The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 106

While we finish the traditional Best of the year so far posts (always a hard but pleasant task) here we have prepared a new TOP TEN Jukebox for you, a mixture between noisy, rockier and rough (always within the Blog's idiosyncrasy) and blissful, poppier and melodic. A couple of friends returning to form (The Fireworks' tune is a killer, Bubblegum Lemonade's classy), a little tribute to the great Bob Mould and the gloomy, terrific first song by Preoccupations (formerly Viet Cong). Plus, of course, several new bands to get excited about  And remember, all songs are listed at our Soundcloud page (Join Us!).

Direct links to 2016 Jukebox playlists

Week 84  Week 85  Week 86   Week 87   Week 88  Week 89 Week 90   Week 91   
Week 92  Week 93  Week 94  Week 95   Week 96   Week 97  Week 98  Week 99   
Week 100  Week 101  Week 102  Week 103 Week 104  Week 105

Best Songs of the Year 2015: 25-1

And here it is! Ladies & gentlemen, it's our immense pleasure to present you the Top 25, the Best Songs of 2015, always in our modest opinion, of course. It's been a wonderful (but tough) music ride, that we hope you have enjoyed as much as we do. Not much more to add, it's better to let the music do the talking instead, so we encourage you to listen the whole list. You'll find a mind-blowing soundtrack (as always, check our Souncloud to find the majority of tunes on the list). We're taking a short break, so see you next year!

25.  River of longing- Blank Realm
24. My Arms, They Feel Like Nothing
- The School
23. A poet walks- Robert Forster
22. Running Late- Flyying Colours
21. Sleeping in the Backseat- Tigercats
20. Back to You- Twerps
19. Beautiful Blue Sky- Ought
18. Continental Shelf- Viet Cong
17. A beginning song- The Decemberists
16.  Ting the posters down- Dick Diver
15. Watch your back- The Coathangers
14. Chateau Lobby #4- Father John Misty
13. Land gone- Novella 
12. What part of me- Low
11. Northern highway- Martin Courtney
10. El cielo protestó- Hazte Lapón
9. Joke- Chastity Belt
8. Return to the moon- El Vy
7. 
7. Dope Cloud- Protomartyr
6. Should Have Known Better- Sufjan Stevens
5. Surface Envy- Sleater-Kinney
4.  Depreston- Courtney Barnett
3. Like a statue- Line & Circle
2. Heel turn 2- The Mountain Goats
1. Courage- Villagers

Best Songs of the Year 2015: 50-26

As promised yesterday, here's the third round of our Best Songs of 2015, this time comprising songs between positions 50 to 26. As we approach the end of the lists, you''re going to see some artists/groups "repeating" their apparitions (just one tune per round) in both lists, something logical considering some of them have been the responsible of the EPs and Records of the year, in our opinion. Remember the playlist below is available at our Soundcloud. Stay tuned, the Top 25 arriving shortly!


50. Strange Hellos- Torres
49. Been in the wars- New Politicians 
48. Creep Me Out- Ghost Transmission
47. Stars- The Treasures of Mexico
46. Ahora que hace bueno- Reina Republicana
45. Waste the alphabet- Dick Diver
44. What went down- Foals
43. Swept Away- Star Tropics
42. Desencuentros- The New Raemon
41. Dream date- Salad Boys
40. Stranger – Twerps
39. Fourth of July - Sufjan Stevens
38.  Lake song- The Decemberists
37. Blo
37. Blood- Algiers
36. Blue swallow- Novella
35. Silhouettes- Viet Cong
34. Saw the light- Seapony
33. Burn masculinity- The Spook School
32. Again- Faith Healer
31. Out of metaphors- Line & Circle
30. Wasting time- Young Romance
29. O- Desperate Journalist
28. A 
28. A New Wave- Sleater-Kinney
27. Odiar
27. Odiar- Hazte Lapón
26. The Legend of Chavo Guerrero- The Mountain Goats

Best Songs of the Year 2015...so far

Today, we are extremely happy to unveil our 30 favourite songs of the year so far. As we did with the best records /EPs list, the tunes are listed in alphabetic order, taking in mind two rules: they have been released during 2015, and just one song per group (a really hard decision in some cases). We encourage you to enjoy the complete playlist in our soundcloud page! And to check our 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 selections!

1. Actual Alien - American Culture
2. Ahora que hace bueno- Reina Republicana
3. