Cinéma Vérité: Tired hands (Single, 2010), Le Grand Magistery

Cinéma Vérité es el resultado de la unión de un anglófono de Toronto (Zachary Gray) y un anglófono de Montreal (Guillaume Harvey) que se conocieron en unas clases de cine en la universidad. Tomando como excusa el mundillo cinematográfico, unieron sus fuerzas para crear el dúo, que factura un sonido que es algo así como un Lo-Fi-Pop con toques electrónicos, utilizando esta electrónica (y algún que otro sampler) para crear atmósferas más o menos etéreas para sus temas. Un producto delicado y con cierta dosis de ternura que debuta este otoño con Sunrise, Sunset (2010), para el sello Le Grand Magistery. Un dúo al que no habrá que perderle la pista.

Cinéma Vérité – Tired hands (Single, 2010)

“Cinéma Vérité was started in 2008 by Anglo-Torontonian Zachary Gray and Franco-Montréaler Guillaume Harvey. Having met in the back row of Concordia University film classes, Gray and Harvey began a long-distance song-writing relationship after Gray moved to Toronto to major in film at Ryerson University. Gray recently moved back to Montréal, but the two continue to compose the majority of their music online. 
Signed to Le Grand Magistery in 2010 (best known as Stars’ former label), Cinéma Vérité will be releasing their debut album “Sunrise, Sunset” October 20th, along with a self-released remix album, “Sunrise, Sunset Revisited”, featuring remixes from Benoît Pioulard, Khonnor, Le Concorde, Montag, and Ilkae, among others. (MP3: Le Concorde’s “Oak Island” Remix:http://thisiscinemaverite.com/press/cinemaverite-192-oakisland-leconcorderemix.mp3) With their background in film studies, Cinéma Vérité creates music that is as much atmospheric soundscape as it is catchy-as-hell pop. “Sunrise, Sunset” is a bittersweet gut-ache of heartbreak hangovers and morning-after melodic bliss. It is both moody as hell, and simply sincere. Gray’s lyrics are crystalline and pure, like the memories that play over and over in your head when you’re homesick, like rousing up from a drunk-dry sleep to sober-ecstatic revelation. Harvey’s guitar riffs, spinning out and rolling in, soaked in home-style acoustic pop, are hung out to dry in electronic ephemera. You walk with it and it takes you home. “Sunrise, Sunset” also features two remixes of the forthcoming single ‘Perfect Day’ by Canadian electo acts vitaminsforyou and Montag. In addition to the album, Cinéma Vérité released their debut single “Icelandic Summer” this past June via Le Grand Magistery’s digital compilation “A Very Magistery Summer”. (MP3: “Icelandic Summer” http://thisiscinemaverite.com/press/cinemaverite-192-icelandicsummer.mp3)
Cinéma Vérité tours with a 5-piece live band, with Gray on harmonium, laptop, and vocals, and Harvey on guitar. The band rounds out with Toronto musicians Christopher John Butcher on drums, Anu Jindal on guitar, and Tristan Johnston on bass. They’ll be touring North America this October and November with Kranky recording artist Benoît Pioulard. Tour dates will be announced soon” (Hoja de prensa)

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Summer Clothes, A Mixtape by The JangleBox (2010)

Para despedir el mes de Agosto, vamos a inaugurar en The JangleBox un apartado dedicado a las Mixtapes. Ésta será la primera que editemos, y esperamos poder realizar muchas más. Por lo pronto, y para despedir el verano, os presento esta compilación en la que podréis encontrar algo de lo mejorcito de la escena Indie internacional que ha ido apareciendo durante estos primeros meses de año. Lógicamente, nos hemos dejado fuera muchos temas y bandas que iremos acoplando en futuras recopilaciones. Al descargar el disco os encontraréis la contraportada y el Tracklist en un archivo de texto. Por lo pronto, vestíos estas Summer Clothes (2010) para ir diciéndole adiós al veranito…

The JangleBox – Summer Clothes, Mixtape (2010)

Best Coast Guest List 2010, Interview by Pitchfork

Ésta es una entrevista que el portal Pitchfork realizó a Best Coast no hace demasiado tiempo. En él cuentan todos esos cotilleos y curiosidades que tanto gustan a cierto sector de la prensa musical. Con todo, es bastante interesante. Además, se acompaña de un documento sonoro en el que Bethany y Bobb muestran sus últimos gustos musicales.

Best Coast – Guest List 2010

Favorite New Songs From the Past Year

Bethany Cosentino: Real Estate: “Beach Comber”. Real Estate is one of my favorite new bands to come out within the last year or so. I also really like Drake: “Up All Night” from [Thank Me Later], featuring Nicki Minaj— two of my favorite people in hip hop right now. Wavves: “King of the Beach” and Happy Birthday: “Girls FM”.

Bobb Bruno: Smith Westerns: “Tonight” and Those Darlins: “Wild One” are probably my two favorites of the last year.

Favorite Older Songs at the Moment

BC: I started listening to E.L.O. a lot on the European tour, and “Can’t Get It Out of My Head” is one of my favorite songs ever. And another is James & Bobby Purify: “I’m Your Puppet”, which is a song that Bobb and I listen to a lot when we’re touring and driving.

BB: Fleetwood Mac: “Sara” from Tusk. I listen to that song probably every day, at least once. Some days more than once [laughs ]. And “You Make Loving Fun” from Rumours. I’ve been really obsessed with those. Favorite New Artist BC: Two of my favorite new bands we’ve actually been lucky enough to play with. No Joy are these two girls from Montreal who are just the most bad-ass slayers on guitar. They’re super awesome, and they just had a 7″ come out on Mexican Summer. And the other band is Dunes, from L.A., who also just had a record come out on Mexican Summer. Dunes are close friends of ours.

BB: I like both those bands a lot. Those Darlins, I don’t know how new they are, but they’re new-ish to me. I’m super into that band.

BC: I knew you were gonna say that [laughs].

BB: They’re gonna come up, probably a few more times [laughs].

My Dream Collaboration

BC: I would really like to collaborate with Drake! I’m obsessed with Drake, I think he’s, like, one of the best artists to come out within the last 10 years. His record is so good, and all his mixtapes are really good too. [Drake] would be awesome, but I’m also obsessed with Stevie Nicks, so I think, ultimately, my number one collaboration would be to do something with Stevie Nicks.

BB: Probably Little Boots. I think her music’s really cool. Or Lindsey Buckingham is probably the ultimate. The other side of Bethany’s dream.

BC: Boys versus girls. [laughs]

Favorite Song of All Time

BC: My favorite song of all time is “Don’t Worry Baby” by the Beach Boys. It’s a pretty generic Beach Boys song, and a pretty generic favorite song to have, but it’s just incredible. When we were in Europe, I listened to it probably 50 times a day ‘cause it would just push me through the anxiety and the homesickness and stuff. I just think that’s the best song ever.

BB: Probably “No Reply” by the Beatles. No matter how I’m feeling, if I put that song on it just feels instantly better. It just kicks in right away, on the first word. So good.

Last Great Concert I Saw

BC: When we were in London, we went to see Teenage Fanclub. They played down the street from us. I was super drunk, so I didn’t really watch them, but I heard them the whole time and it was really awesome. I don’t remember what the venue was called, but it was old-timey looking and really cool.

BB: Wilco at Primavera. Wilco’s my all-time favorite band, so any time I see them is incredible, even though they had a lot of technical difficulties at that show. They could have a show where every song goes wrong, and it would still be my favorite.

BC: I also watched Beach House at Primavera and that was amazing as well. Teen Dream is one of the best records ever. I watched them with Matt Mondanile from Real Estate, and we were standing on this hill with thousands of people everywhere. He and I were looking at each other like, “This is nuts, right?” They sounded amazing, and it was a really cool experience.

