reached him, briefly talked to him and asked for a photo. He was so kind to let us do so!
we headed to Maria Pacheco stage to see Los Vengadores. We caught them two years ago on Burgos stage – and they were excellent with their over-the-top energy and memorable songs. Now they have slightly corrected their approach and presented more stripped-down sound and more mid-tempo set of songs. This didn’t change the fact that Los Vengadores is a band to follow, and their performance was the best for us in the midday section of events. When they covered up their actuation we approached them and expressed our feelings to Coque, the frontman of the band. He was nice and friendly talking to us and giving us the CD copy of their recent album “El Arte De Vivir” as a gift.
After we returned to the old town of Aranda we run into the guys of Igloo along with Rodrigo Valiente, the frontman of The Trunks. We were laughing together for 10 minutes and made a lot of photos.
Then our amigos gallegos walked away for lunch, while we headed along to Plaza Mayor intending to get ourselves a couple of white wines. Passing along the Plaza del Trigo we saw Arizona Baby playing their ‘concierto secreto’. In the back of the crowd we noticed Alejandro, the frontman of the band Kitai, who is of the Russian descent. He is famous for his furious stage appearance being ruthless as for spectators as for himself. So I was a bit scared touching his shoulder to attract his attention. But in real life he was so sweet and friendly that, after we did some photographs together with him we felt like if the sun poured its shine on us after the hours of heavy raining.

10/08/17. The night. Location: Recinto ferial
Right after we entered the festive zone we unintentionally stopped at Burgos stage where Molina Molina and his band performed at that time. I’ve read a review of his recent disc “Oz”, but for some reason never listened to the songs. Now this band is in my wish list, the hottest part of the wish list. Then we moved to the La Carpa Meetin Arts tent to see Destino 48 - the band that play melodic guitar-driven pop music with the 80’s touch in the melodies – to kill some time between Molina Molina and A Por Ella Ray. A Por Ella Ray were the first band marked ‘obligatory’ in our plan for this night. And they didn’t disappoint us with tight and catchy song-oriented rock rooted in earnestness and sincerity.
Anni B Sweet was the second one marked obligatory. Her dress was pink, her set of songs was concentrated around the album “Chasing Illusions” – one of my favorite albums of the last three years. This could not disappoint me, this could only make me happy.
20 Años de Sonorama was a “best of” show directed by Charlie Bautista, the rock espanol jack of all trades. He presented some of the most famous songs in the history of the Spanish indie scene. It started from "Rincon Exquisito" sung by our newfound acquaintance Sean Frutos. It was followed by Izal's "Mujer de Verde", Ivan Ferreiro's "Turnedo"... It was gorgeous but after 4 songs I run away to see Tuya. Passing by La Carpa Meetin Arts I was attracted by the sounds and stepped into. Previously I knew nothing about Yoyo Banana, but they became one of two greatest discoveries of this Sonorama for me. Their performance was unattended as it coincided with 20 años – and it was fucking injustice, because the band was as competent as original and they sounded really great.
Feeling guilty for missing Tuya I escaped La Carpa. Another great disappointment was to see the performance of Tuya was also unattended. Having barely 40 persons of audience the band fronted by David T. Ginzo arranged one of the best performances of the fest. Presenting their most recent release “A War Is ComingTuya appeared before our eyes as a duo. I’d describe the new sound of the band as quasi-psychedelic kraut-pop with lots of synths, occasional guitars and memorable hooks. The show was supported by the mysterious backstage video which added some majesty to the overall result. The older tracks were also reworked in “A War is Coming” stylistics. I think no one of those who came to see them left the venue unsatisfied.
Then I returned to the main stage to catch the final moments of 20 Años de Sonorama right when Maryan Frutos (Kuve) and Deu (WAS) were in the middle of their “Toro” cover (originally by El Columpio Asesino), and after we did a couple of wines and listened to Leon Benavente's "Ser Brigada" we moved our feet to see Siloe. Siloe has grown as a performer for this year between now and his Sonorama 2016’s Plaza del Trigo show. Back then he sounded lacking experience of the live concerts, but now he and his band re-appeared as a high class professionals ready to perform on larger stages. In the crowd we met Jose and Diego from Yo, Estratosferico and talked to them about tomorrow's plans. After that we had something like an hour of spare time so we decided to catch the place on the first line before Aranda stage to see Dorian from the better viewpoint. We successfully achieved the goal placing our bodies right before the Belly Hernandez’ working table. Anyway, our happiness was cut short by the unpredictable circumstances: the set of Dorian lasted only for 4 songs and then the equipment called it quits making the further performance impossible.
To diminish the disappointment we walked into VIP zone for drinks. After half an hour of waiting we returned to La Carpa to catch the beginning of our Barcelona friends Pin&Pon djs' set. We waved hello to them, and after the brief dancing to Ladilla Rusa' s "Macaulay Culkin" we sent them the goodbye kisses and left the venue thus ending our first full day of #Sonorama20.

