Complains – CHASTITY BELL: I used to spend so much time alone (Hardly Art, 2017)

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A medio camino entre el Post-Punk, el LoFi-Pop y algunos rasgos de Shoegaze más sombrío, estas cuatro chicas publicaron este verano su tercer trabajo. Un disco empapado por un cierto espíritu algo opresivo y no demasiado positivista. Musicalmente tampoco aportan nada especial, así que me temo que este Demasiado tiempo en soledad no pasará a los anales del Pop.

“There’s a word Shapiro keeps using while muscling her way through the clouds over her head. “I just fall on my face when I’m trying to have fun/Do you ever dream about what it’s like to give up?” she sings on “Complain.” “Dream” isn’t the first word most lyricists would use on the lead-in to “give up,” but Shapiro neutralizes its positive connotations over and over again. On “Caught in a Lie,” she’s “caught in someone else’s dream,” a prison of expectation where she tries to play a role someone else has thought up for her. “Is this what you want?/Is this who you want me to be?”
Maybe it’s in tribute to depression’s cyclical nature that Alone’s opener also plays like it’s conclusion. Instead of sounding haggard and beleaguered, Shapiro sings from a place of calm on “Different Now.” It’s as if she’s figured out how to save herself from her worst moments and wrote the song as an instruction manual. “Take away your pride and take away your grief/And you’ll finally be right where you need to be,” she advises. But it’s only track one, the eye of the storm, and before long, the clouds roll right back in” (Pitchfork)

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Movimientos – MODELO DE RESPUESTA POLAR: Más movimientos (Hook, Ediciones Musicales, 2017)

‘Más​ ​Movimientos’​ ​es​ ​un​ ​disco​ ​que​ ​habla​ ​de​ ​viajes,​ ​de​ ​conciertos,​ ​de​ ​planificar​ ​a​ ​medio plazo,​ ​de​ ​disfrutar​ ​del​ ​presente.​ ​Es​ ​energía,​ ​pero​ ​también​ ​es​ ​reflexión,​ ​descanso​ ​y​ ​disfrute. Es​ ​una​ ​forma​ ​de​ ​expresarse​ ​con​ ​rabia​ ​pero​ ​también​ ​es​ ​una​ ​forma​ ​de​ ​abrir​ ​los​ ​ojos​ ​y apreciar​ ​lo​ ​que​ ​te​ ​rodea.​ ​“Es​ ​un​ ​disco​ ​con​ ​muchos​ ​colores​ ​que​ ​respira​ ​movimiento”,​ ​así define​ ​Borja​ ​Mompó​ ​su​ ​cuarto​ ​trabajo.
Doce​ ​canciones​ ​donde​ ​las​ ​cuidadas​ ​letras​ ​de​ ​Borja​ ​Mompó​ ​te​ ​transportan​ ​desde​ ​el momento​ ​presente​ ​a​ ​la​ ​adolescencia,​ ​te​ ​hacen​ ​plantearte​ ​el​ ​incierto​ ​futuro​ ​y,​ ​sobre​ ​todo, suponen​ ​un​ ​aprendizaje​ ​del​ ​presente.​ ​Temas​ ​con​ ​una​ ​delicadeza​ ​propia,​ ​que​ ​destacan sobre​ ​todo​ ​en​ ​la​ ​calidad​ ​y​ ​fuerza​ ​de​ ​las​ ​armonías.
Para​ ​este​ ​nuevo​ ​disco​ ​Modelo​ ​de​ ​Respuesta​ ​Polar​ ​se​ ​ha​ ​valido​ ​del​ ​éxito​ ​cosechado​ ​tras​ ​su anterior​ ​gira​ ​‘Dos​ ​Amigos’​ ​para​ ​evolucionar​ ​y​ ​dar​ ​un​ ​golpe​ ​en​ ​su​ ​carrera​ ​musical:​ ​discos, ciudades,​ ​momentos​ ​y​ ​personas​ ​que​ ​han​ ​disfrutado​ ​a​ ​lo​ ​largo​ ​de​ ​un​ ​tour​ ​de​ ​cientos​ ​de kilómetros.
Podríamos​ ​decir​ ​que​ ​‘Más​ ​movimientos’​ ​es​ ​su​ ​disco​ ​más​ ​“luminoso”​ ​y​ ​esperado​ ​de​ ​su trayectoria.​ ​El​ ​mismo​ ​vocalista​ ​de​ ​la​ ​banda​ ​reconoce​ ​que,​ ​tanto​ ​él​ ​como​ ​letrista​ ​como​ ​la banda,​ ​se​ ​encuentran​ ​en​ ​su​ ​mejor​ ​momento.
Más​ ​movimientos​ ​es​ ​pura​ ​energía.​ ​Energía​ ​que​ ​no​ ​solamente​ ​se​ ​nota​ ​en​ ​la​ ​parte instrumental,​ ​sino​ ​que​ ​la​ ​intensidad​ ​vocal​ ​por​ ​el​ ​lado​ ​de​ ​Borja​ ​muestra​ ​una​ ​clara​ ​evolución. Rabiosa​ ​pero​ ​dulce,​ ​enérgicamente​ ​calmada,​ ​en​ ​plena​ ​evolución.​ ​Esa​ ​evolución​ ​constante​ ​y de​ ​contrastes,​ ​el​ ​movimiento​ ​en​ ​plural​ ​y​ ​en​ ​grandes​ ​cantidades:​ ​así​ ​es​ ​Más​ ​Movimientos” (El Mundo de Tulsa)