Last Great Film I Saw

BC: The last great movie I saw was Toy Story 3 in 3D. We saw it at this theater in L.A. called the El Capitan, which is owned by Disney, so they have all of the big Disney movies playing there. There was a Toy Story-themed carnival that you could go to across the street, and if you had a ticket to the movie, you got to go into the carnival for free. I felt like I was 10 years old again, and I love to feel like I’m a kid. So it was almost as good as Disneyland.

BB: I watched this French movie called Martyrs. Essentially it’s a horror movie, but there are a lot of twists and turns.

Last Great Book I Read

BC: I’m obsessed with Chelsea Handler, I think she’s hilarious, and I read her last book on our last U.S. tour, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang. She’s really funny and relatable, and the other one she did, Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, it’s really good, but I think Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang is better.

BB: Storms by Carol Ann Harris– that was the Fleetwood Mac book I read on tour. She was Lindsey Buckingham’s girlfriend, and they started dating right before Rumours came out, and then she was with him, I think, past Tusk and onto the next record. If you like Fleetwood Mac, it’s an amazing book because you get to read about all the insane decadence and then everybody’s weird personality things.

BC: Coke stories?

BB: Yeah, a lot of cocaine stories. Stevie Nicks’ dog likes to eat cocaine, that’s one of them. Don’t leave it around her, ‘cause her little poodle will eat it.

Favorite Piece of Musical Equipment

BC: My dad gave me an original Danelectro. It was his guitar, and he gave it to me when I was 16 or 17. He bought me a Strat as a Christmas gift when I was 13, so that was my first guitar, but the Danelectro is the guitar that I wrote most of the Best Coast songs on and the guitar that I used when we first started playing. But I think [the Danelectro] is my favorite piece of musical equipment, because my dad gave it to me and it got to go on a tour and do cool stuff.

BB: The Zoom HD16 recorder is really easy to use and really small, and that’s what we did all the early Best Coast singles on. I still use it to record pretty much everything, or when I’m working on new songs and stuff. Even though it’s digital, the way it’s laid out is really easy. You pretty much don’t have to read the manual, which is good.

Favorite Record Shop

BC: My favorite record store is Rooky Ricardo’s in San Francisco. We went there when we were on a West Coast tour with Vivian Girls, and I had heard everybody telling me, “This would be your favorite record store, you have to go there.” We went there and it was actually closed! The Yours Truly guys were filming us and they knew they owner so he opened it up for us, basically. And it was like my dream. They had every girl group ever, and just every kind of 50s and 60s thing you can imagine. The guy who owns it makes these really awesome comps, where he just picks his favorites from surf to girl group to more a cappella shit, and they’re like 10 bucks each, and you get 30 or 35 songs on a CD ‘cause the songs are all pretty short. So that’s definitely my favorite record store. I want to go there every time we’re in San Francisco.

BB: Aquarius Records, also in San Francisco. I feel like their tastes are totally, exactly in line with mine. They like weird soundtracks, black metal, and then also really cool, weird pop records. Any genre of music that I have an interest in, they always seem to know what’s the best, coolest, newest, or most obscure things– they’re always on top of it.

First Record I Bought For Myself

BC: The first actual thing I remember buying and listening to and having sort of shape the music that I listened to as a young teenager was the first Punk-O-Rama compilation. I grew up in the suburbs, and my friends and I were all sort of quote-unquote “alternative kids”, while everybody else was into surfing and water polo. [laughs] The first Punk-O-Rama had, like, Pennywise and NOFX and Rancid and Total Chaos and a bunch of really funny pop punk bands. And every time they would make a new one, my friends and I would go and we would buy it from this record store called Tempo, which doesn’t exist anymore. Once it got to Punk-O-Rama 5, we sort of grew out of it.

BB: Wow, yours is way cooler than mine.

BC: [laughs] Well, you’re old!

BB: There were records that I had my parents buy for me, but the first one that I actually decided, “I’m going to buy this,” was the “Footloose” single. I was really into pro wrestling, and there was this tag team called “The Fabulous Ones,” and that was their entrance music. In hindsight, not the best choice– they were a tag team with their whole look patterned after Chippendales dancers. But when you’re 11, they’re just cool dudes with beards that are beating people up. Now that I’m older, I look back and it’s like, “Whoa.”

BC: Well, mine is Punk-O-Rama, so I’m not trying to say it’s cool either.

BB: Well, being into punk rock is a lot better than an 11 year old who’s into sweaty Chippendales dancers.

Favorite City to Play In

BC: I love playing in Toronto. We have played in Toronto a couple of times, and I always have a lot of fun. I love playing in Toronto, and I love playing in L.A. ‘cause it’s home and, you know, it’s always good vibes when we play here.

BB: Toronto and L.A. are also my favorites. We played in Toronto three times a couple weekends ago, and every show was really fun and different and–

BC: –sweaty.

BB: Yeah, really sweaty. But the people in that city who come to our shows are super awesome and really nice to us.

Favorite Venue

BC: I think my favorite venue is this place in L.A. called Echo Curio. It’s a small DIY sort of art gallery space, and we’ve played a bunch of shows there.

BB: Our first show!

BC: Yeah, we played our first show there. I always like going to shows there. They don’t have a professional sound guy or sound system, so it’s not always the greatest sound, but it’s always really fun to hang out there and drink beer on the street with your friends. They always have really awesome bands play there, too. There’s also a place in Toronto that we’ve played twice now called the Garrison. It’s becoming one of my favorite venues. The people that work there are really cool, and we have good memories of that place. Bobb got his hair braided there once.

BB: The Garrison is awesome. I really like Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. It’s a really beautiful venue, and the people who work there are really nice. The sound is really good, too. And then, at home, I still really like the Smell. The L.A. music scene wouldn’t be at all what it is without that place.

BC: I agree with that.

Best Thing You’ve Bought in the Past Year

BC: I recently bought an oil painting of Kramer– from “Seinfeld”– for my house. I got it on eBay. It looks like Al Pacino and Kramer combined, and that’s why I bought it, because it was so bad looking that I was like, “I have to get this.” I really need to get a frame for it and hang it behind my couch.

BB: The Danelectro baritone guitar that I bought this year. I just bought it as a cheap replacement but actually, it’s probably the best baritone that I own. And I own, I don’t know, like five of ‘em. It’s just really light and easy to play. I also bought a spring reverb called “The Moisturizer”, which is made by this guy in Baltimore. It’s really cool ‘cause the springs are on top of it, so you can fuck with ‘em with your hand and do all kinds of weird shit. But as a regular reverb it sounds amazing.

BC: What about your Jäger backpack?

BB: That is pretty good too. I just look like the biggest bro everywhere. In every airport that we go to, to bring a Jäger backpack.

BC: It’s black and orange and has the Jäger logo on it! And it’s like, a mini-backpack. It’s amazing.

BB: It’s funny because it’s essentially a kid-sized backpack [laughs].

Best Thing You’ve Done At All This Year

BC: Primavera Sound 2010. Primavera was one of the craziest, coolest moments that I’ve ever experienced. I was super nervous before we played, and then while we were playing I kind of had that moment where I realized, “Wow. This is actually happening,” y’know? Being able to go to Europe at all was awesome. I never thought I’d go to Europe, and Barcelona is a beautiful place. I had so much fun at Primavera. It was the moment that I realized, “Okay, this is real. I’m actually in a band. This is my job now.”

BB: Making our record was definitely the best thing. We had to do it really fast, and at the beginning it seemed like, “Are we even gonna be able to do this?” We put our heads down and just worked super hard to get it done in the shortest amount of time possible. And we actually pulled it off, and it came out great, and I’m really proud of it.

My Dream Merch Table

BC: Best Coast bongs. No question. That’s what we’re selling [laughs]. A bong shaped like a cat.

BB: I want stuffed animals of Snacks [the cat on the album cover] that people can buy.

BC: Yeah. We can do that. We can do both [laughs].

Strangest Display of Affection from a Fan

BC: Oh my god, where do we start? I think the craziest thing was in Chicago. This kid made fan art– wasn’t really as strange as it was hilarious because the picture that he drew of Bobb looked identical to Bobb. Like, it was a portrait of Bobb, basically. And then the one he drew of me was just a printed out photo of my cat with my name written on it.

