Monkey Week 2018 - 10th Anniversary. 24.11.2018

The summary >>>

23.11.2018 >>>

The next morning I woke up at 9 am having three hours of sleep only. Surprisingly, I felt myself alive enough to come out immediately as I had an urge to visit the record shops of Sevilla. As I travelled without any luggage except for a backpack it could be a major problem for me if I had purchased some vinyls but it appeared that the record shops I visited were specializing on second hand records having little of the most recent releases. The only records I'd like to purchase were La Estrella De David's "Consagracion" and Basanta's "Colorama" but finally I decided to avoid the possible transportation issues.

Despite my nondirectional territorial fluctuations I was just in time at Ron Contrabando stage (Alameda de Hercules square) to catch the very beginning of the Radio3 La Batalla de las Bandas hosted by one of the most famous Radio3 anchors Angel Carmona. The time limits were the same as for yesterday's mini showcases (also MC'ed by Angel): 6 minutes for the whole round of 'come out - plug in - play a single song - walk away'. The event started with the performance of the new local heroes Derby Motoreta's Burrito Cachimba that obviously represented the [arguably] the main contemporary trend of rock music: the 70's revival. The band that exploited the completely different direction - my new friends San Jeronimo - replaced the Sevillian six-piece onstage. Then I managed to see two more bands: the Foehn Records' residents Alien Tango, and the cock-rock combo Los Jaguares De La Bahia. Then I escaped the event to come to the opposite side of the Alameda de Hercules for Yawners. This was one of my best decisions because this metropolitan girl/boy quasi-punk duo was enormously great. I can't explain what was that decisive element of their show that made me surrender and convert myself into a devoted fan. But this was such the pleasure to see this band in action.

According to the schedule, the OffMonkey session was the next event I should attend right after Yawners. This one was organized by my friends from WeAreWolves Records to showcase the bands of the roster: the dj sessions by Pumuky and I Am Dive and two full-fledged performances by Kindata and San Jeronimo. This event should be started at 2 pm inside the Hops & Dreams gastro bar but when I came to the place only three persons were there. I was quite embarassed as I tried to consult a barman but he didn't understand me. So a guy who revealed to be Berni from Kindata came to me trying to resolve the problem. We quickly got in contact, and then I introduced myself to Tero, the second half of Kindata. This band was my biggest discovery of the year so I was completely happy to see them live and to talk to them within a month from the moment I had learned of their mere existence.

Little by little the venue got full of people. I got in touch with a man named Fran who revealed to be a photographer and a friend of Jose A. Perez. We sat together and discussed our further plans and past experiences of Monkey Week 2018. Moreover, Berni introduced me to the guys of Palo Alto who were nice and welcoming as well. In the meantime the bands started playing. San Jeronimo were the first to play, and then Kindata stepped in. These bands were the pure delight - both musically and personally.

The actuation of Da Souza at the nearby Mangaroca stage drove me away from Hops & Dreams. This Mallorcan band released the new album "Futbol D'Avantguarda" (p)Famelic that appeared to be kind of indie sensation, and I liked it as many others did so it was no way to avoid visiting their performance. It was a bit spoiled by the rain. The band played inside the tent but I beheld it getting soaked with the raindrops. Anyway it was quite low price for making it possible. Good music always defeats the rain.
By the way, at the entrance of Santa Clara I met Joan and Natalia of Saim. I approached them and expressed my respect, we talked a bit and they gave me a t-shirt as a gift. Moltes gracies!  

Then I made a short run to Jagermeister. Puma Pumku already started playing there. Like Yawners before the Galician neo-psych combo demonstrated the ability to win over the unprepared observer from the very first glance. I wasn’t totally unprepared as I used to listen to their first album for quite a while – but I never caught them before and had no idea how could they sound live. They quickly made me realize that coming up there I did just fine. This band is great, don’t miss the opportunity to see them.

Uniforms are only going to be great. The nugaze starlets just released their debut ("Polara" (p)Oso Polita) and managed to gather a considerable crowd inside Fun Club. Thus I was forced to stand behind the pillar and could see a little. Anyway, their performance wasn't perfect but their potential was obvious.

The populous and stylistically omnivore rock collective Los Jaguares De La Bahia spearheaded by the one of the most renowned indie rock producers of Spain performed at Ron Contrabando. I saw Paco Loco onstage once when he performed with Australian Blonde, but as a frontman he was even more... ummm, impressive. Shamelessly unleashed, he was like an uncontrolled beast there upon the stage. Despite his anti-star appearance, I think, he made every photographer there loaded with the whole lot of ‘rock star pose and gestures’ photos.

