Los Treinta Principales. #24. Muy Fellini "Muy Fellini"

#24. Muy Fellini "Muy Fellini" (p)2009 BCore Disc/Underhill Records

When Navarra post-hardcore outfit Half Foot Outside called it quits within a year and a half after their best effort "Heavenly" was out, it was not a big surprise that all the band members (at that moment pretty disjointed geofraphically) had the projects on their own. Now teamed up with the singer/guitarist Juan Maravi (of the band Sök fame), the ex-Half Foot Outside drummer Edu Ugarte started the new band called Muy Fellini. Long gone were the 'start/stop' and 'loud guitars/intimate vocals' stylistical approaches of HFO - the duo's debut album delivered to the listeners more stripped-down and rather acoustic folk rock. The first song "La Decepcion" sounds habitual for the burgeoning (if not saying 'oversaturated') americana scene with the melody you might expect from the international pop stars Travis. But while it was chosen to represent "Muy Fellini" with a video, it doesn't speak much about the album as a whole - the rest is full of great songs but not pure pop hits. The average lenght of the songs here is 5 minutes, so they have enough time to blossom with unexpected twists and turns. Juan Maravi easily switches from acoustic guitar strumming to powerful feedback wizardry, and his warmful voice adds depth to the picture, while Edu Ugarte's tight drumming never tries to dominate the sound pallette but constructs the system of coordinates in which these songs exist. Wonderful.

The best tracks: Dificil Claridad, Un Nuevo Amanecer, La Decepcion, Paris

Los Treinta Principales. #25. Yani Como "Nada Es Lo Que Parece"

#25. Yani Como "Nada Es Lo Que Parece" (p)2011 Art Of Troya

Yani Como are from Aranda de Duero, so it's no surprise that Javier Ajenjo, the leader of the band, is also the director of Sonorama music festival - the annual event which was described on the pages of this blog earlier. Despite the popularity of the senor Ajenjo's favourite brainchild (arguably, Sonorama is the largest indie event of the state - if counting the events focused on the domestic musicians), his second favourite brainchild is not so popular amongst people. Yani Como has neither wikipedia page nor the personal page on the lafonoteca.net, one of the largest resourses dedicated to Spanish rock music. This fact makes the digging in the band's discography a bit complicated task.
So, "Nothing Is What It Seems" is, approximately, the 3rd longplay of Yani Como and, definitely, the most perfected one.
And while the initial works of the band were inclined to a casual powerpop sound, this album is more about 90's Britrock tradition in the vein of Teenage Fanclub or The Boo Radleys. The sound of the band is enriched not only by the unexpected rhythm shifts ("Aqui Estoy") or translucent psychedelic touches (almost every song on the album) but also by heavy use of the violin - not the most obvious music instrument for the rocking indie band. To be fair, the violin is present on the previous albums of Yani but only here it is not only the important component of the band's sound but the instrument that upgrades it to the higher level of coherence and to the absolutely ethereal effects in such songs like "Buenos Aires" or "50E".
And the voice of Javier Ajenjo has the natural reverb effect in it, so once you've heard it you'd never confuse it with someone else's.

In the end of 2011 I voted for this album as the 2nd best album of the year (http://i-am-sposob.livejournal.com/121826.html), and after two years passed, I can confirm that it didn't become worse.

Physically the album was distributed through the tiny wine shops network (even the special wine bottles were created with the cover of the album as the wine label). So this is the only album from the TOP30 list that I have no hope to obtain on CD.

The best tracks: "Buenos Aires", "50E", "Aqui Estoy", "Magia"

No videos were made for this album, though.

Los Treinta Principales. #26. Love Of Lesbian "Cuentos Chinos Para Ninos Del Japon"

#26. Love Of Lesbian "Cuentos Chinos Para Ninos Del Japon" (p)2007 Naïve

After a short (not so short, really) break caused by my vacations now I'm back on the track.
The presented album was some kind of a milestone for me. If Deluxe opened the gates into rock en espanol scene for me, Love Of Lesbian were the ones who proved my then-yet-to-be-fledging affinity real.
There's a lot of subjectivity in this review (and in this position as well). I do understand that the 2nd part of the album fails a little bit - the first six songs on this disc are really the best ones. But this fact never spoiled my attention because this album means so much to me.
It is the second LoL's album sung en castellano, and if "Maniobras De Escapismo" had shown that the band received additional valency with the use of the native language, than "Chinese Stories For Japanese Kids" became the major step forward in terms of melodical progressions and stylistic diversity. The trip-hop of "Universos Infinitos" befriends here the upbeat pop-rock tune of "La Nina Imantada", the gorgeous "Los Colores De Una Sombra" flows into the acoustic "Un Dia En El Parque", and the family Christmas singalong "Villancico Para Mi Cunado Fernando" neighbors the Krishnaite-like chanting of "Shiwa". Add to this pallette the simple and funny "Me Amo" and the tragic slowburner "La Parabola Del Tonto" - and just try to imagine how to complete the cohesive album out of all of these songs.

