The Best Of 2019. Honorable Mention

As usual, the main list of the best albums is prefaced by the Honorable Mention list.

This time the list consists of 20 albums that are too good to be abandoned but there are some reasons why they are not included into the main list. I’m still feeling sad I can’t write something about every album mentioned below due to time restrictions (as I would like to think) or the horrible truth about deterioration of my English skills (something I’d prefer to avoid thinking of).

Anyway, there are two bands that have decided to call it a day this year. The first one is Tom Boyle. “Mar De Fondo” was intended to be the first in the series of EPs set to release in 2019 but the band abruptly split instead. The next one is Tourmalet. IMHO, “Fausto” is not their strongest effort – but the band was great and it’s sad they ceased to continue.

Clara Plath is back from the maternity leave with the album that set the new direction for the band. If you can imagine acoustic goth rock – that’s what it sounds like. The material of “Oscura” is 50% old/ 50% new and that’s why this album is not in the main list. 

Regarding Delafe’s “Hay Un Lugar”, melodically it’s a great album but it’s too subdued. You know, the music sounds like all the main parts were deleted from the mix during the mixing process, and now you can listen only to the echoes and secondary undertones of what was initially intended to be music. 

The Birkins’ “You Are Not Alone” is a true gem. When I first listened to this 2-disc tribute to Bowie’s immortal masterpiece “The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars” my only emotion could be best expressed by that Futurama's Fry-starred “Shut up and take my money“ old meme. Look, they’ve got Jonathan Donahue in the mix!

And yes - Leon Benavente is in this section. 

En Septiembre «En La Constante Hay Un Bosque» (p)self-released BNDCMP

Grande Days «A Way To Collapse» (p)Elsa Records BNDCMP

Karabash «Societat Accidental» (p)Au! Records BNDCMP

Pauline En La Playa «El Salto» (p)self-released BNDCMP

The Night Animal «La Nocion del Impacto» (p)Orchard SPTF

Latigo Mantra «Diseccion» (p)Delia Records BNDCMP

Los Buges «Rendezvouz» (p)Discos Furia SPTF

Mad Robot «Punch Me, Kiss Me, Fuck You» (p)Endoftheworld/ Borx BNDCMP

Delafe «Hay Un Lugar» (p)self-released SPTF

Leon Benavente «Vamos A Volvernos Locos» (p)Warner SPTF

Blue Rodeo «Universo»/ «Vespertinos» (p)El Hombre Bala/ Los 80 Pasan Factura BND/CMP

Tom Boyle «Mar de Fondo» (p)self-released BNDCMP

Tourmalet «Fausto» (p)self-released BNDCMP

Power Burkas «Mai Nego L'Oci» (p)BCore Disc/ Famelic BNDCMP

Villanueva «Cuarto De Invitados» (p)Son Buenos SPTF

Clara Plath «Oscura» (p)Flor Y Nata BNDCMP

Birkins «You Are Not Alone» (p)El Genio Equivocado BNDCMP

Tucan «Maniacs, Fools & Jaguars» (p)MCR SPTF

Serpiente «Krizanteilu» (p)Humo BNDCMP

Tiger And Milk «Popular» (p)self-released BNDCMP

TOP10 EPs

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.
BNDCMP

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.
BNDCMP

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.
BNDCMP

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

The Best Of 2015. 9x9

The previous entry: 10x10

Les Sueques "Educacio Fisica" (p)El Genio Equivocado Buy/Listen

Maronda "Vibraciones" (p)self-released Buy/Listen

Christina Rosenvinge "Lo Nuestro" (p)El Segell Del Primavera Buy Listen

Tachenko "El Comportamiento Privado" (p)Limbo Starr Buy Listen

Isasa "Las Cosas" (p)La Castanya Buy/Listen

Nothing Places "Tidal Love" (p)Foehn Buy/Listen

The Birkins "Souvenirs" (p)El Genio Equivocado Buy/Listen

MOR "The Magic Boooooom!!!" (p)Familia Palmer/Discos Del Rollo Listen

Morenas "Tres" (p)Discos Humeantes Buy/Listen

• They're from Barcelona, and they got vibe. Meet Les Sueques, a post-punk quartet with Dadaist attitude!
• La Habitacion Roja's "Fue Electrico" is the great album by all means. "Vibraciones", which was created much in the vein of "Fue Electrico", is great too. And it's no surprise that Marc Greenwood who plays bass in LHR is also the co-leader of Maronda.
• The Spanish indie rock's most renowned woman has added another remarkable album to her back catalogue. Nuff said.
• Without applying any major changes to their core sound Tachenko have recorded the albumful of their tightest and the most consistent songs to date.
• The completely wordless and extremely beautiful album from the former A Room With A View guitar player.
• The moody dreamy psychedelic band Nothing Places is alter ego of the constant Ivan Ferreiro collaborator Emilio Saiz here backed by such the relevant personas as Marti Perarnau (Mucho) and Ricky Falkner (you know, he's a man of many talents). If you think these names are setting the coordinates or frames for what you could expect as the final result - that's a complete mistake. There's something you couldn't have expected at all.
• One of the most prominent Canarian bands has returned with the new album. 10 songs with the lyrics in English and French (as usual) and the great potential of growing up on you. One more El Genio Equivocado's album in my list - this label is responsible for the large part of this year's great music, I swear.
• The space rock from Cadiz (that seems to be this year's most musically burgeoning town). Spearheaded by Juan Antonio Mateos (Homeless, Grabaciones Sumergidas recording studio), the band MOR delivers the multy-layered and breezy psychedelia that for these days is probably the most cutting-edge genre in the rock world. Being not so flamboyant and dazed as one that Kevin Parker has made us familiar with, the music on "The Magic Booooom!!!" is well-nuanced and cohesive enough to really hear the songs here, not these free-form compositions the most of the top psych contemporaries are well-known for.
• One of the last releases by now-defunct Oviedo-based garage/punk-oriented indie label Discos Humeantes. The creative source of "Tres" lies somewhere in between Biznaga and labelmates Futuro Terror, definitely it's not that fast short and shiny guitar pop music you might now associate with the term 'punk'.