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Shoe-Friends – KINDLING / KESTRELS: Split Single (Noyes Records, 2017)

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Espíritu Shoegazer en este Ep compartido entre dos bandas amigas: KESTRELS y KINDLING. Cada banda se versionea respectivamente e igualmente toman dos versiones, en este caso de The Replacements y de My Bloody Valentine.

“This is a split 12″ EP between two shoegazing best friends – Amherst, Massachusetts’s Kindling and Halifax, Nova Scotia’s Kestrels. Each band serves up one original and one cover (Kindling take on the Replacements, Kestrels take on MBV) for 18 minutes of sonic bliss” (Press)

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Bedroom Power – FAZERDAZE: Morningside (2017)

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En su facebook, Amelia Murray define su música como “Girl in bedroom on guitar”. Evidentemente, en Morningside ya hay mucho más que éso. FAZERDAZE es ya una banda que hace incluso giras, y su sonido ha madurado hacia un delicioso Pop de matices, ora guitarreros, ora más sutiles o con adornos electrónicos. Toda una delicia de diez cortes en los que cualquier buen amante del Pop sensible encontrará una excusa perfecta para deleitarse. Por cierto: distribuido por Flying Nun Records, supongo que una pista y una garantía de lo que vas a encontrar.

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Obsesions – THE ORWELLS: Terrible Human Beings (Canvasback Music, 2017)

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Han ascendido de categoría, ahora tienen distribución multinacional, se codean y giran con gentes como Weezer, a quienes admiran y andan obsesionados (no podría ser de otra forma) con los Pixies.
THE ORWELLS son una banda ante todo divertida, de esas que saben extraer el lado más hedonista del Rock’n’Roll a base de composiciones pródigas en guitarras y en aristas. Terrible Human Beings es su último lanzamiento. Un disco algo más pulido pero en el que los de Illinois vuelven a sacar a relucir sus mejores galas rockeras. Muy recomendable y disfrutable.

“(…) It was around that same time that work on Terrible Human Beings began, with Cuomo, Corso and O’Keefe conceiving the initial ideas. “We wrote these songs in a much more confined way than what we had done with the last records, where it was all five of us in a room,” says O’Keefe. “This time, it would start out with me and Dom with acoustic guitars and Mario on vocals. We’d build the skeletons of the songs, and didn’t take them too far from what we started when we added Grant and Henry.”
Recorded over the course of a month at Chicago’s Electrical Audio, Terrible Human Beings was produced by Jim Abiss, with whom The Orwells had worked on a couple of Disgraceland’s best tunes. “Jim would often times come up with a little something out of leftfield that just made the whole song,” says Corso. “And I don’t think the songs would be as full of energy and grit if it wasn’t for him.” Crafty touches like the backing vocals Corso and O’Keefe contribute throughout the album, or the kraut-rock freak-out at the end of “Double Feature,” augment songs that are otherwise deceptively simple. “The Pixies were an obsession when we were writing this album,” says O’Keefe, talking about the song “Black Francis,” but also Terrible Human Beings, in general. “I think that’s where a lot of trying to make the songs and the guitar parts very simple was coming from, because the Pixies are kings of that. We’ve always been a simple band, but this time it was about trying to keep everything straightforward, nothing flashy” (Official Press)

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Sweet Honey – THE FIREWORKS: Dream about you (Shelflife, 2017)

Me encantan los Ep´s y los 7″. THE FIREWORKS  publicaron este delicioso Dream about You esta primavera. En él nos encontramos con tres trallazos gozosos, tres píldoras de Fuzzy-Pop de esas que entran a la primera y te dejan ese regusto de pedir más. Auténtica ambrosía Pop.

