Mariana "A Partir Del Final" (p)2020 Discos Delejos
It's sad, it's slow and it's quiet. The dreamlike (and the dream is rather unsettling) acoustic folk songs that sound like the silence occupies the major part of the album, and the music and words are in minority - just like in the earlier Low or Songs:Ohia records.
Gyoza "Early Birds" (p)2020 The Braves Records/ Ciudad Oasis/ Bandicoot Records/ other labels
The band's line-up contains a name that looks familiar: Antonio Postius. You may know him for performing the drumming duties in Mourn – the Catalan band that gained some international exposure in the recent years. Nevertheless, Gyoza and its emocore-tinged alternative rock has little in common with the drummer’s extra job both in music and in international fame potential. It’s just too edgy for getting huge even when the synths are smoothing the picture enough to add some 'big name' flavor, namely of Bring Me The Horizon. “In My Room” starts like Helmet’s “Betty”-era lost song. To round up the list of influences, there is a couple of 'Motorhead-meets-Queens Of The Stone Age' tracks closer to the end of the disc. Well, getting the parts together I’d like to describe this record in the simplest of ways: an epic win. A puzzle where every piece is in its right place.
Campeon "Dios/Naturaleza" (p)2020 self-released
It's a fantastic album, I'm not kidding. This pack of masterully crafted songs is so melodic, honest and soulful so I can’t help but fall in love with it. Regarding the influences/referential points the first name that comes to mind is obviously Hüsker Dü but the second part of the album rather leans toward the British acts like Echo And The Bunnymen or Teenage Funclub. And if you wonder if switching from angst-ridden art-punk to more textured sound of the Britpop precursors could be quite painful and/or disturbing - please don’t worry, you’re not gonna notice the moment of transition.
Not A Number "A Life Made Of Wood" (p)2000 El Hombre Bala Records
The ideal emo-rock of the 21st century as it should be if it only skipped its appalling third wave and jumped from Braid, Rainer Maria & "Clarity" straightaway to the fourth one – the rough, spiny and disheveled as a canary pinetree pictured on the disc’s front cover. With greater exposure this band and this album could rival this year's heatseekers like Sorry or Retirement Party on an equal.
Ajeeb "Toss And Turn" (p)2020 El Hombre Bala Records
This album by a Lanzarote-based threesome is the inflammable – and highly enjoyable – alternative rock seasoned with the lesser amounts of psychedelic rock, post-hardcore and alt-metal much in the vein of the British rockers Pulled Away By Horses and a bunch of American bands that single out Husker Du as their main influence. Genre-wise it’s not the most apparent entry for El Hombre Bala's back catalogue – but this imprint never (and when I say ‘never’ I mean exactly ‘never’) submerges below ‘very good’ notch.
