Primavera Sound in brief, day 3

As promised, here comes the final post on "our" Primavera Sound Festival (PS) 2019, with the quick summary of what happened in Saturday's 1st, plus a comment on Sunday's 2nd. One more time, let's talk about music!

The Good

Built to Spill: Another box to be checked in this PS, we were finally able to see the Boise band lead by Doug Martsch live. And in a very special occasion, performing the flawless 'Keep It Like a Secret', in what it became an hour of getting completely lost in the sound, during which the Primavera stage transformed in the 'Center of the Universe' for a rapturous while. Not-so-secret, happily.

Best kept secret from Idaho. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Jarvis, making you dance and jump... again
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Jarv Is: It's a no-brainer. If Jarvis Cocker is in the building you go watch what he's about to offer. He's just one of a kind. On Saturday, at Ray-Ban stage he presented his new music adventure, Jarv Is, delivering a set of newbies. Obviously, that made the audience unable to connect fully, but the Sheffield's icon, in our opinion one of the best frontmans ever, can't miss a beat. Promising sounds, theatrical moves, odd, hilarious engagements with the crowd (that Italian guy, freaking out). Jarvis never disappoints.

Filthy Friends: Another mandatory gig, despite taking place on Sunday and having to suffer some trap act (beyond terrible) before two Blog superheroes, Peter Buck and Corin Tucker, took the CCCB stage, alongside the great company of an hyperactive Kurt Bloch, a shiny happy Scott McCaughey and the efficient Linda Pittmon on drums. There were some issues regarding Tucker's vocals (windy afternoon), but the energy and easygoing attitude, plus the strength of the diaphanous rock tunes contributed for a very pleasing afternoon, a nice way to end our PS with a smile.

The mighty friends. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

The Bad

Saturday's holes and mixtures: It was something to be expected. The PS turn towards mainstream, embracing the most commercial side of R&B, latin music, prefabricated pop, reggaeton or trap... took its toll, creating several huge gaps in our schedule during Saturday. Not much to see, if you weren't interested (at all) in the 'New Normal', a situation that is rare (and disappointing) in a Festival with such a great offer. But, in the other hand, maybe we shouldn't complain that much, because the amount of dubious acts were all programmed in Mordor, so we didn't have to visit the most exhausting area of the Festival, avoiding not only the unwanted music, but also the biggest crowds, allowing us to enjoy the ones we want to watch in a much more comfortable way instead.

The Queen
Stereolab: The most anticipated gig of the PS for us (never seen live before), but we must admit the previous excitement (another couple of Blog heroes in Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane) was mixed with some concerns, regarding the possible clash of their experimental indiepop musik with this "millennial era" of permanent distraction. But the doubts quickly vanished, replaced by a stunning perfomance, rockier than expected, dynamic and energetic, making the audience dance with their komische sounds. Playing in the milky night of Barcelona... 

At the French Disko. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Here are the links of the previous chapters! Day 1 and Day 2

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 135

Shameful press conferences "there", obscene trial results to meaningful corruption cases "here". The current state of affairs in the world keeps its depressing routine. Let's call a time-out, please! So here we are, bringing you our new TOP TEN JUKEBOX, full of exciting and diverse discoveries as usual, plus the return of our dear Laetitia Sadier, the ace new single of Amber Arcades and the most magic tune of long-awaited debut EP of Egoism. All in all, a pretty nice option to forget our despicable world leaders for a while! And remember, all songs are available at our Soundcloud page (Join Us!).

Direct links to 2017 Jukebox playlists

Week 126  Week 127  Week 128  Week 129  Week 130  Week 131 Week 132  Week 133
Week 134

The Indie Anthology 41: essential songs

Yes, I'm getting a little more "political" lately (my personal situation and several last reads for Indienauta are probably responsible of that), so I guess the next chapter of the Anthology couldn't be devoted to any other band: the best overtly political jangle pop group, in my opinion...

Song: Keep and Open Mind or Else!
Artist: McCarthy
Year: 1989

Lyrics matter a lot to me. I'm not saying every single tune has to be about politics or show social commitment, but lyrics should have some substance, meaning, charm or interest (even if it's about some cheesy love affair). And without losing the point of creating the best songs one can. The Essex band, leaded by Malcolm Eden and Tim Gane (who would later form my beloved Stereolab along with Laetitia Sadier) penned a bunch of personal favourite lyrics, not shy of showing heart will always beat on the left, and wrapped in, arguably, some of the best jangle pop (masterful Gane's 12-string Rickenbacker) tunes ever. Like this "Keep and Open Mind or Else!", where the bouncy, engaging drums and the sweet melodic style is combined with killer verses like You should always try to see / Another person's point of view /You should never, oh never/ Think that you know everything or the An open mind / Oh why don't you keep? / It's the true side / Of the civilized. Defending the right to disagree and think by yourself in a 3:30 minutes pop gem. Meaningful lyrics, amazing tune. McCarthy, one of the most underrated groups in music history...

The Indie Anthology 20: essential songs

After some hiatus, here's the next tune of our very personal Anthology. A song too infuse you some energy, some hope, some courage, some comfort (I believe) as you will realise there's still people willing to fight. This is also a modest homage to them.

Song: French Disko
Artist: Stereolab
Year: 1993

These are confusing, frustrating and exhausting times. Times when you think, in many occasions on a single day, "I want to quit", "I want to give up". When I discovered this (for me) Stereolab's timeless classic I was a Political Science university student seeing how President Bush II decided to go to war on Iraq being followed by our equally repulsive president Aznar, seeking for his 15 minutes of fame. "French Disko", with its vibrant structure, its inner tension, and Laetitia Sadier's lyrics (below the video, please read them) calling to arms on that unforgettable chorus "La Resistance!", was the perfect (personal) soundtrack for those days of protest and (modest) rebellion. Ironically, almost a decade after, the song is still perfectly suitable considering how the world is completely insane today. But now it has another, unexpected lecture, personally. Its a song of hope, one to stick with on days/periods like the ones many are living right now, in which we would like to hide/disappear/give up. Don't do it. Keep fighting.

Though this world's essentially an absurd place to be living in
It doesn't call for total withdrawal

I've been told it's a fact of life
Men have to kill one another
Well I say there are still things worth fighting for

La Resistance!

Though this world's essentially an absurd place to be living in
It doesn't call for (bubble withdrawal)

It said human existence is pointless
As acts of rebellious solidarity
Can bring sense in this world

La Resistance!