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Tardes de Otoño – HATER: Blushing (from Red Blinders, Fire Records, 2017)

“You can imagine John Peel’s hurriedly inaccurate summation of a cold and unforgiving Swedish winter as he juxtaposes the big-jumper-like welcoming warmth of Hater. Their lush and tempered guitars are an almost Marr-approved Smiths-like foil for Caroline Landahl’s beautifully accented and accentuated vocal” (It’s a heartwarming brew)

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Nubes Naranjas – GREGG KOWALSKY: Malibu Dream Sequence (Mexican Summer, Single, 2017)

Aires de Soundtrack envueltos en una amalgama sonora de Dream-Pop.

Sounds of Sputnik / Ummagma: New born (Split, 2017)

“Russia’s Sounds of Sputnik has released ‘New Born’, their debut album with Ummagma through hallmark U.S. shoegaze label Moon Sounds Records.
The ‘New Born’ LP presents a palette of ethereal guitar, powerful drums, lush bass, and clever guitars, topped off with gossamer female vocals. Sounds of Sputnik paired up with Canadian-Ukrainian dreampop duo Ummagma to co-write, produce, and record this album. Ummagma’s Shauna McLarnon and Alexx Kretov also both contribute stunning vocals.
Rooted in a shared love of melodic dream pop, post-rock and shoegaze, both Sounds of Sputnik and Ummagma bring their own influences from Lush, Curve, Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine, together with Hammock, Jesus & Mary Chain and The Twilight Sad to create briliant “dream noise”.
The ‘New Born’ LP also features contributions by several legendary guests: drummer Graham Bonnar (Swervedriver/ Brian Jonestown Massacre) on ‘Overdrive’, and remixes by Malcolm Holmes (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark), psych rock producer Fran Ashcroft (Damon Albarn, Lords of Acid), Russian producers Morozov and Oleg Mezherovsky, and Brazil’s Mind Movies” (Press)

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Robyn Gibson: The loving (XTC Cover, 2017)

¿A qué dedica el tiempo libre Robyn Gibson cuando su banda (The Junipers) cuando no está con su banda? Pues facturar homenajes sonoros como este The Loving de Andy Patridge/XTC.
Debo deciros que desde hace poco tengo un nuevo héroe en lo que a Jangle-Pop se refiere… 

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Tarados – CAPITÁN SUNRISE: Confesiones de un tarado emocional (Single, Discos de Kirlian, 2017)

“Confesiones de un tarado emocional”: Es una canción con un ritmo bastante disco, toques electrónicos y guitarreros y con estribillo muy pegadizo. Pop en toda regla. Este tema es una oda a la vida Friki, a la diferencia ensalzada en la sociedad, y parte de una conversación que tuvimos Fernando y yo sobre las taras emocionales que tenemos ó nos hacen creer que tenemos, los sueños escondidos y difíciles, y las barreras que la sociedad y nosotros mismo nos ponemos. Entre todo esto, hay pequeños reductos de felicidad como lo es para mí y para nosotros la web de Fernando “Confesiones tirado en la pista de baile”, un pequeño reducto lleno de cultura popular que como buenos frikis adoramos y que nos sirve para insuflarnos una buena dosis de felicidad necesaria para nuestra vida. Gracias a páginas como ésta el mundo se llena de color más veces, la música en general (emergente, underground, indie, mainstream…POP) cobra protagonismo desde la más absoluta elegancia, amabilidad y humor positivo y además el mimo y el apoyo que nos ha dado Fernando a Capitán Sunrise es impagable. Estamos felices de haber recibido tanto cariño y personalmente feliz de ser su amigo y tener una amistad tan buena como la suya. Lujo absoluto. Gracias de corazón amigo.
Este tema es el primer tema que grabamos la formación actual de Capitán Sunrise, una de las más solidas y compactas que hemos tenido y estamos muy ilusionados” (Delorean/Press)

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Agua Nueva – DELOREAN: Kantuz (Single, Elgar, 2017)

“Delorean acaban de estrenar ‘Kantuz’, (single adelanto) y primero de los siete temas que componen ‘Mikel Laboa’, un trabajo que homenajea al cantante vasco del mismo nombre. El disco supone un paso adelante en el afán de experimentación de la banda, en su vocación de trazar nuevos caminos y, por qué no, de explorar nuevas emociones. Se trata pues, de un giro momentáneo en el sonido de Delorean, que en esta ocasión aparcan el indie con matices electrónicos y de baile al que nos tienen acostumbrados para adentrarse en un terreno mucho más personal e introspectivo” (Press)

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Los Angeles Meets London – GIRLPOOL: Powerplant (Anti-, 2017)

Con una base sencilla, en torno al LoFi con influencias más Post-Grunge, GIRPOOL construyen este tremendo Powerplant, un segundo trabajo en el que las californianas reciben y abrazan todo ese amplio espectro de influencias que van desde las Throwing Muses hasta los esbozos más acústicos de Deerhunter, pasando por The Breeders o Lush. Un bonito ejercicio de intimidad adornado con parajes eléctricos y rotundidad (recien estrenada) sección rítmica; así como unas inquietantes y bellísimas voces.

