El Relevo Aleman "Königsberg"

El Relevo Aleman "Königsberg" (p)2014

The third long play of the Madrid-based rock outfit El Relevo Aleman is their most complex work to-date. The frontman Jose Carlos Peña is also the drummer for the perfect '2nd wave emo' band Cusin. In El Relevo Aleman he is backed by all-female rhythm section that consists of Christina Arroyo (bass) and Zutoia Rios (drums). This trio plays tight guitar-driven rock music that stands both legs in American 90s/00s indie/alternative movement. So, if you're into such bands as Archers Of Loaf, Built To Spill and especially Pedro the Lion - then "Königsberg" with its angular guitar parts brought to the foreground of the mix and the quiet but emotional vocals is definitely your piece of pie. Since the roots of my music tastes were fed by the same fertile soils (before my 'rock español' immersion I was - and still is - the die-hard fan of aforementioned bands and lots of their peers) I shouldn't have missed this album. Luckily I discovered it by a chance a couple of months ago and quickly fell for it because in comparison with the band's previous efforts "Etica Protestante" and "El Mundo Antiguo" it sounds better produced and more mature, and contains more memorable songs.

By the way, it was nice to see Bottomless Pit in their Facebook 'Interests' section - this band formed by Silkworm members Andy Cohen and Tim Midgett after the drummer Michael Dahlquist untimely passing rarely appears in someone's lists.

The best tracks: El Equipo Español de Curling, El Terror Bolchevique, La Gravitacion Universal, Los Visigodos

BUY/LISTEN

Pedro Parque "Pedro Parque EP"

Pedro Parque "Pedro Parque EP" (p)2014 La Gramola Netlabel

I came across this short album by occasion a couple of months ago when I was searching through the releases of La Gramola Netlabel. I've downloaded it and returned to it only the last week. There are only four tracks - and that's the worst thing that can be said about "Pedro Parque" because it's undeniably great. Really, it's not worth trying to find the convenient words or any. It's totally. Fucking. Great. The best post-hardcore I've heard since The Jealous Sound's "A Gentle Reminder".

The band's Bandcamp page

Destino Pluton "La Importancia Del Contacto Virtual"

Destino Pluton "La Importancia Del Contacto Virtual" (p)2015

This album covers several ages of electronic music - from Depeche Mode's "Construction Time Again" through the melodic trance/techno experiments of Sven Vath along with the post-triphop pop of 2Raumwohnung and finally to the perfectly crafted synth-driven lo-fi electro rock we got here. By all means a pleasurable listening, this album is cooked for us by Sevillan trio Destino Pluton whose members know how to construct the good melody and memorable song from the vintage sounds, synthetized voiceovers and the upbeat rhythm patterns.
One of the most memorable tracks from the album is apparently dedicated to DM songsmith Martin Gore.
The video for "La Importancia Del Contacto Virtual" includes the cameos of [at least] Clara Plath and Roberto Lopez from the Clara Plath band amongst other people whom I hadn't identified yet.

The best tracks: Mr. Gore, Burbuja De Vacio, Obsolescencia Programada

Destino Pluton en Bandcamp

Nocturnos "Pequeñas Esperanzas"

Nocturnos "Pequeñas Esperanzas" (p)2014 self-released

The band Nocturnos obviously represents the pop wing of the Spanish indie/alternative rock. Their first full lenght was released last March (at that moment the band's career counted almost 8 years of activity and two EP's in the background), and as it was done independently the album did not come to my hands and ears until the band contacted me via twitter a coupla weeks ago. I started from the song "Astronautas" they proposed to me, and this minor acquaintance quickly ended up in purchasing the whole album via iTunes.
So what have I to say after listening to this album pertty frequently for the week or so. While the band doesn't discover any new territories and doesn't cross many borders all the songs are distinct and catchy, and the album contains no weak tracks at all. Really, almost every track could be a hit single. The guitars are ringing and the drums are banging all in the right way, and I easily can rate "Pequeñas Esperanzas" on par with the first album of my long time favourites Mi Pequeña Radio. For me it's some kind of the best recommendation for the one who's into the loud catchy song, you know.

The best tracks: "Astronautas", "Que Esta Pasando?", "Baile De Disfraces"


Nocturnos in Bandcamp
Nocturnos in Facebook

Presentando las Bandas de... Records del Mundo label

Last Thursday night was a busy time for me because I was contacted by three labels in a row. I will tell about the latest releases of El Genio Equivocado and El Hombre Bala a bit later (maybe tomorrow), and now I'm going to make a short review of the tiny Madrid-based indie label Records del Mundo.