But I think the weirdest thing was when we played a show in Stockholm, Sweden, and there was this really drunk guy in the front row that threw a glass of whiskey at me and then came into our backstage and tried to punch us all in the face. Bobb and Keith [Abrahamsson], the guy who runs our label, and [drummer] Ali [Koehler] were all pushing him out of the room, and he wouldn’t leave. And then he was like, “I just wanted to tell you how much I love your band!” And we were like, “Oh, you wanted to punch us in the face while telling us that?” So that guy sucked, and that situation was really bizarre.

BB: That one was definitely the weirdest. At one of our L.A. shows, I traded merch for weed cupcakes. I don’t smoke weed, but Bethany was very into that. I did try some of the frosting.

BC: I ate the shit out of that cupcake.

BB: Before they gave it to us, they added extra frosting, which had even more weed in it. It was just dripping with frosting by the time I took it backstage.

Favorite TV Show

BC: My favorite TV show of all time is “Seinfeld”. But I’ve been watching a lot of “The X-Files” lately, particularly the first and second seasons. I have to watch it during the day ‘cause I get too freaked out to watch it at night. But I think David Duchovny is the hottest guy ever, and that show is really crazy and awesome.

BB: My current favorites right now are “Top Chef”, even though everybody is kind of despicable this season. But I love Tom Colicchio– he’s a hero of mine. I’ll watch that show no matter what. And “True Blood” I’m also really into. This past week’s episode had probably the most insane sex scene I’ve ever seen in my life.

Favorite Video Game

BC: My favorite video game is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater for Nintendo 64. I used to stay up all night playing that game, when I was in junior high. Not to mention it had the best soundtrack ever– Pennywise and Lagwagon and a bunch of weird pop punk bands that I was into. I love Ms. Pac-Man, arcade style, and I’m also really into Skate 2 for Xbox. I am not really good at modern video games, but that’s one game that I am actually pretty good at.

BB: I play Rock Band a lot with my friends. We’ll do marathons. I think our record is 45-song sets, which is like going to a concert.

Favorite Radio Show

BC: There’s a radio station in L.A. called KDAY 93.5, and it’s the old-school hip-hop station. They play a lot of really awesome 90s West Coast hip-hop stuff. And K-EARTH 101, which is the Oldies station, does this thing on Saturday mornings called “Breakfast With the Beatles”, and they play all these rare Beatles songs and interviews.

BB: I’m gonna come off as the biggest loser in this interview, but my favorite radio show is called “Wrestling Observer Live”. It’s on the Internet. They do it a couple of times a week, but they just recap what happened in professional wrestling that week. And also Mixed Martial Arts.

My Ringtone

BC: The ringtone on my phone is just the standard iPhone ringtone, but I never have my phone volume on. I kinda wanna just make my own ringtone and make it a Beyoncé song or something. Maybe I’ll look into that.

BB: Mine is usually vibrate, but I’m gonna make one that’s the “Good day, sir!” from Willy Wonka. That’s gonna be my new ringtone, just Gene Wilder saying, “Good day, sir!”

Beach House: iTunes Session (2010)

 

El dúo de Baltimore Beach House editó este 2010 uno de los mejores discos del año en lo que a Pop o Dream-Pop se refiere, y en estos días se filtra un directo para unas sesiones para iTunes. Se incluyen los mejores temas del disco: Walk in the park, Norway, Silver soul, Gila, Real Love; y un tema inédito, White moon. Está en formato AAC. Espero que lo disfrutéis.

Beach House – iTunes Session (2010)

MySpace

Cucharada: ¡Tan deprimido! (de El limpiabotas que quería ser torero, 1979)

Cucharada: El limpiabotas que quería ser torero (1979)

 

El panorama imperante en la España musical de finales de los años setenta era más o menos el siguiente: Solistas de canción melódica o agrupaciones del género a la usanza italiana. Experimentos folkies tipo Aguaviva de progres absolutamente desfasados. Grupos de Rock´n´Roll como Asfalto o Bloque a los que se abanderó bajo el epígrafe de grupos del “Buen Rollo” junto con otros de Rock-Progresivo. Por otro lado, las bandas emergentes del Nuevo-Rock-Andaluz junto con el extraño disco de debut de Veneno (1977). Y por último, proto-punks del tipo de Kaka de Luxe,  Nuevaoleros como Sissi o Tequila. Obviamente, éste último grupo de bandas fueron los más interesantes para The JangleBox, como es obvio. Cucharada fueron etiquetados como un grupo de “Buen Rollo”. Chapa Discos, el sello del Mariscal Romero, intervino felizmente en la creación del término y contrató a la banda de Manolo Tena, que, si bien tenía elementos semejantes a grupos como Asfalto como su virtuosismo a la hora de interpretar y su espíritu absolutamente rockista´; tenía a su vez rasgos que los hacían distintos de este tipo de bandas. Ésto fue lo que los diferenció y a la vez originó su rápida disolución: sólo grabaron El Limpiabotas que quería ser torero (1979) y editaron además dos singles, Social peligrosidad/Libertad para mirar escaparates (1978) y Quiero bailar Rock´n´Roll (1980), reseñado en The JangleBox la semana pasada. Tenían razón Cucharada cuando se quejaron de que su compañía les negó el apoyo publicitario que se merecían. Cucharada era una banda algo compleja para su momento musical, publicaron un disco más o menos conceptual, su música era Rock con influencias frankzappianas y en sus apariciones en vivo realizaban perfomances con influencia del mundo teatral. Colaboraron con Hilario Camacho y con Moncho Alpuente, y su carrera terminó con un single que les volvió algo más accesibles pero que no les dio el lugar en el panorama rockista de los primeros ochenta.

Cucharada – El limpiabotas que quería ser torero (1979)