“Under the cover of noise, Tucker and Tividad are more comfortable indulging their poetic inclinations. On Before the World Was Big, they would often pair an abstract scene or turn of phrase with tiny mantras (“Do you feel restless when you realize you’re alive?” goes their best), before peppering the whole thing with their friends’ names or other lyrical tchotchkes. The proper names and loose imagery remain, but now Girlpool’s lyrics feel less tangible out the gate. The text feels more open to interpretation like, “I know I’m the weekend selling Sunday morning” (from “Kiss and Burn”). Clever one-liners still pop—from, “I’ve had crumbs in a bag in my pocket all week,” on “Corner Store” to, “I faked global warming just to get close to you,” on “It Gets More Blue”—but there’s fewer of them, devoid of Girlpool’s more dogmatic or revealing sensibilities early on.
Certainly there’s less pressure now to hang a song on their lyrics alone. Yet the emotion evoked by their spare words is like crystal behind the fingerpicking that shifts to sludgy feedback, piano lines that add cheery bursts, and drums that fill in around a feast of vocal dissonance. Lead single “123” takes hold about a minute in when Tucker and Tividad start shouting their lines, but it’s a slight drum roll that builds up the stunning, swirling tension just beforehand. “Soup” is the album’s best example of a song that wouldn’t have worked nearly as well on Before the World Was Big; it likely would have been little more than deadpan vocals rising slightly over the course of two minutes, before retreating back to a hopeless whisper about how it turns out life can be a lot. But here when they hit the climax, the guitar lines drop out as they shout, “Can you feel it?” Immediately afterward, a surge of distortion basically answers the question.
In obvious ways, Girlpool’s world has gotten bigger with Powerplant. But the thing about growing up is that the overflowing possibility of it all can make you burrow deeper into personal crevasses, forcing you to consider what you really care about. No longer teenagers, Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad seem no less overwhelmed by the world, but their methods for coping have changed. Noise can help. So can a little opacity. What Girlpool seem to crave is a moment just to be, together. “Tell me you are here/I hope I’ll find you/Static somewhere,” Cleo and Harmony sing as the album closes, their voices finally in clear harmony” (Pitchfork)

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It´s for Kids – REMINGTON SUPER 60: Indie Pop for Kids, Vol. 1 (2017)

Christoffer Schou es el alma mater del proyecto REMINGTON SUPER60, que no es más que la música que le apetece registrar a cada cierto tiempo, realmente muy espaciado. Eso incluye bandas sonoras, comerciales y algún que otro álbum que normalmente abrazaba el Twee-Pop. Con Indie Pop for Kids, Vol.1 nos acerca a un nuevo punto de vista a su música.

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Freakismo – PILL: Aggresive Advertising, Dull Tools, 2017)

PILL continúan ofreciendo una de las propuestas más libres y acaso más atractiva dentro de ese Freak-Pop que goza de numerosos seguidores. Agressive Advertisings es su tercer trabajo.

“PILL makes a triumphant return to Dull Tools to follow up their phenomenal debut LP “Convenience”, released on Mexican Summer in 2016. Now they are giving the world their third collection of songs, Aggressive Advertising, where the quartet returns to the cassette format of their first EP, with seven new tracks that emphasize the band’s position as one of the most original and captivating bands to come out of New York’s post-Vice evicted DIY scene.
As the city quickly becomes a members-only club for the monied, hostile to the artists and culture that attract them, PILL defiantly answer this crisis in declaring “we take strength where order fails.” Like the Upright Citizens Brigade (another one-quarter-female four piece) said before them: “Our only friend is chaos.” In the case of PILL, chaos is the genderless fifth member.
The mood on Aggressive Advertising ranges from abrasive to laid back, if still on guard. Torres’ voice feels natural when both venomous and velvet. On the groovy “Piña Queen”, she imagines herself as a fruit-enforcing matriarch, cooing “She’ll take the banana and the mango and she’ll make you eat it”, which coming for Veronica I take as a promise, not a threat.
Open wide and swallow, because PILL is back with a new dose” (A. Savage)