This label was created by a group of like-minded persons as a music-producing vehicle for three bands only. If you look at the lineup of these bands you'll find the common names - and these names are the core of the label. The key band of RDM is Atencion Tsunami. Frankly speaking, the label is built up around this band. The band formerly appeared on the Spanish indie scene as Healthcontrol in the beginning of 2000's and released its first longplay as Atencion Tsunami ("El Lejano Oyente") in 2009 under Estoescasa! imprint. Stylistically Atencion Tsunami made a junction of such the different music genres as post-'new rock revolution' indie rock and post rock. But time went on, the visions and horizons of the band members widened - so, the other two bands Incendios and Paracaidas have appeared.
Despite the similarities in lineups the music the bands are making is different enough. While Atencion Tsunami stays mostly on the 'space rock arrangements over the indie rock rhythmical textures' railway, Incendios make even more post rock-inclined music, and Paracaidas with their lush yet tight slowcore is the most quiet band of the three.
There are some points I should emphasize. The first is the genrebending music of all three bands is equally intelligent and innovative. The second is Records Del Mundo are the soul brothers of Barcelonian prominent indie label Foehn Records whose bands explore mostly the same moods and touch mostly the same strings of the soul (it's absolutely no surprise that Miguel Bellas, the spokesperson of the label as well as the member of all three bands, is also the participant in last year's fantastic Karen Koltrane EP).

Paracaidas "Pensamiento De Paz Durante Un Ataque Aereo" (p)2015
The freshest one of the three. It presents the sadcore/slowcore basis surrounded with the elegant electronica and weightless guitar arpeggios. The album consists of five songs and one minute-long excerpt from the emotional speech of somebody called Neil. Sometimes the music goes into the habitual territories of guitar-drenched post rock world like in "Pegamento" or in the final part of "Rompehielos" but mostly it is very quiet and intimate music. Very beautiful album with "Pegamento" and "Sans Soleil" as the standout tracks.

Atencion Tsunami "Que Le Corten La Cabeza" (p)2014
As a person who listened to the first album of Atencion Tsunami pretty frequently once, I feel myself absolutely comfortably within the frames of the band's artistical template being kicked and tossed by the rhythm section while having the bird's wing-like guitars floating around my head.
Mixed by Havalina's Manuel Cabezali, "Que Le Corten La Cabeza" sounds warmer and smoother (and apparently more mature) than its predecessor "El Lejano Oyente". The loudest moments of the album remind me of Nudozurdo, another spaceward-looking band from Madrid. The quiet moments (like the song "Cables", for example) are pretty close to Paracaidas. If this album could come to my hands a couple of months earlier it would make it to my TOP30 year-end list without any doubt.

Incendios "Un Cuerpo Humano" (p)2013
But the most shocking [in the good meaning of the term] is this 6-song album. I can't find much words about it except those: it is absolutely fantastic from the moment when the music starts to the moment when it stops. It's the 30-minutes long masterpiece that simultaneously holds your heart tight by one hand and tenderly pats your head by another.

Official RDM site

TIENDA

Muchisimas gracias a Miguel Bellas por contactarme y invitarme al mundo perfecto de Records Del Mundo.

Presentando la Banda. Hacia las Rocas Imantadas

Hacia las Rocas Imantadas "Noray" EP (p)2013
Hacia las Rocas Imantadas "aNИa" EP (p)2014

This is not the easiest subject to review. Definitely this is not the music for everyone. Sometimes it's not even 'music' in the common sense of the word. Not a band in the common sense of the word, Hacia las Rocas Imantadas is an audiovisual collective where the music, the novel or the video cannot (or shouldn't) be considered apart from other creative sides of the bandmembers. Conducted by the 38 years old 'man of many talents' David Bailon (apart from his musical self within Hacia las Rocas Imantadas he's also a writer and a comic book author) together with his adherents Miguel Castro and Maria Muñoz, these sound collages are like the sketches from the extraterrestrial scrapbook where nothing is stable and nothing is habitual. You hardly can find the songs here (there are vocal parts but the vocals are mostly the narrations). What you'll get are the crawling, fragile and hypnotic free-form tracks that incorporate the diverse range of sub-styles and influences like lo-fi, ambient, space rock, Fennesz, Fushitsusha and the early Mercury Rev and mix them to the point where it does not make sense trying to categorize the final result.
It is definitely an adventurous listening but it's a good adventure to dive into.