“Desde el sardónico título, pasando por una portada repleta de disfraces, utensilios a cada cual más excéntricos y los pintorescos pseudónimos de los creadores en su interior (Lolilla Cardo, Pulpo Baquetas, El Azogue, Se Llamaba Manolo, Con él Llegó el Escándalo…) uno bucea en uno de los discos de rock más olvidados de la época dorada de éste en nuestro país y todo lo que halla parece un poco marciano, circense, surrealista. Y es que “El Limpiabotas que Quería ser Torero” (Chapa, 1979),es uno de los discos más sobresalientes que ha parido el hambre, el rollo, la marijuana y la poesía urbana con tintes de cambio y transformación.
El viaje empieza con la casi psicodélica “Desconcierto flamenco” (J. Vidal), un guiño instrumental que burla con ironía y un ay algo ebrio la ferviente moda de rescatar acordes flamencos a toda costa para subirse al son que más calienta, y desgraciadamente a veces con más marketing que alma. Lo que desconcierta es que esta canción aún podría estar de actualidad debido a algunos abusos por parte de los autoproclamados artistas que hacen enrojecer y llorar. La guitarra empieza como adormilada o perdida, después es rodeada por sintetizadores, oleadas eléctrizantes de guitarras, una percusión personalísima del gran Tito Duarte y un saxo delicioso que parecen deshacer la marca hispánica e inaugurar nuevos caminos tan bien urdidos por Morente y Camarón.
“Tan reprimido” (J.M. Tena-A. Molina) abandera un rock ‘n’ roll sin concesiones, con un ritmo rompedor, de vértigo, la letra hace muecas a la burguesía acomodada y a sus todoperosos gustos musicales (radiofórmulas), los riffs de guitarras se enroscan agonizantes y se escucha “me siento tan deprimido / oprimido / reprimido para componer un himno, tiro,tiro, tiroriro”, esto último alude a cosas nada arbitrarias sobre algunos desajustes políticos y sociales de aquellos turbulentos años; el duduá ingeniosísimo y el amor cierran esta maravillosa canción.
El siguiente corte “Made in U.S.A.” firmado a la lirón por Alpuente e Hilario Camacho es quizá la más floja musicalmente con un ritmo sureño de blues rock; ahora bien lo profético de la letra no es baladí, el mimetismo e injerencia cultural y de hábitos que hemos sufrido de “iu es ei” invita a alarmarse, no se deja aquí el autor la abominable inyección de conflictos y extorsión que los yankees han accionado en países en transformación como Sudamérica… “Canción para pedir limosna” de Vidal es cómica y a la vez tétrica, oímos las voces del grupo representando el papel de vendedores ambulantes y tiene su gracia, pero el protagonismo acaba recayendo en guitarra de palo, guitarra eléctrica y una percusión que dibujan con precisión y melancolía la desolación de la calle, del hambre, la terrible desesperación. Exquisita.
El binomio “Abarca y devora” (F. Martín – J.M. Díez) – “Compre (Pase ¡no molesta!)” (J.M.Tena – J. Vidal) amalgamados en una canción es la verdadera obra maestra de este disco, una de las mejores canciones denuncia que jamás se han hecho en la dura época de cambios en este país. La primera con gemidos de una guitarra enloquecida ataca con muchísimo cinismo un tema que de nuevo está en plena actualidad y si se me permite herido de muerte: la devoración por parte del urbanismo de cualquier terreno al mejor postor (“Convertimos cualquier lugar en zona residencial, adquiera su propio hogar con toda comodidad…”, reza el estribillo) y del estrangulamiento de las economías más modestas con virguerías snobs de última generación (“pistas de tenis, parquets, azulejos serigrafiados…”), batería y guitarras sirven paranoia y rudeza como presas del voraz capitalismo. Su gemela le supera, es el perfecto culmen para acabar de rematar tétricamente los vicios más sinuosos del capitalismo, su lírica muerde en la yugular: “Comprar es la llave de la felicidad / compre hoy, pero pague mañana / es la costumbre que ya se hizo ley…”, “Compre nuevos problemas para solucionar sus problemas”, “Porque usted necesita lo que no necesita / si nosotros necesitamos vender”; el ingenio de la canción no es sólo mostrar el asedio sufrido por los clientes sino la desesperación del vendedor (“Compre con dinero y sin dinero / cómprenos algo, lo que sea, estamos en la ruina”). La escupen vigorosos riffs de guitarra, un bum bum de batería perdiéndose como eco en un redoble; y tras dos estrofas sobreviene una muestra fehaciente del carácter teatral del grupo, la música se suaviza en ritmos caribeños con instrumentos de vientos y una percusión infantil mientras la voz expira a través de un megáfono. La originalidad y humor de este corte, su incisiva caricatura nada violenta de la realidad nos entrega lo mejor de este hervidero de creatividad y actitud teatral y denunciante ante las lacras de un sistema que aún arrastra los mismos abismos.
“No soy formal” de H. Camacho es un buen medio tiempo articulado frenéticamente y que después de la explosión de las anteriores es como un sorbete de limón destinado a rebajar los manjares precedentes, el grito de 36 por Monsieur Lolua y una letra defensora de la contradicción y de la ambigüedad sacan alguna sonrisa. Por último aquí “Social peligrosidad” tiene unos arreglos mucho más consistentes y cañeros, en donde se hace ver la mano del por aquel entonces solidario productor Teddy Bautista y deja con un subidón del que son testigo es-tas te-clas.
Una sorpresita en off nos espera al final, un testigo para la superficialidad y ese mirar para otro lado de algunos grupúsculos. La obra en cuestión cincela este show de variedades y humor sarcástico e hiriente que fue Cucharada, armados de rock del bueno y elementos teatrales no dejaron ni taparrabos en alguna de las situaciones más injustas y mezquinas de la sociedad emergente. Como se ve, todo se repite en nuestros días aunque en distintos términos (marginación y fantasmización de inmigrantes, colapso del urbanismo con sus fatídicas epidemias: desempleo, carestía de todos los sectores implicados, daños irreversibles al medio ambiente…)” (lafonoteca.net)

Best Coast: Crazy for You (2010)

 

Hablar de Crazy for You no es sólo hablar de un disco de verano, como hemos leído en numerosos lugares. Crazy for You (2010) es, al menos para quien escribe, uno de los mejores discos del año en el panorama estrictamente Pop. Un disco imperecedero que se basa en unas influencias clásicas para erigirse como un disco intemporal, preñado de melodías deliciosas y de la espontaneidad de unas composiciones absolutamente arrebatadoras. Sus huellas sonoras son clásicas, como dijimos: Beach Boys y cualquier manifestación del sonido Surf; las Girl-Groups de los años sesenta y el Wall of Sound. Todo ello aderezado por unos toquecitos amargos del mejor Noise-Pop. Bethany Cosentino se erige con este álbum de debut en una especie de Kim Deal californiana influenciada por un buen puñado de discos de corte clásico. Un lujazo. El disco no tiene desperdicio en ninguno de sus trece temas. Boyfriend, When I´m with you ya eran conocidos: himnos post-adolescentes del mejor Noise-Pop. El resto no desentona: The End, Crazy for you, Goodbye, Summer Mood, Our deal, I Want to, When the sun don´t shine, Bratty B, Happy, Each and every day… son todos temazos que nos descubren a una chica que lo mismo muestra la energía rockista y positivista de Bratty B a la dulzura juvenil de Our Deal. Añadiré que buena parte de culpa del sonido del disco la tiene igualmente la otra mitad de Best Coast, Bobb Bruno, conocido músico y productor que ha colaborado decisivamente en que el sonido del disco sea algo así como una maqueta bien producida, con los arreglos justos y con algunos instrumentos que habrán sido grabados prácticamente del tirón o en muy pocas tomas. Un disco maravilloso, en fin, que pasa a formar parte del rincón de favoritos de The JangleBox. Un álbum que sobrepasa sobradamente las etiquetas de disco veraniego y que junto con el de su amigo Nathan Williams, factotum de Wavves y otro espíritu juvenil inquieto como el de Cosentino, nos muestran un panorama musical californiano absolutamente envidiable.

Best Coast – Crazy for You (2010)

“There’s a great scene in Twilight: New Moon where Bella sits by her window waiting for her drippy goth-vampire boyfriend Edward. She sits in her chair and waits. Months go by, and the camera slowly pans around her, not moving. Elsewhere in the movie she awakes screaming, so tortured is she to be apart from her beloved. It didn’t take me long to picture Crazy For You – the debut album by west-coaster Bethany Cosentino, formerly of Pocahaunted, now of Best Coast – as a kind of alternative, reverb-drenched soundtrack to the perpetually chaste Twilight series. The sheer quantity of longing on this album positively soaks the speakers, almost every track a paean to forbidden and lost love.
“I wish he was my boyfriend” Cosentino sings on ‘Boyfriend’; this sets the tone – later we hear how “I can’t do anything without you”, “I want you so much”, “I always miss you”. That’s not to say that there isn’t much to commend Crazy For You. The tracks are all snappy slices of girl-group garage pop, admirably well constructed (only one breaks the dreaded three minute mark) and with plenty of sunny doo-wop delay vocals. Yet if there’s to be life beyond one record, Best Coast will have to find something more substantial to go with their well-worked three-chord formula.
Indeed, Cosentino’s perpetually lovelorn persona is so one-dimensionally persistent it makes Bella look like Anna Karenina. As refreshing as it is to hear an indie-rock record fronted by a strong female voice, it’s equally frustrating to find that voice with little to say: the album’s strongest track, ‘When The Sun Don’t Shine’, adds the kind of fuzz and lilting riff needed to lift the music away from the vocals. Of course there’s still time for Cosentino to develop as a songwriter, as well as to remember that Fifties and Sixties girl-pop often had more to say than just ‘I need a boyfriend’ (whether addressing impotence or domestic abuse), often toying with a darker side (as any fan of Mulholland Drive can testify) that Cosentino chooses to gloss over. To paraphrase the title of one of her tracks she’s more “brat” than lovable mope. Her Best Coast is enjoyably light and breezy, but whether you want to share the vista with a brat is another matter” (drownedinsound.com)

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Manic Street Preachers: I´m leaving you for solitude (It´s not the war just the end of Love, B-Side, Single, 2010)

Manic Street Preachers editan en breve nuevo disco: Postcards from a youg man (2010). El décimo de su ya dilatada carrera, que ha estado salpicada de ciertos altibajos pero que les ha mantenido en el candelero de la actualidad musical permitiéndose saltarse modas y movimientos. Cuando llegamos a este punto de la carrera de un grupo la verdad es que no esperamos absolutamente nada nuevo ni original, y en este caso así es, pero es que facturar temas como este I´m leaving you for solitude (cara B del single It´s not war Just the end of Love (2010), tiene su mérito. Un perfecto ejercicio de Chamber-Pop mezclado con cierta elegancia y ese toque épico que los Preachers le dan a buena parte de su discografía. Buen tema que puede adelantarnos un buen disco. La canción la encuentras en descarga legal gratuita pinchando aquí. El disco aparece el próximo Septiembre.