Shells – WILDING: Secular music (Friendship Fever, 2017)

“Wilding has roots meandering back to the early 2000s whilst Woody was working on other projects. Standing apart from the homegrown California scene-shifters, the songs he was working on embodied a kind of symphonic noisy bliss that made perfect sense. As he explains; “Wilding has always felt like a different kind of energy to me. There is a darkness there, but it gets delivered in this burst of light and energy. We’re pretty much guaranteed to wind up disappointed, but we can never give up that search for something better inside ourselves. Destroy complacency. These songs shine a light on the dark.”
The five beautifully crafted fuzz-pop songs on the Secular Music EP have dizzyingly varied themes. “Ghost Deer” is an ode to the unknown genius plodding away in the shadows, whereas “Skin Shells” is a slacker-take on Plato’s cave allegory in a two-minute pop song. “Haunted Mouth” is inspired by a tape-recording found by the FBI at the infamous site of the People’s Temple/Jim Jones tragedy and “VCR” was inspired by a My Bloody Valentine song” (Press)

Paths of Victory – 93MILLIONMILESFROMTHESUN: Victory is Ours (In At The Eye Records, 2017)

Continuando con su prolijidad a la hora de componer y editar álbumes y Ep´s, 93MILLIONMILESFROMTHESUN acaban de publicar este Victory is Ours, un Ep en el que el combo de Doncaster nos plantea un nuevo viaje interestelar a través del mejor Shoegaze de guitarras que vayas a encontrar en el amplísimo ya panorama que abarca el género. La mejor representante de lo que decimos es Kings of the 80´s, un épico trayecto instrumental de dieciséis minutos que nos traslada a territorios del Space-Rock. Con el resto del Ep, 93MMFS inciden en ese Shoegaze de guitarras que les acerca a bandas como Ride o Swervedriver.  Me encantan Forever gone today y When the light has gone. Gran Ep.

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Espiando – SEE THROUGH DRESSES: Horse of the other world (Tiny Engines, 2017)

Parajes de Indie con trazos electrónicos y sintetizadores añejos, Shoegaze suave y voces susurranes. 

“If End of Days is its rock record, Horse of the Other World, out June 30th, is See Through’s dreamy opus. Recorded in 2016 in two locations — ARC Studios with Ben Brodin (Pile, First Aid Kit, The Good Life) and at the band’s home studio, Little Machine, by Mathew Carroll — it signals a sonic leap into a more ethereal, soundscape-driven aesthetic.
Reverb-drenched and synth-laden, Horse of the Other World blends Carroll and Sara Bertuldo’s masterful mood creation and technical prowess while further exploring the depths of the band’s dynamics. “Pretty Police” mixes sparkle and bounce with brood, while “Violet” cuts sharply via crystalline keys and arpeggiated chords. Bassist Alex Kirts pumps the album’s bleeding heart and drummer Nate Van Fleet is tactical and creative. Their playing shines as the foundation of songs like “Lucy’s Arm” and “Herbivore,” whose climaxes are textbook See Through Dresses” (Press)

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Sonrisitas – THE SMILIES: The Smilies Ep (2017)

No tienen un facebook conocido, ni siquiera demasiada (por no decir ninguna) información en su Bandcamp, Eso sí, a cambio nos ofrecen un sonido tremendo, deudor del mejor Fuzzy-Pop de los noventa (Eugenius, Teenage Fanclub primitivos, Dinosaur Jr. …) Encima, se permiten el lujo de gastar una broma en el último corte recuperando algún sampler de sonidos muy conocidos…
Su Ep se degusta en un suspiro y es un auténtico deleite sonoro para oídos Indies…

BLACANOVA: Zoe (Vídeo-Single, extraído de La Cabeza, El Genio Equivocado, 2017)

“Zoe” es el segundo adelanto de “La cabeza”, LP que será editado próximamente por El Genio Equivocado. La presentación de este nuevo single viene acompañada por el videoclip protagonizado y coreografiado por la bailarina Silvia Balbín, conocida, entre otros muchos trabajos, por sus creaciones bajo el nombre de Rosa Cerdo. Alberto Almenara, también miembro de Rosa Cerdo, se encarga la edición y montaje del vídeo, compartiendo las labores de cámara y dirección con Raúl Doblado, Inés Olalla, Eduardo Escobar y Paco Arenas (los tres últimos miembros de Blacanova)” (Prensa)

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