Hacia las Rocas Imantadas' Bandcamp page
Hacia las Rocas Imantadas' Facebook page

Presentando la Banda. Clara Plath "Hi Lola !!" EP

Clara Plath "Hi Lola !!" (p)2014 Self-released

I am very pleased to present to you the young and restless quintet from Murcia: Clara Plath. Unfortunately, this short album has come to my hands too late to be included in the "best of" lists but it surely deserves it. First of all - Clara Plath, the namesake frontwoman of the band, has the beautiful sexy voice. The second - the music the band plays is good old school indie rock with the prevalence of guitars. I have a bent for this kind of music so two names have occurred to me right from the dark times of the 90's indie: The Geraldine Fibbers and Helium. Both bands were led by the girls with the deep voices (Carla Bozulich and Mary Timony respectively), and both bands were making music so loud that it was in controvercy to those girls' pretty appearances. Apparently, the Clara's songs are more conventional in terms of structure and dynamics but the 'loud clanging guitars and the rich voice of the female singer over them' template is present anyway.
The five-piece consists, apart from the girl at the mic, of Roberto Lopez (guitars and keyboards), Gabi Holden (guitars), Miguel Angel (bass) and Sergio Nicolei (drums). They are able to create the sound which is coherent and thick. The "Hi Lola !!" EP contains six songs plus one hidden track, and all the songs are memorable (with "A Whisper" as the most memorable amongst them) footstompers less or more rocking. Any of these songs might be a hit single, so this short album is very close to perfection within the chosen way/style/genre, I suppose.

You can easily get the full album HERE and/or like the Facebook page HERE.

The Best Of 2014. Album #1 (and the post #100)

The fractured.

The sick.

The morbid.

The hysterical.

The ironic.

The balladesque.

The minstrel-like.

The haunted.

The dark.

The spooky.

The best album of the year is...

...01. Joe La Reina "Bailamos Por Miedo"

(p)Subterfuge

Ademas, it's my post #100 in this blog! I should clebrate this somehow...

The Best Of 2014. Albums 2 - 3

03. Rufus T. Firefly "Nueve"
(p)LagoNaranja

It was an absolute shock. At the moment when music stopped I got stuck with my mouth open and my mind totally blown out. It was not an intention, but this album crawled through my system like a venomous reptile. Call it psychedelic pop, call it space rock, call it everything you want to, but this quintet from Madrid suburbs has created an album which is deep, smart, obscure, blurry, diverse and coherent, absolutely controlled and wide as space all at once.

The thing that speaks for itself: "Nueve" was produced and mixed by Manuel Cabezali from Havalina, the man who rarely makes a fault.

02. Vetusta Morla "La Deriva"

(p)Pequeno Salto Mortal

From the moment I heard "Golpe Maestro" for the first time I was pretty sure that this album is going to be the champion. I wrote a review in English, a review in Russian as well as the first attempt of the history of Vetusta Morla in Russian. I saw no alternative for the most part of the year. And the only thing that finally made "La Deriva" a runner-up is as follows: the album that made it on the very top really came as a surprise while "La Deriva" has shown the highest level of the band but it was no surprise at all. 

The Best Of 2014. Albums 4 - 10

10. Acuario "Cassette Para Los Niños"

(p)Marxophone

The solo analogue electronica project of Nudozurdo's Leo Mateos. These great tunes (imagine something between Depeche Mode's "Some Great Reward" and Dorian's "La Ciudad Subterranea") accompanied by the familiar plaintive vocals of Leo should be the good intermediate POI for the one who's waiting for the next Nudozurdo release - but it's not good, in fact. It appears to be fucking good.

09. Guerrera "Mauna Loa"

(p)Matapadre

A supergroup of sorts (Guerrera represents the members of the local Galician indie bands - such diverse as melodic indie/grunge-oriented Holywater or blackened crust/hardcore Ictus, for example), this band is the energy, the fury and the rampage all incapsulated and wrapped up in psychedelic/ sludge/ progressive thunderstorm.

08. I Am Dive "Wolves"

(p)Foehn

A total opposite to Guerrera, I Am Dive's new album is the quiet slowcore mixed with ambient IDM and dreampop, a perfect soundtrack to the lonely hours spent on the thin border between the reality and the dream.