Manic Street Preachers – I´m leaving you for solitude (2010)

“Postcards From A Young Man’ may be their best yet. Or if that seems like heresy (and it even does to me), then let’s say it is right up there with their best. A very different record than, say, ‘Journal For Plague Lovers’ or ‘The Holy Bible’, it stands not in contradiction to those cold masterpieces but in concert with them. Defiantly, unapologetically bold and forthright and communicative, it makes the head swim with both the thrill of its tunes and its theories (always a heady Manics mix) and burns with that raging melancholia that has always been unique to them. As James Dean Bradfield says “We’ve always had it. If you look at the lyric to Motorcycle Emptiness, it could be sung in some cold Teutonic way. But we’ve never been that kind of band. We want that sense of uplift somehow. We still feel there’s an eloquence in screaming, that these feelings can make you feel good, they can empower you.” Nicky Wire adds, “Someone once said that most men only ever write two great novels and you end up repeating them. There are two versions of this band maybe. There’s the ‘Journal’ and ‘Bible’ version and then there’s this version. That over the top hysterical dignity, that flash of intelligence. There’s something glorious in celebrating what we really are. Our peers are gone. It’s up to us.”
The Manics still believe in the power of art to transform and liberate, and, devalued and traduced though it is, they still keep faith with their favoured corner of it, the mongrel infant called rock and roll. As passionate and engaged as they are with politics, art, poetry, philosophy, film, sport and literature, they still believe there is something important, privileged, noble even about the mass platform and potency of the rock band, whatever the naysayers and experts think. “It would never occur to me” says James “to comment on the economics of the art world or of publishing, I wouldn’t lecture someone who thatches roofs about their industry. And yet every news programme and business correspondent is always giving his expert opinion on the music business and how it’s finished. It drives you to write. This faint notion that you’re defending the art”
“When you look at most bands” says Nicky “By the time they get to their tenth album, people may still come to the shows but everyone knows that the albums have been rubbish for years. If you’re an ‘artist’ everyone goes to the Royal Festival Hall to see you and thinks it’s marvellous. But no-one listens to your new record. Well, that’s not good enough for us. From the moment we started, we wanted the biggest number of people to hear what we had to say. We want to hear these records on the radio. Everyone is talking about the death of the rock business. I don’t know. But if it is, this is a last shot of mass communication.”
‘Postcards From A Young Man’ was recorded in the Manics own studio in Cardiff with long time producer/collaborator Dave Eringa and mixed in LA with Chris Lord-Alge” (MySpace)

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Tennis: Baltimore (Ep, 2010)

La proliferación de ciertos sonidos surgidos a raíz de un éxito comercial es un fenómeno que se ha ido dando a lo largo de los años de historia de la música popular. En los tiempos que corremos de globalización y de consumo masivo e inmediato no iba a ser menos, y el fenómeno se sigue produciendo. Digo todo esto para justificar el surgimiento de infinidad de bandas que se dedican a facturar un tipo de sonido demasiado “parecido”: reunión chico-chica o chica-chica para facturar una suerte de Pop-Lo-Fi con ciertos aires Retro. The Raveonettes podrían ser quienes abrieron de alguna manera la puerta. Después Dum Dum Girls, Beach Fossils, Best Coast, hasta She and Him. Tennis son un matrimonio de Denver (Alaina Moore y Patrick Riley) de quienes dicen que un día empeñaron sus posesiones, se compraron un barco y se pusieron a componer temas en la onda del Baby It´s You, de Burt Bacharach interpretado por The Shirelles. Oyendo sus temas uno se da cuenta de que hasta cierto punto ésto es cierto, porque su sonido tiene mucho del Pop de los primeros sesenta e incluso de los grupos vocales de finales de los cincuenta. Ello unido a su sonido, auténticamente Lo-Fi, hacen que los incluyamos en esta hornada de bandas de las que hablábamos anteriormente, lo cual no tiene por qué ser negativo en ninguna manera. Su disco es aprovechable e imagino que prometerán más para un futuro.

Tennis – Baltimore (Ep, 2010)

“With $1,600 and a knowledge of the seas that came entirely from “The Annapolis Book of Seamanship” and DVDs, the couple set off for a year of adventure (sharks, reefs, storms, navigating by hand-bearing compass) that would fulfill Riley’s childhood dream. What they couldn’t predict was that being cut off from the United States music scene — limited power on the boat meant that they could only listen to a handful of songs every day — meant they’d come to discover their own sound.
“There were no instruments on the boat — we had to reacquire all the musical equipment we sold to take the trip in the first place,” said Moore, who was home on her day off from her retail job. “One day we were in a bar in the Florida Keys and ‘Baby It’s You’ by the Shirelles came on. We’d never heard it before, but we loved the wall-of-sound thing, and decided right then that we’d try to create that when we got back.”
They started writing the songs, which have a pleasantly angular take on the girl-group sound, at home this past January as a way to process the trip. Their sailing blog, White Satin Gloves — which they quickly typed up while they plugged in their power strip at bars — couldn’t convey their incredible journey. “It was a huge letdown going back to regular life and not being able to express things, like how a shark was feeding next to us while we were eating oatmeal,” said Moore. “Every song reminds us of time, place, people and experiences,” from the beauty of the Carolina waterways to their depressing glimpses of Florida, where “everyone either works in a bar or drinks all day.”
The young couple saved for six years to be able to buy the boat and take the time off. Riley, who just left his job in facilities and installation at Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art, said the trick was to cut back on bars and restaurants, as well as concerts: “We’re really miserly,” he said with pride. This past year, they’ve been able to save enough to head off again in the fall, but since their music went (indie) viral, they wonder if they’ll be able to tour as offers come in — and there’s still that full-length to record.
But Riley said they need go to go away in order to move ahead. “We need another writing sabbatical,” as he called it. “A lot of our creativity and freshness of perspective came from not being engulfed in music.” However, don’t expect a Sufjan Stevens-like musical catalog of the oceans. “The next trip, we’ll go sailing and be able to reflect back on our life in the States,” said Riley. “It’s a perspective thing.” Listening to the songs on “Marathon,” it’s an idea that holds water” (tmagazine.com)

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The Hundred in The Hands: Gigantic Tom Tom (Single, 2010)

The Hundred in The Hands son un dúo de Electro-Pop formado en Nueva York alrededor de Jason Friedman y Eleonore Everdell. Su sonido es una mezcla de elementos electrónicos junto a una especie de Twee-Pop y arreglitos de guitarras. Electro-Post-Punk de juguete o algo así. Sea como fuere, su debut en Lp se editará este próximo 21 de Septiembre, y éste es uno de los temas de adelanto del que puedes disfrutar en descarga gratuita y legal.

