The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 151

After our best of the year so far lists, here we are again, bringing you a new round of our weekly TOP TEN Jukebox! A playlist full of new discoveries and eclectic rhythms to cheer you up this last weekend of June (yeas, this means that summer holidays are getting closer!). From the punk feminist proposal of Babe Punch, to the 'Antipopdean' sound of Boys going through the dream pop of Widowspeak, you have plenty to enjoy! And remember, all songs are available at our Soundcloud. (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  Week 135  Week 136  Week 137  Week 138  Week 139 Week 140  Week 141
Week 142  Week 143  Week 144  Week 145  Week 146  Week 147  Week 148 Week 149
Week 150

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 78

This playlist was ready to be published on Saturday morning, but after what happened in Paris we didn't feel it was the right thing to do. But when you think about it, terrorists, as it always happens with anyone whose only argument is violence, are afraid of culture, of art, of music, of literature. Because culture is about discovering, learning, knowing and acquiring the tools to form your own thoughts, tastes, choices. Nothing more scary for the ignorants, the ones who only speak the language of violence. So here's our TOP TEN Jukebox series. Hope you enjoy the music... and seek for more. Music never stops. All these songs are also available at our Soundcloud. Thank you.

Direct links to 2015 Jukebox playlists
Week 36  Week 37  Week 38   Week 39  Week 40 
Week 41  Week 42 Week 43  Week 44   Week 45
Week 46  Week 47   Week 48  Week 49   Week 50  
Week 51   Week 52  Week 53  Week 54    Week 55  
Week 56   Week 57   Week 58  Week 59   Week 60 
Week 61   Week 62   Week 63  Week 64  Week 65 
Week 66   Week 67   Week 68  Week 69   Week 70 
Week 71   Week 72   Week 73  Week 74   Week 75
Week 76   Week 77

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 69

September and its challenges. Always a month of decissions, but also opportunities and possibilities. And new discoveries, as the ones we suggest you to listen in this new TOP TEN playlist, alongside the stunning tunes of some blog regulars like our beloved The School, The Ocean Party, Space Daze, and new friends like Hazte Lapón (you're going to see them frequently at the Blog). And remember, it's also available at our Soundcloud, so please join us! 

Direct links to 2015 Jukebox playlists
Week 36  Week 37  Week 38   Week 39  Week 40 
Week 41  Week 42 Week 43  Week 44   Week 45
Week 46  Week 47   Week 48  Week 49   Week 50  
Week 51   Week 52  Week 53  Week 54    Week 55  
Week 56   Week 57   Week 58  Week 59   Week 60 
Week 61   Week 62   Week 63  Week 64  Week 65 
Week 66   Week 67   Week 68

Discoverer 103: new indie findings

Oh what a great weekend in our Discoverer Series! Two debut albums fated to be among the best-of-the-year lists plus a most intriguing & promising act. You're going to enjoy!

Flowers. Londoners Sam Ayres, Jordan Hockley and Rachel Kennedy got together in April 2012, thanks to Sam’s advert looking for a singer to make music like "Madonna through a broken tape machine". Astonishingly quickly, the trio moved in together and started writing songs. The feverishly recorded demos were offered online, creating an immediate buzz that made them tour Europe with The Pains Of Being Pure Of Heart and Young Marble Giants. First singles "Until You're Dead" and "When You Lie" arrived in 2013 on Cloudberry and Odd Box Records, plus the great reception of their live shows rocketed their momentum. They signed with Fortuna POP! and with the help of Bernard Butler as producer, Flowers penned their debut album, "Do What You Want to Do, Is What You Should Do", out since September (by Kanine Records in the States). Restrained and minimal yet surprisingly affecting, the album is an indiepop delight, full of beauty and mystery, a collection of short songs with Rachel's haunting vocals presiding the fuzzy yet delicate music envelope. Absolute MUST.

SW/MM/NG. Formed in 2011 and hailing from Fayetteville, Arkansas, they originally called Swimming but slashes seemed an easy solution when a cease-and-desist order from a U.K. group of the same name arrived. The quintet started to make some noise locally with a digital, S/T EP in July 2011. After signing with Old Flame Records, their debut album, "Feel Not Bad" came out this August. Jangly indiepop blurred in haze, ethereal and sun-soaked. Real Estate floating guitars packed with that 80s English melancholy, with Brian Kupillas’ vocals about to break within the melodic feast. For those still looking for the sun, here's a perfect companion.

Black Honey. Hard to believe a band can remain unknown on these "Celebgate" days (sic) but this Brighton, UK, based act is still hidden, so we'll gladly let the music do all the talking. Three songs have surfaced already online from them, "Sleep Forever" towards the end of June, "Teenager" in August, and most recently "The Taste". Three wonderfully catchy tunes, cinematic, woozy and brooding. Jangling guitars, fuzz, atmospheric mood, and a challenging yet inviting female vocals. Sweet and obscure, like their appropriate band name. Here's promise, promise, promise.