07. Sr. Chinarro "Perspectiva Caballera"

(p)VEEMMM

In the 2010's Antonio Luque has come to the 'album per year' schedule. But despite the short interims between albums the last one contains some visible changes to the renowned musician's usual template. On his most recent work Antonio sounds like he was bitten by Bill Callahan. So, "Perspectiva Caballera" is the most cohesive album in Sr. Chinarro's history - and probably the saddest one.

06. Niños Mutantes "El Futuro"

(p)Ernie Producciones

Though "Las Noches de Insomnio" and "Naufragos" contained some truly great songs, but they did not work for me as albums. So "El Futuro" is their first album in years which contains some great songs and works very well as a whole.

05. Sidonie "Sierra Y Canada"

(p)Sony/Octubre

The best bittersweet pop album of the year. "These songs surely will make sing and dance along and get stuck in your head for [at least] months", I wrote 8 months ago. And now I must admit that it works just like I predicted.

04. Poomse "Vs.The Kingdom Of Death"

(p)Foehn

With two albums in Top10 and absolutely fantastic Karen Koltrane short album, Barcelona-based Foehn Records is the 'Champion of All Indie Labels' in 2014. The Poomse's album was the first released by Foehn this year - in the very beginning of February, so this album follows me all the year through. With the songs like "Empty Sea", "August, 2011" and especially "Daily Bread" it's the best companion for the old school indie rock fan like me. 

The Best Of 2014. Albums 11 - 20

20. Yani Como "Tu Ninca Te Aburres"
(p)Art Of Troya

With every next album (this one is sixth) my Persons Of The Year (I suppose they know why I call them so) become better and better - just like good DO Ribera del Duero wine.

19. Tania De Sousa "Tania Tank"
(p)Talka Records

With the ideological help of Fermin Muguruza and the full throttle guitar support of Correos' frontman Fermin Bouza this Pais Vasco native punk girl creates the melodic monument to the feminine power.

P.S. "She's the model and she's looking good..."

18. Proyecto Solaz "Homeoextasis"
(p)Digimusic

Named after the Lagartija Nick song "Solaz", the six-piece from Almeria released their first album in the very end of 2013. 9 noisy nervous restless tracks of experimental alternative rock with the perfect 'from intimate to earcrushing' vocals of Maria Martinez and Standstill-like rhythmical structures.

17. El Columpio Asesino "Ballenas Muertas En San Sebastian"
(p)Mushroom Pillow

Misanthropic electro-punk from the Pamplona-born post punk quintet - as cold and icy as Baffin's Island and as friendly and cheerful as an iceberg that crashed Titanic. 

You have longed for the next "Toro"? - Haha.

16. Puma Pumku "Is It In You?"
(p)Matapadre

The impressive first long play (produced by the members of Triangulo de Amor Bizarro) from the Galician psychedelic quintet is the reign of echoes, reverb, detached vocals and old-school dreampop-drenched instrumentation.

15. Sin Rumbo "LUZ"
(p)self-released

The band on the verge of 'making it', Madrid-based Sin Rumbo have changed the direction before releasing their most ambitious project yet. But despite the genre-bending metamorphoses "LUZ" could star as a perfect example of how to change the ways and methods without losing your face.

14. Carmen Boza "La Mansion De Los Espejos"
(p)self-released

"Gran artista y mejor persona. No, en serio; hago canciones" says the bandcamp page of Carmen Boza. Her album is a true gem of the semi-acoustic folk songs and 'a girl and a guitar and a tiny backing band' template. All the 11 songs here are absolutely fantastic.

13. Velcro "Hojalata"
(p)El Hombre Bala

The great collection of re-recorded and re-produced early tracks of the Canarian leftfield electrorock outfit. As I said earlier in the beginning of this year, "Hojalata" is full of great tunes and catchy choruses and happiness for everyone who's into the post-shoegaze alternative dance rock. Since then my opinion has not changed.

12. Blusa "¡Toca Breakbeat, Perro!"
(p)Sello Salvaje

The best feature that "Toca Breakbeat, Perro!" wears on its sleeves - and that makes this wordless album so exciting - is the four musicians' outstanding three-dimensional thinking and the ability to construct the compositions with almost architecturally detailed use of the sound space.