вторник, 22 декабря 2015 г.

The Best Of 2015. 6x6

The occasional sickness provides me with the chance to speed up the process somehow. So, only in a day from the previous entry please find below the next one.

See also:
11x11 (EP's and mini albums)
10x10
9x9
8x8
7x7

Second "Viaje Iniciatico" (p)Hook Listen/Buy
Belize "Belize" (p)Warner Listen
Izal "Copacabana" (p)Hook
Maicalles "DSPRXR" (p)self-released Listen/Buy
  • The most fierce and furious shoegaze album this side of A Place To Bury Strangers' "Exploding Head". Once you dive into it you wouldn't get up for air again until the music stops.
  • Fortunately, Second have returned to what they can do best. Recorded and released via the massive crowdfunding campaign (the band has set a new record for the French crowdfunding platform MyMajorCompany reaching the 15000 Eur limit literally in hours) "Viaje Iniciatico" visibly abandons "2502"'s straight-forward dance rock approach turning out the well-balanced album where intelligent electronica warmly befriends the new bettersweet mid-tempo hymns "Nivel Inexperto" and "Lo Unico". And I'm proud of the fact that somewhere in the liner notes to this album there's my name too.
  • One of the main entries to this year's 'Breakhrough' category - the juvenile Pamplona-based sextet Belize delivers the breezy sunshine pop with the touches of indie rock, lounge and acid jazz. The best choice to give rest to ears after El Lado Oscuro De La Broca or Disco Las Palmeras! 
  • As honest as sarcastic (just look at the song titles and you'll find something like "Everything Is As Fantastic As A Drugstore Poster"), the music of Detergente Liquido is a bug gulp of the fresh Atlantic air (the band is from Cadiz that looks like a perfect place to soak yourself in the fresh Atlantic air) tasting like pre-Cool Britannia jangle pop along with slight twee notes in the aftertaste.
  • In fact there's some kind of duality about "Copacabana". In one hand, Izal as a band has reached the level of masterfulness and internal chemistry where everything is possible and you can do every trick you intend to do. In other hand, apart from a couple of tracks (most notably "En Aire Y Hueso" and "Oro Y Humo") the songs are sounding less complicated than those on two previous longplays. By structure some songs here are closer rather to "Teletransporte EP" than to "Agujeros De Gusano". Anyway, in terms of complexity "Copacabana" is 'the major league of Spanish indie' album which can provide you with the great listening pleasure without any doubt. 
  • Recorded by Poomse's Llorenc Rossello en solitario "DSPRXR" is the perfect example of lo-fi folktronica much in the vein of Lou Barlow solo works. By the way, it's the second album of this year that mentions another lo-fi pioneer Bill Callahan. But if Hazte Lapon have only sung his name once, then Llorenc has penned a full-fledged homage to the lo-fi mastermind turned out to be the Pitchfork-embraced indie darling.