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox 24

After one week without writing due to technical issues plus moving to another apartment, we come back with our weekly TOP TEN playlist with the songs we have been enjoying the most lately. This week you can listen to some exciting Spanish indie groups like Lavandera and Muñeco, our beloved Allo Darlin' or a song from four Irishman your probably know about and, despite being so unpopular in "hipsterland" nowadays, know a thing or two about creating perfect music pieces. As always, there are all at our  Blog's soundcloud, so please Join Us and enjoy it!

Direct links to the previous Jukebox weeks
Week 1      Week 8        Week 15     Week 22  
Week 2      Week 9        Week 16     Week 23
Week 3      Week 10      Week 17  
Week 4      Week 11      Week 18  
Week 5      Week 12      Week 19 
Week 6      Week 13      Week 20
Week 7      Week 14      Week 21

Welcome to the Jukebox!

Discoverer 97: new indie findings

Last weekend before flying to Indietracks Festival, so it was kind of mandatory to select our trio of discoveries accordingly. Three bands recently "found" we won't miss at the Railway!

The Hobbes Fanclub. Hailing from Bradford, Northern England, it all began as the solo project of singer/guitarist Leon Carroll, with the transatlantic help (never met in person) of Brazilian Fabiana Karpinski. They managed to came out with a couple of split CD-R with Young Michelin and Leach Me Lemonade in 2010 and 2011 on Cloudberry and Dufflecoat Records. But soon after Fabiana left the project, Leon built a proper band with Louise Phelan (bass) and Adam Theakston (drums) joining forces and putting out their "official" debut 7" 'Your Doubting Heart' on Shelflife in August 2012. Now the circle is completed with the release of first album 'Up At Lagrange' on August 19th. Like The Pains going shoegaze or Boyracer, this is a burst of in-your-face pop enveloped in fuzzy feedback, irresistible boy/girl vocal melodies wrapped in haze and distortion. Mark the date in your calendars. This is a must-have record.

The Yearning. Founded by songwriter/producer Joe Moore in 2010, he slowly crafted and produced their debut EP, 'Jukebox Romance' which, as the promo info evokes, was written in a cupboard under the stairs(!) at his home in Faringdon, UK, over the next two years before the band was signed by Elefant Records in 2012. Although in this first release Justyna Halas and Maddie Dobie shared lead vocal duties, the latest is since then the singer of The Yearning, helped on studio by a bunch of good friends. A couple of digital singles preceded their 2013 mini-lp 'Still in Love'. Finally, after the heartbreaking single 'If I Can't Have You' at the beginning of this summer, we can now celebrate the arrival of 'Dreamboats & Lemonade', first full-length. Vintage warm & delicate pop, delicious from start to finish, carefully arranged and passionately sung in a recognizable girl groups style. Not just a record, it's a pastel tone gift.

The Wendy Darlings. Coming from Clermont-Ferrand, France and formed in 2006, the trio of Suzy (vocals, guitar), Sylvain (vocals, bass), and Baptiste (drums, backing vocals) that sometimes expands into a quartet or even a quintet, debuted in 2008 with EP 'We Come with Friendly Purposes' released on Lostmusic Records, which made some buzz thanks to the single ‘Enormous Pop’. That same year arrived self-released EP 'Sucking Lollipops in Hell', followed by another EP, 'Not a Match Made in Heaven' and 7" 'Girls in Japan' out in 2010 and 2011 respectively in Marineville Records. After a technical 'hiatus' that put their record on hold in 2013, now they are back in full form with the release of their first LP, ‘The Insufferable Fatigues of Idleness’, out since April on Odd Box records. Straightforward punk-pop, careless and free, mixing the sixties, the DIY aesthetics, a dose of noise and 80s Scottish pop bands, there's a lot to love here. Have fun with The Wendy Darlings!

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox 6

I know, the post has suffered a slight delay (that's what happens when you are in holidays, on a short distance trip but the wi-fi connection completely fails you) but here's our next round of our TOP TEN playlist, with the tunes I have been enjoying the most lately. As with previous sets, this is also available at the blog's soundcloud (come on and join us). Many posts to come!

Direct links to the previous Jukebox weeks
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

Welcome to the Jukebox!

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox!

Introducing you a new blog section. Starting today, each Friday I will make a TOP TEN playlist of the tunes I'm listening / likening the most throughout the week, trying to focus on recent tunes that I'm enjoying at the moment.

The sets will be available at the blog's soundcloud (if you kindly want to share us there too) Hope you like it.