The Hundred in Hands – Gigantic Tom Tom (Single, 2010)

“The Hundred in the Hands is Eleanore Everdell and Jason Friedman. The two live in Brooklyn and discovered their shared sensibility for early hip hop, French house and disco, ska and dub, post-punk, British invasion-mod and girl pop from the 60’s through the 80’s and decided to form a band. Their first song—the post-punk rave-up “Dressed in Dresden”—was written and recorded in a couple of days, released online, picked up and released as a 45 by a record shop in the U.K. where they were soon playing shows and coming to the attention of Warp Records. Meanwhile, the two retreated to the bunker to write and record. During that time, Friedman and Everdell focused on deciding exactly who they wanted to be. What they discovered and emerged with were 11 startling new tracks and a precise and deliberate sound.
The band’s self-titled debut album is an epic collection of adventurously crafted, perfectly manufactured and deceptively complex pop songs that embrace the duality between the electronic and the organic, between night and day.
Equal parts mutant disco, 80’s pop queen and Yé Yé girl, Eleanore’s epic vocals and lavish synths—both full and flirty, desperate and demanding—belie a naturalism that’s intensified and offset by Jason’s bass lines, programmed beats and guitars that swerve from angular, full-throttle riffs to vaporous and ephemeral shadows. Jason and Eleanore trade menacing metallic, razor sharp, turns, assembling towering melodies atop pulsing rhythms” (rcrdlbl.com)

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The Symbolick Jews: Can I trust you? (2010)

En uno de nuestros gozosos e interminables viajes por la blogosfera y por el amplísimo universo de publicaciones y portales musicales, nos hemos encontrado de forma absolutamente casual con The Symbolick Jews, una agrupación de San Francisco absolutamente inclasificable y que tienen la libertad sonora como bandera. Reunidos en torno a la figura de los “gemelos” Brian Davy y Adam Healton, The Symbolick Jews es una formación constantemente cambiante, en la que cada miembro que pasa por ella aporta su grano de arena en el concepto y el sonido del grupo. Una banda de freakies que lo mismo pasa del Garaje-Lo-Fi a la experimentación sonora, que al Pop floreado y psicodélico. Lo mejor es que les oigas aunque sea un ratillo -una sobreexposición auditiva sin duda debe resultar perjudicial- en su Bandcamp. Lo mejor de todo es que poseen una increíble capacidad de creación/edición de discos que haría temblar al mismísimo Beck. En su Bandcamp puedes dar buena cuenta de todos los álbumes que llevan editados ¡tan sólo en lo que va de año! Amigos de la anarquía sonora, ésta es vuestra banda.

The Symbolic Jews – Can I trust you? (2010)

“I talk with Adam and Brian from The Symbolic Jews who are releasing a new album entitled “Can I trust You“, you can preview the album HERE and also download a bunch of their other albums on their Bandcamp page.

SICK OF THE RADIO- How would you describe your sound??

ADAM: Confession Rock

BRIAN: Chameleon Popck

SICK OF THE RADIO-Your sound seems to have no restriction’s, you have even utilized auto-tune when most people would think that dudes like you guys would despise that sound. Tell us about your new album ‘Can I trust you’ you say its going to be a mix of lil wayne and oxbow???

ADAM:We’ve gone through a lot of band members of the year or years we’ve been together. Each new line-up would produce a completely different sounding band. And rather than try and preserve a certain “sound” I just say fuck it, as long as it’s fun to play. As long as it challenges the listener or audience member, makes em feel awkward or scares them just a little bit. That’s fun.

BRIAN: “Can I Trust You?” is going to be an oversensory assault of unnecessary extrasensory bleeps and blops followed by uncomfortably familiar ground and will continue to fuck with your senses not necessarily in this order.

SICK OF THE RADIO-Any cool bands you like within the San Fran area??

ADAM: The Snails, this crazy guy that plays violin at Civic Center Station. He’s fucking brilliant, even if it turns out he’s not crazy and just ripping off hipsters.

BRIAN: Base of Bass, Planet Booty

SICK OF THE RADIO– What are you guys listening to right now??

ADAM: 13th Floor Elevators’ Bull of the Woods. We’re def covering Livin’ On off that album. Also Fang and Rudimentary Peni. They’ve really grown on me. There’s a hella rudimentary Peni-sounding song on the new record, that’s no accident.

BRIAN: Husker Du, Emeralds, The Symbolick Jews, Clutchy Hopkins, X, Acid Mother’s Temple

SICK OF THE RADIO-Tell us where we can get some of your releases?

ADAM:From me at our shows.

BRIAN:For Free on our bandcamp page!, http://thesymbolickjews.bandcamp.com

SICK OF THE RADIO-Any cool stories while on tour? I see you guys have and upcoming tour starting this November, and it looks like you are venturing out to places like Texas and New Orleans, is this the farthest from S.F. that you have ever played??

ADAM: I met my girlfriend’s family on our last tour to Southern California. They watched us play songs like “I dissapointed my parents by becoming a drug addict” and still welcomed me with open arms. Thank god! I thought that was gonna be a deal breaker. This next tour we’re shooting for New Orleans. I figure if the reception up north and down south is any indication, we should go over real well. The farthest I’ve ever played is for a church service in Cambodia. The Khmer people rule! They can really jam. I hope our band can play Southeast Asia soon. Over there they know what freedom really means.

BRIAN: Our van broke down on the way to L.A., we stayed the night on a military base and got lost getting out in the morning.. not too much to tell haha, but maybe i’m forgetting things. Texas is the farthest I’ve ever played” (sickoftheradio.com)

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Shrag: Tights in August (Single, 2010)

La banda de Brighton Shrag edita en breve nuevo álbum, Life! Death! Prizes! (2010), un disco en el que inciden en esa peculiar forma de ver el Pop, de manera desenfadada, incluso algo naif. Algo parecido al sonido que facturan The Hi-Life Companion, por hacernos una idea. Pop del que gusta por estos lares, compaginando voces chica-chico con unas preciosas guitarras jangle y un gran sentido del humor. El single lo ofrece su compañía, WIAIWYA, en descarga legal gratuita. No deberías perdértelo.

Shrag – Tights in August (2010)

“Here’s a FREE download of TIGHTS IN AUGUST, to whet your appetite for the new SHRAG album – “Life! Death! Prizes! – out October 4th 2010.
It’s a summer SMASH, all EDWYN COLLINS and CLARE GROGAN fronting CAMERA OBSCURA… it’ll only be up here until the end of August, so tell your friends, add it to mix tapes, play it in clubs, and pre order the album HERE“ (wiaiwya.com)

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Wasabi Monster: …Beware of the Wasabi Monster (2010)

 

…Beware of the Wasabi Monster son las primeras grabaciones que la banda sevillana Wasabi Monster ha reunido en forma de maqueta. Maqueta que tiene un sonido más que digno y que con algo más de producción podría pasar por producción discográfica. Su sonido es interesante: mezcla del Pop más melódico-etéreo de ascendencia beachboysiana (Picnic at Hanging Rock, Amy, Beware of the girls that walk in darkness) al Twee más genuino (L´Eté à Saint-Malo), con la ventaja de utilizar una lengua más sutil para estas lindezas como es el francés (una de sus componentes es gala)…. Sus influencias, las dejan claras en su MySpace, para que nadie se llame a engaño: The Beach Boys, Roger Nichols, The Millennium, Honeybus, The Field Mice, Trembling Blue Stars, Brighter, Blueboy, The Orchids, Another Sunny Day, Talulah Gosh, They Go Boom!, Slowdive, Television Personalities, The Man From Delmonte, The Housemartins, Belle & Sebastian. Es decir, honestidad por bandera y autenticidad para esta interesante propuesta sonora. Por cierto, si eres un músico y te apetecería colaborar con ellos, quieren afianzar el grupo y buscan colaboradores. Infórmate en su MySpace.