The Donostarrian indie rockers Pet Fennec sounded good performing in the open air (I witnessed it at Sonorama) but now within the limited space of Fun Club they sounded really massive. I placed myself in front of the bass monitor and every beat and every low note made my insides tremble. As I spent most of their time limit at Los Jaguares I caught only three songs. It was not enough - but what could I do.

Regarding the all-female garage band Melenas from Pamplona I'd like to say the following: I can’t call myself a fan of garage rock, but the girls do their thing with palpable honesty. It shouldn’t be omitted despite the fact is the listener a fan of the genre or not.

I liked the second album of the Galician art punks Travesti Afgano so they were in my own schedule from that very first moment I saw the #mokeyweek10 line up. They performed at gay bar Itaca - the southernmost location of the festival. Live the band positioned themselves as stylistically and behaviorally unpredictable act that could easily interact with public whilst changing the genres three times within a song. One of the irrefutable wins of the festival that, unfortunately, was sparsely attended.

Then I headed to La Calle rock club for the Canarias Crea/ Keroxen showcase. When I passed along Teatro Alameda I witnessed a queue that splashed out from the entrance and flew around the corner.
I walked along the queue guessing who the hell might gather such the crowd. In the middle of the queue I met Fran who explained me that all these people were there for Pony Bravo. This band had created a considerable cult following during the years of activity so the audience welcomed their first performance in years with huge enthusiasm.
Nevertheless, I came further to the club. It could be nice to see Pony Bravo but the prospect of losing some amount of time in passing through this queue was up to kill the possible perks of seeing one of the scene-defining bands in action.
Saletile, the experimental rock duo from Tenerife, opened the Canary Islands night at La Calle. The schedule was cruel for them as their slot coincided with Pony Bravo’s. On the other hand, Saletile’s music is not for everybody and the focus groups of the bands were hardly coincident. For me, I enjoyed their set of long instrumental passages and digital noise drones a lot.

I’m not going to spread much words about those two bands that followed Saletile onstage. What could I say… Pumuky and GAF Y La Estrella De La Muerte, my favorite band and the best live act of the scene respectively, that’s exactly how I'd like to label them. I feel some kind of personal connections to both of the bands. I can’t judge them with due objectivity so I should pull them off the scale. For me it’s like, you know, there are Messi and Ronaldo – and there are the real people.
Unfortunately, the actuation of GAF was my final concert of the festival. The bell rang for me. I wasn’t happy to say goodbyes to all the people that accompanied me through the Monkey Week 2018 but the Ryanair’s flight schedule forced me to do so.
Then I walked outside and then lost the next 23 hours of my life in taxi cabs, aircrafts, stopovers and trains.

Monkey Week 2018 - 10th Anniversary. 23.11.2018

22.11.2018

It was 4 am (Moscow time) when I stepped out of my appartment, locked the door and then lost the next 20 hours of my life in buses, taxi cabs, trains, aircrafts and stopovers. I never used to visit Seville before so when I finally came to the city and left my backpack in a booked room, I went out immediately to look at the night in the old town. If my Cologne - Seville flight wasn’t 1 hour delayed I could make it to get my pulsera before the box office booth at the Alameda de Hercules square got closed at 10 pm. Anyway, when I came to the place it was all over, only the happy people teamed up in small companies were wandering off the square. It was mildly raining in Seville that night but it didn’t prevent me from walking the narrow streets of the old town with the smile on my face.
The only poor thing was that due to my late arrival I missed the performance of the gaditanos The Magic Mor whom I had wanted to see alot.

23.11.2018

In contrary, the next afternoon I had the brief lapse of tristeza while walking alone along the streets north of Alameda De Hercules. I felt so detached from everything what was going on as I looked at the people around who were smiling and talking to each other and no one was alone there – no one except me. Just a lone man deep in his forties trying to run away from his problems, I was on the verge of crying when I came to the Jagermeister stage arranged upon the former bumper car minidrome. Baiuca was set to perform there at 4 pm. Just imagine the Banco De Gaia’ “Maya” album with all the Tibetan ethno motives being replaced with the Galician ethno motives to get an impression of what Baiuca’s music sounded like. 