Welcome to the Bloodbuzzed Jukebox!

Discoverer 47: new indie findings

Elections day this Sunday, but there's always time for great new bands to discover!

Guards. DNA matters. This trio formed in NY City in 2010 by Richie James Follin, brother of our beloved Madeline Follin of Cults. Initially wrote some tunes for her, but ended keeping them for himself, with the help of friends like Chairlift's Caroline Polachek, MGMT's James Richardson and Madeline, of course. Then came a series of 7" to keep the buzz going until the release of "In Guards We Trust", debut album expected for February 2013. Sure comparisons and expectations will be recurrent, because they certainly sound like Cults and that joyful bunch of retro-pop bands. But hey, while they deliver perfect indiepop pills like "Coming True" or "Silver Lining" who cares? Fated for big things, believe me.    
Guards - Coming True by Guards
Guards - Silver Lining by Guards

Cameras. Down to Sidney to meet this quartet (previously trio). Formed in 2008 by Eleanor Dunlop and Fraser Harvey due to their “mutual love for layering darker dirtier sounds with warmer delicate melodies”, on 2011 they released "In Your Room", very successful debut that now arrives the rest of the world. A bipolar band, when Dunlop sings they sound like the missed Broadcast or Chan Marshall on an M83 tune, while when Harvey leads its like discovering forgotten tunes from Interpol's "Turn On the Bright Lights". Atmospheric or aggressive, the album shares a haunting mood, a bleak vibe that gives it a unusual coherence. Fascinating music.
Bored Nothing. Still in Australia, we move to Melbourne to meet Fergus Miller, who under this pseudonym has just packed some of his best tunes, added a bunch of new ones and have released three weeks ago on a self-titled debut album that has to be seriously highlighted. Stylistically diverse, Fergus can make you think on Daniel Johnston, Sebadoh, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart or Real Estate from one song to another. You can say this is DIY lo-fi indierock very much devoted to the 90's. But to hell with labelling music. This is the sort of magic you can create with an electric guitar, good taste and tones of talent.
Bored Nothing

Discoverer 45: new indie findings

A rainy Sunday deserves great new indie proposals, so here you have, enjoy!

The Spook School. The image on your left completely caught my eye. Is the cover of 7" "Here We Go/Cameraman", the latest release (out now in Cloudberry) from this DIY four-piece band from Edinburgh (Scotland again). Active since 2011, they released their lovely (check it out!) first single "History/Hallam" in March, followed by a homemade EP of demos entitled "Are You Who You Think You Are?" A small collection of gorgeous indiepop lo-fi tunes, delicate, sweet, vocally irresistible (hear "Cameraman and fall in love). See? Artwork matters. Thanks to it, I found The Spook School.     
Boarders. It's kind of frustrating the little amount of information I have found on this six-piece group from Melbourne. Because judging from their amazing music the Australians deserve a longer account of their short history. A first EP "Flower Drum" in 2010, a couple of songs this year and a compilation entitled "Vintage 2011" just out now at their bandcamp. So I will have to focus on the music. Which is outstanding. Jangle pop made in heaven, with stunning dreamy guitars and vocal harmonies. If you love The Pains of Being Pure at Heart this band is for you. Or if you just love the best indepop, go check them quickly!
 
The Bilinda Butchers. Michael and Adam are "the butchers" a duo from San Francisco who obviously love My Bloody Valentine, and in particular her vocalist, Bilinda Butcher. Formed in 2010, two EPs, "Regret, Love, Guilt, Dreams" in June of 2011 and "Goodbyes", in August of 2012, is the melancholic, sophisticated, moody and haunting repertoire they have so far. Atmospheric dream-pop with a lightweight electronic pulse and droned-out vocals. Check them out now. You can download their songs naming your price at their bandcamp.

Spanish indie 7: suggesting the best national acts

More proposals of Spanish alternative bands for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

La Habitación Roja. The release of their eighth album, "Fue Eléctrico", out now, gives me the perfect excuse/occasion to introduce this veteran band, formed in Valencia (yes, good things can come from there too), that are, simply, one of the best national groups. Inexplicably (and unfairly) underrated despite their solid career, started in 1995, LHR has been a reference when discussing about indie-pop/rock in Spain, something the new record proves again. Energy and melody, passion and honesty. The long distance runners of Spanish scene are back. A reason to celebrate.


Doble Pletina. Started in 2010 as a duet from the ashes of Abrevadero, a surreal combo that made peculiar versions of popular songs, Marc Ribera and Laura Antolín have created a lot of expectations with their few songs, in particular with the 2011 slow-burn hit "Música para cerrar las discotecas". Pure pop genious, where acoustic sounds meets a restrained epic, and where lyrics become pivotal. Hoping for more releases this year to confirm the promise, and to see them live at Primavera Sound. Keep an eye on them.