Wasabi Monster – Beware of the Wasabi Monster (2010)

“Beware Of The Wasabi Monster maneja una paleta estilística mucho más variada de lo que en un principio imaginamos. Toca confesar que esperábamos un buen trabajo (hablando de una maqueta, que lógicamente está falta de pulimento) pero muy definido en una onda determinada que aquí queda pulverizada. Porque Picnic At Hanging Rock es un perfecto sueño sesentero, pero a su vez (puede que también sorprendentemente para algunos miembros del grupo) está cerca de conformar un dulce medio tiempo que sólo los mejores grupos powerpoperos saben componer. No es casualidad la ubicación de Picnic At Hanging Rock abriendo esta maqueta, los detalles se multiplican no dejando de entretener, cambios de ritmo, crescendos, bonitos coros femeninos…una delicia, vamos. A continuación nos encontramos con L’été à Sanint-Malo, empleando el francés como lengua vehicular nos encontramos doce/quince años atrás, cuando en España florecieron un buen número de bandas que hacían del costumbrismo y los ritmos más amables seña de identidad. La dulzura de la vocalista femenina, una juguetona guitarra rítmica…ahhh, precioso. Uno no puede más que imaginar el estupendo 7” que estas dos primeras piezas de la maqueta podrían conformar.
Si estuviéramos hablando de un Ep. imaginario, Amy sería la primera composición ubicada en la cara oculta del disco, convirtiéndose en el gancho perfecto para que no decaiga el ánimo o interés en la música del grupo. Cabría señalar aquí un parecido innegable (y seguramente desconocido por los propios Wasabi Monster) con algunas de las piezas más relajadas del repertorio de esa grandísima banda nacional que son The Happy Losers, parecido probablemente debido a que ambas bandas tienen la misma querencia por la soberana y eterna melodía. Beware Of The Girls That Walk In Darkness se encarga de cerrar la maqueta, lo hace con un estilo que quizás es el más parecido a lo que esperábamos de Wasabi Monster, suponiendo la confirmación de que nuestro error no ha podido ser más afortunado, puesto que de entre todo el conjunto el tema que cierra la maqueta resulta, sin duda alguna, el menos interesante…al menos en vista del nivel alcanzado por los otros tres temas” (360ºde separacion)

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Local Qua4tro: No malgastes el tabaco (2010)

Nuestros amigos de Local Qua4tro han publicado un video-clip para esta bonita canción, No malgastes el tabaco, de su Mini-Lp Recalificación de los Terrenos Urbanos (2010). Un disco que ya fue comentado en The JangleBox en su momento, y que tiene momentos más que interesantes. Además, puedes descargártelo gratuitamente desde su página web.

Nicely Dressed: If I could be the one (Single, 2010)

 

Nueva banda que aparece por primera vez en The JangleBox. Formados en la zona flamenca de Bélgica, Nicely Dressed, es una bonita propuesta de Twee-Pop frágil y delicado. Bonitas voces a cargo de Laura Deschepper, a quien acompañan Anton de Boes y Tim Vanderbeke. En la poca información que de ellos tenemos, citan como sus influencias a The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, The Strokes, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tegan and Sarah, Eels, Pete Doherty y Eliott Smith. Bonita colección de huellas sonoras para una banda que puede prometer, aunque deberían añadir más temas de su repertorio; con uno solo alojado en su Bandcamp y en su MySpace se nos antoja demasiado poco.

Nicely Dressed: If I could be the one (Single, 2010)

“Laura Deschepper & Anton De Boes hebben hun paar jamsessies omgezet in een klein project: Nicely Dressed Hierbij hebben we dan nog een topper van een gitarist aan de haak geslagen, Tim Vanderbeke die ons sinds kort ook vergezelt.”Niet zo met het stijlvolle Nicely Dressed, wat dit trio als gegoten zit – met z’n drieën doen ze het overigens op z’n hoedjes. Zangeres Laura Deschepper zingt, geflankeerd door twee gitaristen, breekbare nummers die meteen in je oor blijven zitten – een kwartier na het optreden neuriën we nog steeds hun knappe opener ‘If I could be the one’. Lauras warme krachtige stem en de heldere gitaren geven ook aan ‘Poker Face’ (Lady Gaga) een intimistische schittering en spontaan klapt het hele publiek geestdriftig mee. Nicely Dressed schrijft rockrallygeschiedenis. Veel te vroeg – oooh, verzuchten de toeschouwers – kondigt Laura het laatste nummer aan: iets wat klinkt als een Samson-en-Gertnummer. ‘Omwille van de aahs en oohs in het refrein’, voegt ze eraan toe, en meteen heeft ze de hele zaal op haar hand. En opnieuw weet Nicely Dressed ons te charmeren: ‘Island for sale’ is alweer een sterke song waarin vooral de mooie samenzang met gitarist Anton De Boes ons raakt” (Verslag SJKS-Rockrally, MySpace)

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Heart Music Group: …a colaboration by Baths, Teen Daze, Light Pollution, Blackbird Blackbird, Gobble Gobble, Kites Sail High

El post mañanero de este lunes del tórrido agosto está dedicado a una compilación editada por el colectivo Heart Music Group. En él incluyen a algunas de las bandas relacionadas con el colectivo, ya que han celebrado una fiesta en la que participan todas estas bandas. Para promocionar el acto, y utilizando la promoción de la plataforma Bandcamp, han editado este Mixtape de descarga gratuita legal en los que todas los grupos aportan un tema inédito. No está mal la iniciativa, eh? A ver si aquí toman ejemplo otras promotoras o discográficas… Lógicamente electrónica, chillwave, glo-fi, dance, soul, sample-heavy, son las notas predominantes del Mixtape. Las bandas que han colaborado son Baths, Teen Daze, Blackbird Blacbird, Light Pollution, Gobble Gobble y Kites Sails High.

Heart Music Group presents …a collaboration by

“On Tuesday, August 17th we will be hosting a crazy warehouse party in Downtown Los Angeles with some of our favorite up-and-coming artist around including Baths, Teen Daze, Light Pollution, Gobble Gobble, Blackbird Blackbird and Kites Sail High. In an effort to help promote the show, we have curated a free EP of all unreleased tracks by each of the artist playing and the press has already been awesome: Stereogum, RCRD LBL, Yours Truly, Smoke Don’t Smoke and we are happy to announce that both Baths’ “Nordic Laurel” and Teen Daze’s “June 2010″ have made it in Hype Machines top 100 most popular songs right now. Enjoy!” (heartmusicgroup.com)

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Cover´s game: Siniestro Total-Quiero bailar Rock and Roll (1987)

En 1987 Siniestro Total, ya con Miguel en la voz solista, publicaban su disco De hoy no pasa (1987). En él incluían este homenaje rendido al estupendo tema de Cucharada. Cuentan que en una actuación en Vigo, los chicos de Siniestro Total se subieron al escenario de Cucharada y comenzaron a tocar los temas ante la mirada atónita de Manolo Tena y sus compañeros. Leyenda urbana o no, la verdad es que la cover es más que digna, y hace honor a la original.

Cucharada: Quiero bailar Rock and Roll (1980)

 

Cucharada había sido una banda adelantada a su tiempo, ya que en unos principios pretendieron aunar en sus espectáculos teatro y música. Colaboraron con ellos gentes como Hilario Camacho, Miguel Botafogo o Moncho Alpuente. Formados alrededor del germen Manolo Tena, Antonio Molina, José Manuel Díaz y Jesús Vidal, pretendieron ser algo así como la encarnación hispana de Led Zeppelin bajo el tamiz de Frank Zappa. Encuadrados cronológicamente sin embargo en el movimiento del Rock-Progresivo, firmaron con Chapa Discos, el sello del Mariscal Romero, y llegaron a editar un único Lp: El limpiabotas que quería ser torero (1979). Problemas de promoción, y personalmente opino que problemas a la hora de entender el concepto del grupo, que pasaba de la representación escénica a la actuación rockista ataviados con la estética del harapo, además de ser un cierto testimonio de la marginalidad social, hicieron que en 1980 Cucharada editase su último single, este Quiero bailar Rock and Roll (1980), que les orientó hacia una cierta estética más nuevaolera/rockista, acompañados de una producción mucho más amanerada (obra del inefable Teddy Bauista), incluyendo una cierta orientación discotequera. Lo cierto es que se trata de un buen tema, en cualquier caso, bien construido y que podría haberles incluido en las listas de éxitos o ventas del momento, cosa que no ocurrió. Posteriormente, Tena formaría con miembros de Cucharada su nueva banda, Alarma!! Ésa es otra historia. La próxima semana postearemos su único álbum, pero este fin de semana en el Retro-Visor le prestamos atención a su último single.