The Galician ethno-trance techno band was not the first band I saw that day. The DITTO stage mini-showcases were my first 'check' in the 'to-do list'. I had no idea what it would be like but it appeared to be the sequence of the performances when a band gets 5-6 minutes to come out, plug in the gear, play a song and get offstage. I was a bit late and caught only the last few seconds of Palo Alto’s performance. Then a sole guy with an acoustic guitar and a loop recorder came out. Unfortunately, I couldn’t recognize his name so he was marked simply as ‘a looper guy from Madrid’ in my travel notes. Amongst the others there were: the young band from Granada Vita Insomne, the Bjork-alike chick Mounqup, the minimalist electropop duo Fru Katinka, the slightly dreampop’y post-punk trio from Colombia Las Yumbeñas and death/core duo from Mexico Los Viejos. 14 bands in total.

That time I met no persons I wanted to meet there so I went out to get myself familiar with the surroundings. That’s exactly when I was stricken by the grief.

Upon returning to the main festival locations I saw Baiuca and then rushed to the Santa Clara buildings to see Saim. I like post-hardcore in common, and I like Saim’s post-hardcore in particular. Their album “Accidents” performed pretty well in my annual 2017 ‘best of’ list almost making it to Top 25. So their set was one of the main attractions for me. I came in and within two minutes they started playing. This made me completely satisfied as they were just as great as I might thought of them. The classic post-hardcore vocals, the perfectly synchronized rhythm section…

Back-to-back with Saim’s performance the Pumuky’s first actuation was scheduled. I saw them live only once before. My bad. I desperately tried to multiply that miserable number since, but never coincided with their rare performances.  That only show was the one of the Sonorama 2013 where they performed full band (“Plus Ultra” version of the band members plus La Caterva Grabaciones’ Jose A. Lopez on drums). This time it was only Jair and Noe onstage thus the sound have undergone some inevitable changes as compared to what I witnessed before. Now Jair mostly played synths and effects picking up his guitar only occasionally while Noe performed 99.9% of guitar work. Moreover, if previously Jair’s voice might be secluded within the three guitar squall and groundshaking drums now it dominated the square gaining some demonic overtones along the way.

Right before Pumuky’s actuation I met Jose and Esteban from I Am Dive & WeAreWolves Records along with Maria and Nacho from San Jeronimo – the band that was set to perform later that evening at Mangaroca’s. Moreover, I briefly talked to Mladen and Alejandro from GAF. The things finally started to get in the right way, and from that moment on I never felt lonely or detached these days.

There were only two thirds of GAF y la Estrella de la Muerte onstage as Carolina (vocals, drums) and Cesar (guitar) were to arrive only the next morning. “You see the man at drums – he’s our bass player. And that guy with bass – he’s our keyboards player”, Mladen told to audience when they concluded. Nevertheless, it all sounded great. The only poor thing was the reaction of public. Frankly, there was no reaction. The ones who came to their show – most of them – spent more time chatting around than listening to the music.

A couple of years I occasionally run into San Jeronimo’s first LP “Salinas, 20:15“ and fell in love with it immediately. This year they have released the new longplay “El Sur” which marked their shift to more synth-laden sound (the first one was rather acoustic sadcore) like if it was born in Bristol, GB. The dreamy synth passages and the ethereal voice of Maria were backed with the trembling guitar lines operated by Nacho. Their performance was arranged with the dusk and shadows – the best possible way to listen to the music of the Asturias duo. 

Then I rushed to my room to change the clothes and have some meal before walking off for the night section of the fest. 

Cor Blanc were the first ones in my own schedule for that night. The tiny electro pop duo from Barcelona didn’t manage to gather much people inside the bar named Studio 74, but their performance was all nice, warm and funny. To entertain whose who attended their performance they incorporated some famous pop melodies into the canvas of their own compositions which added some more positive impression.

Leaving the Studio 74 in the good mood, I was put before a question how to spend the spare time before the later section of the schedule that should take place in the northernmost rock clubs. The most apparent answer was to attend the nearby Teatro Alameda whoever might play there. So I entered the building to find myself in the middle of the storm. Biznaga were playing there, and they did it ferociously. Really, they were playing so fast and hitting so hard that at times I couldn’t see the palms of the guitarists’ hands as they were motion-blurred but saw well instead how the set of drums is literally jumping upon the plinth.