Thee Brandy Hips. Just confirmed among the Benicàssim Festival line-up, with their second album, “Raincoat”, released in early February, this five-member band from San Sebastian offers a much needed dose of fun and vitality. Addictive and sunny guitar-driven pop, where melody means everything. Between the noise-pop of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and lo-fi, between power-pop and The Bluetones playing on a beach, and with a DIY attitude, they might not be reinventing the wheel, but there's plenty to enjoy in their music.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, young adult addiction

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Sala Apolo, Barcelona, June 20

The best alumni of indie-pop arrived to Barcelona to present their sophomore album, "Belong" and with the promise of an unforgettable night we were headed to Sala Apolo, where, despite being Monday, there was no surprise the venue got pretty full by the time the concert was supposed to start (without supporting act). Excitement was evident just by looking at people faces.  

Unfortunately, it took a bit for the band to reach a connection with the eager audience. Leaded by Kip Berman, who carried the responsibility of the gig on his shoulders, they started with "Belong", "This Love is Fucking Right!" and "Higher than the Stars", played with competence, but the intensity, that intangible that differentiates a good concert from an mesmerizing one, wasn't there.

It would get better quickly, though. Because if one thing The Pains don't lack are songs. "Heart in Your Heartbreak", followed by "The Body" and "Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now", heated the cold atmosphere at the venue as well as the members of the band. Cascading guitars (great sound all night), instant melodies, and although Berman's is not an extraordinary singer, and Peggy Wang's backing vocals were quite limited all night, uplifting harmonies. They might not be revolutionary in their sound, but their songs are vital.

The beautiful "Stay Alive" preceded another trio of  hits: "My Terrible Friend" and the already classics "Come Saturday" and "Young Adult Friction". Let's admit it. Are they the best band on stage? Of course not, far from it. But with such songs, it seemed the contrary for a while. The ice completely melted, and the band, more confident and happy to be there, continued their offensive with "Too Tough" and "Everything With You". Yes, we were indie-dancing. Could have been any other way?

After the short break, Kip Berman came alone to play "Contender" and then, backed again by the whole band delivered "Say No To Love". Don't want to use the word low-down, but they needed something more to reinvigorate the concert again, so they waved goodbye with a passionate "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart". The rescue of the encore was completed, but the band felt the need to return a second time, with  "A Teenager in Love" and  "Hey Paul", probably not the strongest choices to close the gig, but no complains. I think you get the idea by now. They may need something more live, but songs? They have a ridiculous amount of them, enough to make you enjoy any night. Ready to suffer a lot more of these Pains. Here's the complete setlist of the gig.

1. Belong
2. This Love is Fucking Right
3. Higher than the Stars
4. Heart in your Heartbreak
5. The Body
6. Heaven's Gonna Happen Now
7. Stay Alive
8. My Terrible Friend
9. Come Saturday
10. Young Adult Friction
11. Too Tough
12. Everything With You
13. Contender
14. Say No To Love
15. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
16. A Teenager in Love
17. Hey Paul

Discoverer Special II: Primavera Sound new findings

Three more proposals you can add to yesterday's recommendations among the international bands that will be playing at Primavera Sound Festival...only two days remaining!!

Rubik. An indie-pop treasure hailing from Helsinki, Finland. I couldn't define this 8 piece-band in any other way after hearing "Solar", their third album, a brightly shimmering, joyful collection of tunes, where The Postal Service meets Of Montreal, or Grandaddy fuses with Modest Mouse. Their music is a roller coaster, a cascade of sounds and rhythms where everything is possible, from warm electronic envelopes to anthemic trumpets or handclapping. Sounds messy on paper, but trust me, what a fun and addictive mess it is.



Francis International Airport. More quality indie-pop, this time from Wien, Austria. "In The Woods", their second album, is a moody, at times reminiscent of the atmospheric sound of The Cure ("Solaris" for instance), intricate affair mixed with occasional glimpses of effervescence (check the single "Amnesiacs"). Sophisticated yet catchy, melancholic and with a very particular ambience. A very powerful record, one that offers you many different listens, endures and always rewards.



A Classic Education. A 6 piece-band, half Italian (Bologna), half Canadian, that define their sound as "nocturnal music for lazy afternoons". And indeed these delicious EP, "Hey There Stranger", with misty pop tunes like "Gone To Sea" or "Terrible Day", evokes quiet hours spent in warm beaches and breezy parties under the moon light. With the exception of the infectious melody of "What My Life Could Have Been", a reverb-less Pains of Being Pure At Heart approach, A Classic Education prefers to distille elegance and subtleties to their indie-pop, with excellent results.