11. Las Ruinas "Toni Bravo"
(p)El Genio Equivocado

These tracks may seem simple enough but the truth is they are so perfectly constructed that could work even without vocals ("Ultimo Tren" as a proof) said I a month ago. Like Blusa, this post punk trio also has an exceptional three-dimensional creative vision - but they use it in another way: instead of creating the slowly evolving soundscapes they make 2 minutes long songs with equally fine results.

Lo Mejor del Ano - EPes y mini-albumes/ Best of 2014 - EP's & mini-albums

Before I start revealing my annual Top30 list of the best Spanish albums I'd like to present to you the teaser. So please find below my list of Top10 EP's - in no particular order (with Karen Koltarne as winner anyway):

Karen Koltrane "Plantas De Interior" 
(p)Foehn Records
This is the classic Foehn album - intelligent, warm and thinkful. The say they play synth pop. I'd rather say Karen Koltrane (the name of this four piece only seems to be the name of a single person - and there are no females in the band either) play something like trip-hop for smartasses. The slow motion beats, the melodies that evolve in minutes, the pure electronica and lo-fi ambient. The album was recorded as a pack of demos. But if these songs are demos - what would be their high fidelity?
And as a classic Foehn record - "Plantas de Interior" is a piece of heaven for every vinyl junkie.

El Viejo Astra "Estudio Dos" 
(p)El Hombre Bala
The Canarians El Viejo Astra somehow call this album an EP. I don't know why cos it's 35 minutes long, and there are many albums of shorter lenghts which are long plays. But if they want to call it an EP - let it be. Who am I to argue with the creators? The music here is full of the layers of foggy psychedelia, and it also contains thick analogue noise and timeless melodies galore. The bastard child of ELO and Medicine (or Spacemen 3). 

Kasparov vs Deep Blue "E.P." 
self-released
The band whose name reminds the battle of the greatest Russian chess champion of Azerbaijan origin Garry Kasparov with one of the first chess-trained supercomputers named Deep Blue plays alternative rock that flows from post-rock to post-grunge with Dredg as a main transit hub.
The great guitar sound and depression flowing directly into your blood system. The song "Big Eyes" is one of the best songs of the year.

baden bah! "futuro/a"
self-released
I've already spread my opinion on this cool album HERE

Doctor Lobo "Reiniciar"
self-released
Honestly speaking, I know nothing about this band from Valencia. I have picked this mini album from their bandcamp at random and found it very interesting. Stylistically they have something in common with the band Neuman, I suppose - it seems like they also did not make the final decision on what exact genre to play. But despite the stylistic uncertainty the songs are good, and their singer really can sing.

Nixon "Alter Ego" 
self-released
The music of this a bit psychedelic indie rock band from Almeria can remind you of Second at times.
Nixon exist from 2006 and "Alter Ego" is not their first release (in fact it's second), so the issues of 'the first attempt at writing' are hardly present here - all 6 songs on this EP sound very professionally composed and recorded.

Dulce Pajara de Juventud "Faithful Songs"
(p)BCore Disc
The provocative cover hides only three songs on this EP - but all these tracks are great.
The first "Evelyn Fuck Machine" is a killer hit. The next "Faithful Song" contains at least six non-cycled melodic progressions in the range between noise rock and chamber pop. The closing song "Benjamin" is a calmer track that fits good for the purpose of a classic closing track. The great appetizer before the full lenght.

Apenino "Viravolta"
(p)Jabalina Musica
This is the classic Jabalina Musica release - intelligent, warm and thinkful - but not in the same way as Foehn's classic releases. The project of Marco Maril (who hides himself under Apenino moniker), one of the core artists of Jabalina, delivers the smooth and intimate electronica-based indie pop that fits best for the sad smiles and quiet minutes of the pairs newly in love.

Mi Pequena Radio "Mono"
(p)Audiomatic/Sony ATV/EMI Publishing

Another pack of great songs from David Tabuena. Recording now as a full band, my personal favourites Mi Pequena Radio show the signs of the creative growth and growing ambitions on this tiny EP. Godspeed you, chicos!

Walden Dos "La Distancia Indolora"
self-released
This Madrid-based formation plays music which is obscure, powerful, colourful, loud and melodic. It incorporates the elements of trip hop, old school psychedelia, shoegaze, and krautrock standing in a couple of steps from electro-industrial.

Las Resenas Casuales. Belako "AAAA!!!!", "Bele Beltzak Baino Ez"

Belako "AAAA!!!!"
Belako "Bele Beltzak Baino Ez" (p)2014 Belako Rekords

One of the breakthrough bands to emerge on the Spanish indie rock skies in the last couple of years, the Pais Vasco's Belako return this year with the pair of EPs released almost simultaneously right in the middle of the year - both being put out on the band's own imprint Belako Rekords.