My next POI were Exnovios. This neo-psych band from Navarra is co-fronted by the former Muy Fellini (whom I’m the massive fan of) frontman Juan Maravi. I managed to talk briefly to him before the concert expressing my respect to his past and present doings. The actuation itself was great. Live the band sounded ten times better than being recorded in studio. The synchronization between both singers/guitarists was perfect, and some of their melodies I was humming for a month.

Terry Vs Tori. Usually the dreampop bands are lacking expression motionlessly staring down to the ground while playing as they follow the template given by the parent genre’s direct meaning – but this particular band apparently had the showman. Their bass player took on dancing duties relentlessly, gaining much attention and approval from public. Regarding the music, for me it sounded like the voice of the female singer wasn’t set up correctly but this was only minor complaint as everything else was fine.

Up to that point I passed over 32 kms in a day so my feet were crying out for help and understanding. My body was on the verge of breaking up. But I had to stay there to see Bifannah. Their album “Maresia” performed great in the 2017’s Top50 list so I was eager to catch them live. And I wasn’t disappointed, to speak in brief. The Galician four-piece made an atmospheric show with the right mood, perfect groove and cool vibe with their psychedelic synth-driven pop/rock strongly alluded to the Doors. It was well worth staying there for them.

I returned to the apartments completely worn out but overwhelmingly happy. I hardly could go to sleep as I was overloaded with emotions. It was 6 a.m. when I finally made myself into the bed.

Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. #4 Sonorama Is Life

The last day of Sonorama is usually the one you start to feel yourself exhausted. The hotel lobby was all quiet at 10.45 am even though it was full of young people - just because the young people was totally worn out. For me and Tanya, we were quite brave, but somehow we made our biggest mistake making the decision to come to Plaza just in time to see Rufus T. Firefly at 2 pm. This decision ruined our morning session almost completely cos when we came to plaza we were forced to face one simple fact: even the tiny streets that adjoined the Plaza del Trigo were already overcrowded. We did our best trying to find the appropriate place to see Rufus but occasionally we appeared at epicenter of water pistols war. The people closest to us was more interested in shooting themselves by water than in listening to the band, so we spent more time avoiding from the water drippings than looking at the stage. The footage was troublesome as well. Victor Cabezuelo and his pals were great anyway. Live they sounded even better than on "Nueve", the album that made it to the very top of my year 2015 's top list. One of the most heartfelt moment of the festival was when Victor changed the lyrics of the song "(escribe aqui el nombre de la persona a la que mas quieras)" and sang "Si al final moriremos igual, yo prefiero morir en la Plaza del Trigo" (if we're going to die anyway, I prefer to die on the Plaza del Trigo) instead of "Si al final moriremos igual, yo prefiero morir ahora mismo contigo". 

Rufus T. Firefly

When the Rufus show was over we felt like there was enough time to find ourselves the better place for today's concierto secreto, so we decided to step back to escape the water wars. It was another totally wrong decision as what we managed to get finally was the place from where we could see nothing that was happening onstage. Was it Xoel? Was it Zahara? For God's sake, what is going on there? Was it... who was it, really? It was bad, it was really really fucking bad to stay pretty close to something important having absolutely no idea what is it. So we turned our backs and paved the roundabout way to Red Bull stage where Willy Naves were performing. They sounded interesting so we stayed there until the performance was finished. We noticed JuanMa behind the bus and talked a bit to him ("Supersubmarina? Oh no, I walked away to sleep").

Willy Naves

Our next stop should be the Carson camping stage  where the post rock band Blusa was schediled to perform. I contacted their drummer Antonio and, unfortunately, he revealed to me that the performance of Blusa was cancelled due to the injury of the band's bass player. The second disappointment of this morning.

For the last night of Sonorama we came to recinto ferial right at the start of Zahara's performance. Zahara Gordillo Campos tours with her latest album "Santa". Also she presented some songs from the previous albums like "Lenador Y La Mujer America" from "La Pareja Toxica" but 90% of the set was dedicated to "Santa". Onstage we could see some familiar faces - Victor Cabezuelo (Rufus T. Firefly) on synths and Ramiro Nieto from The Right Ons on drums (two days ago he played drums for Tulsa). The performance was concentrated mostly on the personality of Zahara much like the shows of Garbage are concentrated mostly on the personality of Shirley Manson or the shows of Blondie are concentrated mostly on the personality of Debbie Harry. So the impact of other musicians was some kind of shadowed by the anthropomorphous fountain of feminine power. When she was dancing, when she was playing acoustic guitar, when she was playing drums, when she crossed the security border and entered the crowd - all eyes were on her. Even Tanya who initially was kinda sceptic on Zahara summarized the show with the words "very bright, very smart, very talented girl!"