Cucharada – Quiero bailar Rock and Roll (1980)

“El último viaje supersónico de Cucharada puede esencializarse como un coloque extraño; Teddy Bautista inyectó ritmos y programaciones disco a los rocambolescos cortes del grupo. Este guiño a la nueva ola de modernidad que pronto inundaría las sintonías españolas (después llamado plasticazo o Movida Madrileña) dejaría contrariados a los seguidores del grupo que no asimilaron bien este viraje, y otros pormenores ciertamente ridículos les enfrentarían con la SER a la hora de radiar sus nuevas propuestas (aunque esto no era para nada novedoso, la SER tenía por entonces votos de clausura incomprensibles).
Empieza a sonar “Quiero bailar rock ‘n’ roll” (Tena), tema muy consistente y que deja sin respiración. Éste se desarrolla sobre una base de rock trepidante aderezada por sintetizadores y programaciones con toques setenteros. Guitarra, tambores y contrabajo suceden su protagonismo en los arreglos a medida que la letra apunta su necesidad en cualquier música rock. Lo que trajo cola y disgustó a los todopoderosos radiooperadores fueron las siguientes líneas: “…no quiero hablar de arte, ni de otros temas importantes, no me preocupa la cultura, ni tampoco la literatura, no me interesa la pintura ni mucho menos la escultura…”; visto desde hoy la cosa hace enrojecer a cualquiera y denosta las escasas luces de los programadores musicales. Y es que en realidad lo único que se apuntaba aquí era a que la verdadera cultura en marcha de entonces la desgranaban las composiciones de valerosos y creativos grupos como éste, y que por otro lado la recepción cultural de tiempos precedentes carecía de veracidad y continuaba estando politizada y falseada según intereses y coyunturas.
Respecto al último tema de Cucharada “La cajita de música” (A. Molina – J.M. Díez) es una composición instrumental con un ritmo naïf basado en armónica y punteo de guitarra, con cierto influjo nuevaolero en los teclados y la preponderacia del bajo.
Y estos es todo amigos, con su habitual mal sino se desintegraron los Cucharada. Tras de sí dejaron cortes de respiración, bufonadas con una valiente y acertadísima crítica político-social (aún danzantes en nuestro nebuloso horizonte) y unos directos que con tétricos medios y un derroche de creatividad contagioso dejarían temblando a muchos de los grupitos de la actualidad. Siempre del lado de los marginados, siempre llegando hasta el final de la utopía merecieron más apoyo y confianza pero la autenticidad nunca llueve a gusto de la mayoría. Lo importante es que este náufrago grupo ha hecho vibrar a uno nacido en el 83 prestándole “sin recargo”: ácida visión de la sociedad, mucho sentido del humor y del ridículo y sobretodo un enloquecido rock urbano.
¡Viva pues, Hermanos, el Rollo con Lengua de Cucharada!” (Nacho Lillo, La Fonoteca.net)

Black Mountain: The hair song (Single, 2010)

Black Mountain es una de esas bandas que sin hacer demasiado ruido han conseguido labrarse una carrera de lo más digna. Van ya por su tercer álbum de estudio, este Wilderness Heart (2010), un disco preñado de esa manera desenfadada de hacer las cosas, un Pop elegante y sutil, en el que no obstante, encontramos frases de guitarra con cierta rabia. Ellos mencionan a Alex Chilton, King Crimson o Janis Joplin entre sus influencias. Un sonido de lo más clásico y paradojicamente, actual. Este single, The Hair Song, lo puedes descargar gratuitamente de forma legal para ir haciendo boca, ya que su disco aparece en Septiembre (bueno sí, en internet ya lleva filtrado algún tiempo).

Black Mountain – The Hair Song (Single, 2010)

“The new record is packed with succinct rock songs that pulse and pound with startling precision: it pummels you, you ask for more. Wilderness Heart is arguably Black Mountain’s tightest, most concentrated outing, but there’s still plenty of raw rock energy at work. “It’s our most metal and most folk oriented record so far,” McBean says. “I’m not gonna say it’s our best record or the album that we always dreamt of making ‘cause that’s what everyone says. It’s all about where we were at the time the machines were rolling. You can’t control the electricity or how your limbs were moving that day. You have to erase the visions and just go along for the ride.”
“It’s a Black Mountain pop record, which is to say it’s nothing like pop at all,” Wells says. “This was the fastest record we’ve ever made. We’re used to spending a lot of time deliberating over the songs and spacing out recording sessions over years. Start to finish, this album was made in four months, which is something like a miracle for us. We’ve never worked with producers before and that was a challenge; for us to let go and let two outsiders into the process, D. Sardy and Randall Dunn – it took some growing for us to be truly open, but this album is all the better for it.”
The band cites a slew of disparate influences – New Order, King Crimson, Studio 54, Alex Chilton, sunshine, Janis Joplin, Please Kill Me, Shirley Collins, Mickey Newbury, jalapeno salsa, Night of The Hunter, Cactus Taqueria, Funky16Corners podcasts, Dennis Wilson, the house blowing up in the desert at the end of Zabriskie Point – but, as Schmidt points out, “Who knows how these things connect with the holistic mix of often dissonant forces that become Black Mountain?” (rcrdlbl.com)

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Bloody Knives: Burn it all down (2010)

 

Aunque Bloody Knives lleve poco tiempo establecida como banda, sus dos componentes llevan a sus espaldas un amplio bagaje musical, que les ha llevado a aunar esfuerzos y conjuntar este dúo de Electro-Punk que mezcla diversas influencias, que podrían ir desde el Shoegaze hasta el Metal menos desgarrador, el Gótico, el Post-Punk y ciertas sonoridades de los años ochenta. Su música es algo así como la unión acelerada del Shoegaze con el Pop más alambicado y amanerado de la década de los grupos con el pelo cardado, con toda su carga de sintetizadores. Nos deja un cierto regustillo amargo, porque su pose es demasiado afectada, y su sonido roza la épica con demasiada facilidad. No obstante, tienen cierto apego dentro del mundillo Shoegaze que fue lo que nos llevó a etiquetarles -erróneamente- como tales. Para oídos acostumbrados a la música, por ejemplo, de unos Glasvegas con el pedal de overdrive pisado al máximo, son una banda recomendable. Han editado este primer larga duración en su plataforma Bandcamp, de manera gratuita y legal. No obstante, si tu música te cautiva tanto, puedes encargar una copia física del disco a su propia compañía, Kill Red Rocket Records, acompañada del artwork.

Bloody Knives – Burn it all down (2010)

“First up was Austin, TX rockers Bloody Knives, who were making their first appearance in New York.  Cleverly melding influences as diverse as metal, shoegaze and post-punk, the duo eschews guitars, and instead uses keyboards and samplers to create a lush and at times psychedelic sound. Lead singer Preston Maddox’s ethereal tenor vocals seem to float over his intense, distorted bass lines and the heavy, driving beats of drummer Jake McCown. Though the two have been playing together for years in other bands (most recently the Joy Bus), Bloody Knives has only been a band since late 2009.  The newness was not evident, though, as their set was pretty tight.  The only glitch was one between-song pause when Maddox’s laptop was slow to respond, leading someone in the audience to joke that he was checking his email, to which he responded, “I guess I should have bought a Mac.” Songs in the set included “I Saw The Ghost That Follows You” and “You Know You Will,” from the recently released debut album, Burn It All Down (Killredrocketrecords, the band’s own label), “Buried,” from their first, self-titled EP, and “Laserz” (sentimentalistmag.com)

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