"AAAA!!!!", a concert-only release, is an agressive, punching, edgy and nervous punk record in the post-Sonic Youth world.
"Bele Beltzak Baino Ez" is more inward-looking experimental post-punk covered with icy electronica and pure hysterics.
These were the two dominants in the sound of "Eurie", the successful full lenght released in 2013. Here on EPs the main components are perfected and distilled to greater effect. It's up to you what side of  Belako entity you like more, but depending on the quality of the songs the chances are you'll like them both.

Las Resenas Casuales. Baden Bah! "Futuro/a"

Baden Bah! "Futuro/a" (p)2014 self-released

This short album was recorded in Aranda, a home to Sonorama Ribera music festival, right after this year's Sonorama edition was over. The recordings were made very fast (I believe it was like one weekend or so), so it hardly took a month for the whole cycle of recording, mixing, mastering and then presenting the final result to the main digital platforms.

Such overspeeding of the process (I suppose it's not the kind of usual approach even for the truly indie band) didn't spoil the quality. So if you liked "Aleph" (the previous album of baden bah!) like as I did you will definitely like the new one as well - like as I do.

The bandmembers have changed the looks. From the white shirts with black ties and 'aleph' symbols on their sleeves they switched to 'pop art' colourful suits and bright images. Musically, without taking major steps aside the band nevertheless incorporated some additional elements to their core power pop sound.
The tubes in "Iguazu" made me curious of how that song could sound in 2-tone ska key. The Madness-like tubes return in the next track called "Invicto" making this song a potential hymn for the successfull football team. The closing "Alma" started with the simple guitar strumming but then it turned into the emotional and sublime chant orchestrated with cello and synths that fits perfectly for its role. The other tracks are more habitual to the band's template but in comparison with the previous releases from the first song to the last here baden bah! sounds more focused, more concentrated, more intense and apparently more concerned. 

The best tracks: Iguazu, Universo, Futuro

baden bah! en la red

Las Resenas Casuales. Sin Rumbo "LUZ"

Sin Rumbo "LUZ" (p)2014 Sin Rumbo

The band on the verge of 'making it', Madrid-based Sin Rumbo have changed the direction before releasing their most ambitious project yet.

Honestly speaking, I was pretty sure that they would embrase considerable success with their previous album "Forma Parte de Espectaculo". Though [probably] not so successful in terms of box office, this disc helped much to consolidate the band's fan base, and before making the further steps ahead the band decided to take some time to re-group forces, to start and successfully finalize the crowdfunding campaign, and then to finally present to us "LUZ" (as usual this album was released independently). By the way, this year marks the band's 10th anniversary, and it seems like the last two years have changed the Sin Rumbo's face more than the previous eight years. Now the band wears on the sleeves the 'electronica-cross-guitars contemporary indie' template whose reflections we may see/listen in the bands like Polock, or, for instance, Sin Rumbo's close friends The Noises (not to mention the best-known bands in this sub-genre). For not to get caught within the cliche's boundaries the guys have used one [not so] simple but effective method: the diversity.

The opening track "Frecuencias" welcomes you with Delorean-like sounds and catchy chorus, while the stomping "Horizonte" has stylistically almost nothing in common with its predecessor. The next song "1789" is a perfect piece of fast noise-pop - at this point I felt myself like I was discovering the world inside the moone along with the [arguably] best album Apples (In Stereo) ever produced. And with "Volveremos A Casa" and "Cambiar El Final" (the latter could remind you of Hurts) this feeling even increased. The things calm down a bit in the second half of the album that consists of the songs which are more in line with the bands previous works. But as a whole "LUZ" could star as a perfect guide to how to change the ways and methods without losing your face.