Zahara

One of the first bands to appear on Sonorama 2015 lineup were Mercromina (the legendary shoegazers from Albacete returned to activity the last year). In contarst with Zahara their show was built around the sound rather than on the visual side. The musicians were static, and the rich and deep guitar reverb along with the trademark baritone of Joaquin Pascual were the only dominants of the show. For the song "En Un Mundo Tan Pequeno" Joaquin's daughter Angela came onstage to sing the lyrics with her dad. As Mercromima is one of my Top10 bands it was the pure pleasure for my ears to be there.

Joaquin Pascual (Mercromina)

Then we rushed to VIP zone to find some palce to behold the performance of Xoel Lopez. Xoel was alone onstage. Two years ago he was supported by the full band, but now there was just Xoel and nobody else. Though I don't quite like the "Paramales", his latest effort, he is - and always will be - on the very top of my favorite musicians ever, so it was no way for me to miss his show. 

Xoel Lopez from afar

Nevertheless in the middle of his set we went off to see Havoc on Burgos stage. And this came out as one of the best decisions ever made by us because we appeared to attend one of the best performances of this year's Sonorama. Initially we planned to catch a song or two and then come back to Ribera stage for the final part of Xoel's performance, but these plans had never come true.

Havoc (initially PLV Havoc) was not lucky enough to have the timeslot which wouldn't coincide with the Xoel's (less lucky were only Berri Txarrak who were set to perform in the same time with Vetusta Morla) so the crowd before the Burgos stage wasn't any substantial. That was better for me as in seconds I went crazy and needed some space around to jerk and jump quite freely. When Havoc finished the set with the trippy version of "Cazador De Ballenas" it was almost physically painful to stop cos I wanted more of this energy, more of these catchiest of songs. Surely the best gig of the fest along with Dorian and La Habitacion Roja's concierto secreto.

Havoc

Returning to VIP zone to take some wine and to meet JuanMa for the last time here we were attracted by the sounds from Castilla Y Leon stage where Bigott was performing. As for Arizona Baby I've never liked his albums at all. But live he caught my attention pretty easily cos he sounded more cohesive, more guitar-driven and less quirky and psych. Instead of sounding synth-laden psycho pop he sounded rock. And it was cool. then we met with JuanMa and he encouraged us to see his friends Eladio Y Los Seres Queridos so in 5 minutes we returned to Burgos stage. And Eladio Y Los Seres Queridos were fantastic too. The name of the band was familiar to me as I had been noticing it here and there for years, but I never heard their songs before. So the band became one more discovery for us.

Eladio Y Los Seres Queridos

The next stop was the show of Correos on Castilla y Leon. The Basque band recorded the new album "Seres" here in Aranda. The show was a mix of the new songs and the old ones. As I purchased "Seres" on iTunes right at the moment it was issued we already knew all the songs. Energetic as ever, Correos confirmed their status as uprising and unmistakably catchy band.

Correos

The next show should be some kind of apex of the festival. Vetusta Morla gathered the largest crowd before the Ribera stage. Spending time with Correos we had no chance to get closer to the stage so for Vetusta we returned to VIP zone. In VIP zone I noticed Mikel Izal and asked him for the photo. He didn't decline. It was nice because Izal is one of our favorite bands.

What should I say about Vetusta Morla... Vetusta is Vetusta. I suppose, to stay on the first line before the stage on their concert could be the fantastic experience - but to get there we should skip Correos and probably most part of Eladio, that was no way. So we watched Pucho from afar. On the tiny dancing zone within VIP zone I went mad dancing and shouting out the lyrics of "Valiente", "Cuarteles de Invierno", "La Deriva", "El Hombre del Saco"... And maybe it was even better because how could I dance before the stage being pressured by all these bodies around... Anyway. I shouldn't be asking for more as all that I already got was great.

Vetusta Morla

Devastated, we came down to the ground and stumbled at Castilla Y Leon to look at Neuman. So we looked at Neuman whom I like alot but my feelings were cut short at that moment. Then we looked at Sidonie from afar as the sea of people before them was as huge as before Vetusta Morla. And then abruptly Sonorama 2015 ended up for us. For the final time we came to VIP zone just to take our final cups of wine cashing out the funds drawn to our NFCs. We were as happy as killed by the necessity to live again our everyday lives starting from the next fucking gloomy morning. Right at the ladder we run into Correos. I quickly captured the attention of Fermin Bouza with my classic "Fermin! Por favor una foto con dos fanaticos rusos!" and we took a photo together with all of them. The guys were smiley and nice.

