Disco Las Palmeras! - Asfixia (p)2015 Sonido Muchacho
I have been living with the idea of '
rock español as the Next Big Thing' for seven years or so. I'm predicting it in livejournal or facebook posts, in conversations with the friends, right here in this blog as well. All this time I'm scanning the media surface trying to reveal the signs of my prediction come true. So here's the fact: less then a month ago
Disco Las Palmeras! performed in Texas on
South by Southwest festival (SXSW) - and I have no idea what does it mean. Was this invitation some kind of regular event for SXSW, or America really starts to turn the face to the Next Big Thing as I predicted? I don't know.
This Galician trio plays loud yet melodic rock music with massive guitars and hard-punching drums (and no bass at all). The new album "
Asfixia" is their third. The first two efforts - "
Nihil Obstrat" and "
Ultra" - were released by the local Galician imprint
Matapadre (whom I like alot), for the new work the band moved to Madrid-based label
Sonido Muchacho.
It's some kind of offtopic, but the first thing I should point out: "
Asfixia" has absolutely great cover.
Returning to music, it seems like this bassless band achived the highest limit in terms of guitar parts' density and intensity on their previous effort, so here they tried to diversify the sound to the results surely worth mentioning. While all the tracks of "
Ultra" had pretty similar guitar attacks which made the album as a whole sounding denser, thicker and more 'metallic' - here the sound of guitars differs from track to track skipping from abrasive crust of "
Tarde Y Mal" through the low-key bulldozer armageddon ("
En El Agujero") along with the digital noise ("
Elites") to the sharp-shaped explosive lightnings which could make
Billy Corgan proud ("
Rafagas En Mi Cerebro") and then back to the sandpaper crust ("
La Calma"). The great feature of "
Asfixia" is that the band managed to avoid the threat of tearing the album's canvas apart by the excessive usage of different tricks and approaches. This shows the band's ability to perform in the different keys without any negative impact on the cohesion of the whole record. So, definitely not the music for everyone, "
Asfixia" is another good example of the solid and inventive alternative rock album made by bright and inventive alternative rock band.
The best tracks: Rafagas En Mi Cerebro, En El Agujero, Callate La Boca, El Final Del Circulo
BUY/LISTEN
The mostly (namely 4/5) female band from 'the other side of the pond' (namely Buenos Aires, ARG) created the ideal C86 album without - as far as I can see - ever intending it. The songs cover the vast spectre of influences from The Cure's "Three Imaginary Boys" to the Courtney Barnett's finest "Sometimes I Sit And Drink, And Sometimes I Just Sit" through all these possible Brit-related shoe-, post- and nu-gazes, echoes, bunnymen and teenage funclubs. The main thing is that you're not gonna split these songs onto the components so solid they are. The album as a whole sounds natural, and it - as far as I can see - is natural (with particular emphasis on 'is'). 
