Primavera Sound 2018 in brief, day 1

The Primavera Sound Festival (PS) 2018 is almost over! So, here we are, pretty exhausted (again, the not very recommendable combination of daily work and Festival), but ready to being with the first round of our traditional quick chronicles of our experiences there. What follows is our take of Thursday 31st, with a note on Wednesday's fail. Let's go!

The Good

The War on Drugs: Yeah, the millennial era might be all about synths, danceable (or kind of) grooves and that sort of shallow urban pop-indietronica that fits so-well with glasses & clothes advertisements, but dammit if the best gig of the day wasn't full of guitar riffs & solos, plus the urgency and the mystery offered by the most iconic and traditional instrument of rock history. Adam Granduciel and Co. just nailed it. Terrific band, terrific tunes.

The War on Drugs, lost in the dream of rock. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

The infinite, powerful worlds of Laetitia Tamko
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Two more female artists to follow closely: On a pretty "empty" day (to a poignant level compared with previous years, something that has been the sad trademark of this PS' edition, with the exception of Saturday) the gigs of Vagabon and Amaya Laucirica were very welcomed. Keep an eye on them...

The Bad

(Missing) Spiritualized: Is it that hard to make some sort of announcement or use the Festival App properly to let the people know how are the tickets needed for the Auditori selling? The organization could easily avoid extremely long queues and the understandable anger from concertgoers. We were the unlucky ones that missed grabbing a couple for a matter of minutes, so pretty frustrating to wasteone hour and half waiting for nothing...
Not made for this times: We'll try to keep the rant short and try not to repeat ourselves that much. The millennial age is just killing music. It should be about the songs, the artists that make it and the feelings these tunes bring to you, not about your looks (by the way, Mango?), your selfies, your constant, irrelevant & discourteous chatting, or the amount of beers you can drink... Raise your head and look at the stage, not to your smartphone. It's MUCH MUCH more interesting...

The Queen
The Twilight Sad: In terms of sounding, the Scotts show couldn't compete with The War on Drugs's one. Unfortunately a recurring trend within the Festivals and gigs, bass (and/or rhtym section) are too heavy in the mix burying vocals for the sake of power, that happened with The Twilight Sad. But we were compensated, extraordinarily, with something even more important and meaningful: real, intense, touching, unadulterated emotion. Coming straight from the heart and the boundaries that not even the death can take away. Humans talented and passionated enough to be in front to of a stage, and with the humanity, the guts and kindness to open their hearts out in front of us to pay tribute to a lost beloved pal. Goosebumps and tears. James, we're sure you did your friend proud. Thank you.

The Twilight Sad, Keeping Ourselves Warm. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Stay tuned, the second chronicle of the PS18, covering Friday 1st, is about to come!

Discoverer 17: new indie findings

Time for the weekly recommendations!

The Robot Heart. Described as "Icelandic sounding Beach Boys", this four-piece from Brighton, UK, are gorgeous epic indie-pop songcrafters. That's what you feel hearing their eponymous debut album, released in May, or their previous EP "Dust". Leaded by Tom Marsh after a turbulent and sad period for him, I don't think their name makes justice to their music. Because this is emotionally uplifting, hauntingly beautiful electro-acoustic sound with a lot to scratch behind the surface. The opposite of a robot. As Guy Garvey from Elbow wisely says "A very special band.”

The Robot Heart - The Robot Heart by B H Recordings

The Moth & the Mirror. A six-piece supergroup from "the factory", Scotland, including Stacey Siewright, singer on The Reindeer Section and Arab Strap, and Gordon Skeen from Frightened Rabbit. Active live since 2006, their debut album, "This World, Honestly" will appear in October 10th. Meanwhile, check their myspace for great tunes, and you MUST download (for free) "Lights in the Sky", their new single. Dream-pop, chamber-pop, folk-pop, multi-layered and epic, with the stunning voice of Stacey (love at first listening) on top of it. Counting down the days...

Grass Widow. The third proposal hails from another recurrent place, San Francisco, where this female trio formed in 2007 and quickly got the attention within the underground scene. In 2009, they released their first S/T LP, followed in 2010 by album "Past Time" on label Kill Rock Stars. Self-taught musicians, part of the DIY (they even do their own music videos) community, and active in social and political movements, their music resist to be categorized. Melodic post-punk? Adventurous pop? A combination of exquisite three-part harmonies, punk attitude and intricate guitar parts and arrangements. A unique an addictive experience.

Grass Widow "Milo Minute"