The album spawned 5 videos (which is almost unbelievable for an indie band) and started the creative cooperation of Love Of Lesbian and young female director hiding under the alias Lyona.

The best tracks: Universos Infinitos, La Nina Imantada, Noches Reversibles, Las Colores De Una Sombra, Villancico Para Mi Cunado Fernando

Los Treinta Principales. #27. The New Raemon "Libre Asociacion"

#27. The New Raemon "Libre Asociacion" (p)2011 BCore Disc

In the end of 90's the Barcelonian Ramon Rodriguez started the band Madee, and that was the time when he - as many of his peers - have chosen the english lyrics as the way to spread his vision to the world. And it took almost 10 years for him to change the template. In the middle of 00's he appeared solo - now under the moniker The New Raemon, and while the stage name was english again the lyrics were not.
"Libre Asociacion" is the most accomplished album of Ra(e)mon to date, and it contains the fully arranged songs - unlike its mostly acoustic predecessors "A Proposito de Garfunkel" & "La Dimesion Desconocida" - with the wide pallette of instrumentation. When you start listening to this album you quickly may consider the opening title "La Bella y La Bestia" the best song ever penned by Ramon. But until the album ends you may change your mind at least three times, finally establishing "El Refugio De Superman" as the best one (in fact, "Libre Asociacion" has no bad songs at all).

The best songs: La Bella Y La Bestia, El Refugio De Superman, Kill Raemon, La Vida Regalada

Los Treinta Principales. #28. Second "Fracciones De Un Segundo"

#28. Second "Fracciones De Un Segundo" (p)2009 DRO Atlantic

The remarkable voice of Sean Frutos is the trademark of Second, the band from Murcia. "Fracciones De Un Segundo" was the 1st album of the band fully sung en castellano (the previous effort "Invisible" was a mix of songs sung in English and Spanish). Starting from the majestic hit "Rincon Exquisito" and throughout the album "Fracciones De Un Segundo" delivers great pop/rock tunes with strong danceable potential ("Rodamos", "Todas Las Cosas", "Dicen"). But the most winning moments are the songs which are coloured with sadness and/or built on the contrasting bittersweet emotions, such as "Nuevos Secretos", "Para Bien O Para Mal" and especially "Mas Suerte", another gorgeous song situated close to the end of the album.

The best songs: Rincon Exquisito, Mas Suerte, Conocerte, Nuevos Secretos

Los Treinta Principales. #29. Tulsa "Solo Me Has Rozado"

#29. Tulsa "Solo Me Has Rozado" (p)2007 Subterfuge

Led by Miren Iza, Tulsa were also from Basque Country. On their first longplay the band made an attempt to recreate the alternative country sound - and did it very authentically. In fact, you may expect it to be the album of some american band before Miren starts to sing. And her voice makes the great deal to make you fall in love with the songs.
Though thematically the album is mostly dark it doesn't sound moody. Free of any odd steps or studio trickery "Solo Me Has Rosado" is nevertheless bright, hopeful and full of great alt-country melodies.

The best songs: Carretera, Estupida, Limonakis, Tengo Hambre.

Los Treinta Principales. #30. Delorean "Silhouettes"

I'm starting the new topic now.

For the past 6 years I've listened to approximately 500 albums by 150 artists/bands within 'rock en espanol' community. I suppose I can make some conclusions.

So, "Los 30 Principales" is underway.

#30. Delorean "Silhouettes" (p)2001 Underhill

Delorean were, in fact, the 1st Spanish band I’ve ever heard – it was their eponymous album in 2005. But before this band of Basque Country origin started playing their warm sunshine electronica (with which they reached almost universal acclaim in 2009 when "Ayrton Senna" EP was out) there was the initial 'rocking' period of the band marked only by "Silhouettes".

Starting with that simple riff that made Smashing Pumpkins glorious 8 years ago "Silhouettes" sounded like a mixture of New Order and Jimmy Eat World spontaneously adding to the mix the elements of jangle pop and melodic progressions more characteristic for... ummm... Elliott Smith?
Leaving aside Delorean's further achievements, this album can be considered fresh and warm and melodic and free of any possible las faltas provinciales. But in the discography of the band it is (and probably always will be) some kind of a bastard child.

The best songs: Break Concrete, Automatic, Mini Skirt Girls