The best tracks: Cambiar El Final, Volveremos A Casa, Inercia, 1789

Sin Rumbo Facebook

Sin Rumbo Sitio Oficial

Las Resenas Casuales. Las Ruinas "Toni Bravo"

Las Ruinas "Toni Bravo" (p)2014 El Genio Equivocado

It came as a surprise for me as I had never heard of Las Ruinas previously.
I have no idea whether Las Ruinas are eager to be the Spanish Guided By Voices. But something (maybe their 5 or 6 releases in the last 3 years) makes me feel that way. It's clear that the band's modus operandi is not so far from Dayton, Ohio finest: the short noisy tracks with both legs in post-punk and/or college rock, relatively simple textures and quirky but undeniably catchy hooks - but fortunately, this amazing band is not a bunch of copycats at all, and the music they produce has not so much in common with Robert Pollard's main vehicle. The songs of Las Ruinas are colder, more 'robotic', more calculated and simultaneously are tighter in terms of instrumentation and wider in terms of space used. These tracks may seem simple enough but the truth is they are so perfectly constructed that could work even without vocals ("Ultimo Tren" as a proof).
The album of the week for me.

The best tracks: Automatas, Paseo Maritimo, La Epica De La Pobreza

The buy the digital copy of "Toni Bravo" please click here.

Las Resenas Casuales. Joe La Reina "Bailamos Por Miedo"

Joe La Reina "Bailamos Por Miedo" (p)2014 Subterfuge

'Rusia es nuestra peste/Rusia es el fin'
This is a folk rock album, a certain kind of a folk rock album. In the world of folk rock albums this would be a bastard. The fractured, the sick, the hysterical, the ironic, the morbid, the balladesque. The Donostian quintet have created an album that is as unique as powerful and as strange as true.
Many things may look strange here, but everything is under control. Lucas Malcorra, the singer of the band wails, groans and bemoans like a Middle Age haunted minstrel (or like Robert Pollard under the influence) but never falls into pure 'stream of consciousness'. The somber athmosphere of "Bailamos Por Miedo" befriends it with the works of McEnroe, while the free-minded handling with the song structures puts it in the same category as Izal's more convoluted creatures (with Joe La Reina being much more somber and enigmatic). But what is the most definitive thing about this album - and here I must repeat the line that I wrote right after their performance in Sonorama - Lucas does not sing a song to you, he tells you a tale instead.

From the 'plague Russia' point of view I must admit that it's one of the best releases of the year, and definitely one of the most memorable.

The best tracks: Rusia, Huracan 2000, En Una Casa Junto Al Mar, Oh La Mía Pena


Joe La Reina in Subterfuge

Las Resenas Casuales. Bel Bee Bee "Still Unstirred"

Bel Bee Bee "Still Unstirred" (p)2014 The Note Company

As you cam clearly see, I have a bent to Canarian indie rock. Bel Bee Bee is another Canarian-born act with one young girl named Belen Alvarez Doreste behind this moniker.

"Haven't you ever had a burning shower, and when you try to see yourself in the mirror, you need to reach out your finger and draw until you discover yourself again? That's it." - it's written on the band's Facebook profile to describe the modus operandi. A gifted singer, Belen has chosen the path of trip-hop to share her vision with the listeners. So, musically "Still Unstirred" derives from such the sources as her Canarian semi-compatriotas Fuel Fandango or British female-fronted trip-hop combo Kosheen, with the rhythmical patterns more convoluted then ones ever created by both of the aforementioned. Belen plays with her voice masterfully, adding the tracks of backing vocals in their right places. Additionally, the track "Balai Lama" resembles the avant garde pop experiments of Anni B Sweet.

Generally speaking, Bel Bee Bee sounds on this album like a full-fledged international act that seems to be more mature than the girl who in fact has created it.

FYI: The last track - and probably the best - on the album is named after the Sakha-Yakutia (Russia) based village which is known as the Northern Hemisphere Pole of Cold.

The best tracks: Astrays Sculpture, Trust (Serendipity), Oymyakon, I'll Stop This Role Playing

Las Resenas Casuales. Cabeza Borradora "The Jack Nance EP"

Cabeza Borradora "The Jack Nance EP" (p)2014 no label defined at the moment

The former alternative dance Canarian outfit Cabeza Borradora returned to activity with the series of concerts that took place the last year, and now their return is marked by the new release: "The Jack Nance EP" named after the late actor starred in the David Lynch first feature-lenght movie that gave name to the band (Spanish 'cabeza borradora' means 'eraserhead' in English). So gone is the mix of danceable Jesus Jones-like post-Cool Britrannia as well as the trippy left-field electronica the band was known for previously in their active years before almost 15 years long hiatus. Here we have the music as quiet as nervous, creepy, noisy and scary. These four tracks of total 30 minutes long could be the perfect soundtrack to any of the convoluted and frightening Lynch's masterpiece. 

"The Jack Nance EP" on bandcamp