What should I say to wrap up my report... "La vida es lo que pasa entre Sonorama y Sonorama", says the slogan of the festival. In fact no. No, life is not what passes from one Sonorama to another Sonorama. Sonorama is mere life. And what passes between Sonorama and Sonorama is just something that passes from life to the next life.

Sincerely yours,

Mikhail, el ambassador del rock espanol en Rusia

Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. #2 "Action!"

Date: August, Thursday 13th
Place: Spain, Burgos Province, Aranda de Duero, Plaza del Trigo & Recinto Ferial

Thursday, 13th at midday we came to the heart of Sonorama, the Plaza del Trigo, to start our normal festival life. We were a bit late to get there right at the start of the first performance - the one of Los Nastys. We saw this band live two years ago on Carson camping stage, and they were not so great, honestly speaking - especially being compared to the band that followed them (Sin Rumbo - and they were absolutely perfect). This time Los Nastys performed much better - and though the music was not of our kind, the band was funny and energetic and seemed capable to give the day the right start.

Los Nastys

When Los Nastys came offstage we ran to the Red Bull Tour Bus stage to see what's happening there. The guys from Supertennis were performing. This year Sonorama established close ties to another great summer festival, ContemPOPranea. To visualize these ties both festivals some kind of delegated one band from the roster to the partner. Sonorama delegated Correos, and ContemPOPranea delegated Supertennis. This band played melodic power pop and sounded quite interesting to dig them deeper.

Supertennis

By return to Plaza del Trigo we beheld the lovely show of Nunatak, one more cool band from Murcia. Nunatak became our first true discovery of this Sonorama. I knew nothing about the band, so for me and Tanya they were surprisingly good.

Nunatak

The band's sound was built around more or less traditional folk rock format and incorporated tubes and violin, and their performance was so sparkling that it was absolutely impossible not to fall for.

Right after the show of Nunatak we tried to get in touch with JuanMa Fernandez, el guitarrista de Igloo, who as we knew was somewhere around there. Thanks to the free wi-fi coverage of the most part of old town of Aranda we managed to find him in the crowd. The next band to come on the stage was Analogic - and I have little to tell about them because all through the show of Analogic we talked to JuanMa and rarely looked stageside.

Analogic

After we parted ways with JuanMa (previously making the agreement to meet at VIP zone at night) we went to Red Bull to look at the last band of the morning session - Bye Bye Lullaby, the winners of the DO Ribera del Duero "Talento Ribera" contest. They looked cool and sounded cool, and became one more band to monitor (and I monitor, no kidding - two minutes before I started to write this report I purchased their album on iTunes, and right now I type all these words and phrases listening to it).

Bye Bye Lullaby

The night session started for us from the stage Burgos Origen Y Destino (former Future Stars) and the band Bambikina on it. I found them on Facebook a couple of months before the Sonorama and wanted to see them live. It was folk-based kind of misic again, and Esther Mendez, the frontwoman of the band, was so funny and honest and devoted to what she was doing there. By the way, Burgos Origen Y Destino this year became the full-fledged stage instead of being just pretty small tent.

Bambikina

In the meantime we caught a couple of songs by Marlango on the main stage - it was pleasant enough to stay there for more but Tulsa were 'a must see' for me so we returned to Burgos stage to see Miren Iza and her pals. Tulsa is one of the definitive bands for me as they were the third Spanish band whose music I embraced some years ago, and their album "Solo Me Haz Rozado" I adore much since then. Earlier this year Tulsa released the new album named "La Chica Calma" that marked considerable stylistic change for the band. Now their music is more electronic, more introvert, more somber. Accompanied onstage by the persons of Charlie Bautista and Marti Perarnau caliber, Miren presented to us the set of new songs cross't with a couple of older tracks - and all this turned into definitely one of the best performances of the day. It was really impressive yet laconic.

Tulsa

Then there was another discovery. Naming 'discovery' the band with 20-something career is not so smart for me, but nevertheless I have never ever listened to Australian Blonde before this Thursday. This band really amazed me. Especially their guitarist who appear to be Paco Loco, one of the most renowned indie rock producers of Spain. Now we could see why they called him 'loco' (crazy). From afar he looks like J Mascis, but if J mixes his furious playing with anemic stage behaviour then Paco does everything full throttle. His guitar playing is full of energy, and his appearance is absolutely frenetic - he rarely stops moving more than for a second or two unlike his colleagues including Francisco Nixon, the man behind the mic.

Australian Blonde

Having stopped the headbanging on Australian Blonde we came to VIP zone to have ourselves some wine (this year there were 12 labels of DO Ribera del Duero wine, so one might taste them all and choose the best for his own taste) and to meet JuanMa. After both goals were successfully met we found out that one of the main 'points of interest' of this edition of Sonorama started to take place on the main stage.

The bright and colourful performance named Morente Live! was a homage to the late flamenco singer and composer Enrique Morente. In the 90's he was the first classic flamenco musician to make connections to indie rock world, and later Jota (Los Planetas) and Antonio Arias (Lagartija Nick) became his recurrent companions. After Enrique had passed away in 2010, his younger daughter Solea created a band with Jota and Antonio to pay homage to Enrique's large legacy. Initialy an one-off project, Los Evangelistas turned into something more releasing two albums, touring intensively and experiencing the mutual work with Youth, one of the most renowned British producers of all time. The show was semantically divided into several acts and started from the classic flamenco. We were not interested in classic flamenco and decided to walk around and just look what's happening here and there. The sounds from Burgos stage caught our attention so we came there again to look at Los Vengadores. Los Vengadores were loud, melodic and highly energetic. It was nice because I like loudness, melodicity and high levels of energy.

Los Vengadores

But as the show on the main stage developed, it came farther and farther away from the basic flamenco, gradually incorparting the elements rarely found in the classic genre. So when we returned to Ribera stage there were Estrella Morente - the eldest daughter of Enrique, Solea, Antonio Arias, Jota along with other Los Planetas members and a string of classic flamenco musicians. This last part of the show was absolutely spectacular and driving, full with pure emotions and beauty.

Morente Vive! troupe

When the final crescendo was over we stayed before Ribera stage to win ourselves the better places for Dorian. We met success moving our wine-fueled bodies right at the security bars by the very center of the stage. The waiting period faded fast and we quickly became surrounded by the screeching young females evoking Marc Gili before their eyes. Dorian launched the show with the biggest hit single from the "La Velocidad del Vacio" album - "Los Amigos Que Perdi". Celebrating the tenth anniversary of band's existence this year, now the band tours in support of the album "Diez Anos Y Un Dia". If the tracks on the album were arranged in intelligent acoustic key, then live they sounded much louder and considerably more powerful. The guitar sound was predominant throughout the show. As we knew most of the songs on "Diez Anos Y Un Dia" by heart, we sang them along being definitely not the worst singers in the forefront of the crowd (some chicks by our side were much worse than us). Closer to the end of the show the paper gun was triggered, and we found ourselves placed inside the papercuts blizzard. It looked - and felt - very beautiful and uplifting.

Dorian

It was great but what would come next should be even greater. Earlier this day it was declared that Dorian would set up the signing session in mercadillo right after the show. Accidentally, we took a couple of Dorian CDs from home to listen to in the car during our North Spain travel. So we got something to be signed by the band. The only thing that was not prepared for this was me.
I thought that the musicians would stand behind the counter and we would just give them our CDs to sign, and they would sign them in the free-flow mode. In the best case we could say them "Hi!", I supposed. But in fact it wasn't so. We were invited into the space where we could shake hands with them, embrace them, talk to them... It's so sad that I wasn't prepared for this. I was absolutely stunned by the mere possibility of staying behind them so I've almost lost my tongue and felt myself like a fool. All the guys were so welcoming to us, and Belly was so beautiful and nice... Poor dumbhead me, it could have been much better! Anyway, to meet and greet with one of our favourite high profile bands was the great experience.

After that we just listened to Dinero from afar, to Kuve (the band fronted by the younger sister of Second's Sean Frutos) from afar and to La Habitacion Roja also from afar. The night was done.

The only thing to apologize was the missed performance of Reina Republicana. I planned to see them but it was absolutely impossible due to Dorian show and signing session.

Text: Mikhail
Photo: Tatiana & Mikhail

Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. #1 Get The Party Started

Date: August, Wednesday 12th.
Place: Spain, Burgos Province, Aranda de Duero, Escenario Carson Camping

Almost an year ago I was standing on the edge of  Plaza del Trigo stage when Javier Ajenjo, the director of Sonorama, unexpectedly brought me in front right before the eyes of all these happy young men and women around and introduced me to the crowd, and I was thinking: What could be better than this? What in my fucking stupid boring life could ever be greater than this? Or most likely this would be the greatest moment for me to recall when I die? Will there be the other beautiful moments worth waiting for? (The answer for the last question is: definitely yes!)

This time we came to Aranda a day before the start of the festival - just to breathe this air, to walk the empty streets, to have a night to drink the wine sitting on the Plaza Mayor... Generally speaking, we wanted to adjust our souls to the atmosphere of the town before the fiesta starts. Our arrival was preceded by 9 days-long travel across the north of Spain from Galicia to Pais Vasco. Initially we had plans to meet some local musicians on our route - the plans that have partially come true (Hugo Babarro from Bestlife (Under Your Seat) and Julian Rodriguez (Igloo), and partially not (Edu Ugarte, Joe La Reina). In addition to that, our visit to Ferrol coincided with the acoustic set of La Habitacion Roja in a pretty small venue called Sala Super 8. Happily we managed to attend the concert and, moreover, to take a couple of photos with Jorge Marti and Pau Roca.

12th of August surprisingly the sky got cloudy after the lunch time. It was the first time when we saw the clouds in Aranda. The official opening of Sonorama was set at 9 p.m. in camping. When we came there at the time, it started raining. Needless to say, we weren't prepared for this and quickly started to get soaked with the raindrops. But the first ever performance of Sonorama Ribera 2015 was not painfully spoiled by the weather, and the band of Jimmy Barnatan (old-school country "redneck'n'roll" rock) led us through their r-r-r-roaring show without any serious obstacles on the way. But the next band to appear before or eyes and ears - Club del Rio - was compelled to postpone the show for almost an hour cos the rain got harder. There was something in the air that made the atmosphere around full of lightweight craziness and surrealism. Somewhere in between of the performances the costumes contest was scheduled for this night (first prize - lifelong access to all the future Sonoramas. Yes, lifelong!) So we were looking at the men dressed like women and the women dressed like men, and all these freaky styley dudes and chicks walking around us. There was a semi-naked guy with the painting saying "Fuck Canada!" across his waist, for instance. "You can't take that stuff to Canada", I recalled the line from the old Low track "Canada". Anyway, the most winning costume this night was that one of jellyfish as it was built upon the see-through umbrellas, and not only looked cool but also effectively prevented its owners from getting wet. Unfortunately, we didn't have one. So at the moment when Club del Rio finally came onstage not only to move their gear back and forth but also to play some music we made the definitive decision to return to hotel. Club del Rio were none of our interest with their mix of reggae, acid jazz and indie folk, and to wait for Aerolineas Federales and secret concert was a bit too embarassing for us, taking in mind that the rain showed no signs of stopping in the close future.

As my report of the first night of Sonorama 2015 is limited due to the poor weather conditions I have the time and the space to express my simpathy and adoration to the persons we got acquainted with during this travel. Hugo, Julian and JuanMa, the time that we spent together makes me and Tanya dream about spending much more time with you!

Text: Mikhail

Photos: Tatiana

Sonorama Ribera 2015. The Report. The photographs

While I'm just trying to start the report on the new Sonorama edition, you may dive into the atmosphere of the fest through the set of photos that I uploaded (and still continue to upload as the amount is huge) here.

Javier Ajenjo (Sonorama director) & Jorge Marti (La Habitacion Roja) on Plaza del Trigo stage with DO Ribera del Duero wine

The Next Stop: Contempopranea

Despues del concierto de GAF tenemos una nueva direccion...

Oh, sorry, just got psyched. But yes, there's a new direction ahead.

Contempopranea.

Province of Extremadura, town of Badajoz, XIXth edition of the fest.

Originally, Contempopranea took place in Alburquerque but this year it will be divided into two sets: 1st in Badajoz (6-7th of June) and 2nd in Alburquerque (25-26th of June). Taking in mind the fact that 1st set of the fest would coincide with my birthday we have decided to put this event into our schedule.

In the very beginning of my falling for rock espanol I dreamt about visiting Contempopranea, and finally the dream will come true. The  1st leg of this year's edition includes the sets of Izal, Sidonie, Love Of Lesbian, Ivan Ferreiro - all these names could make me go mad, and the chances are they will.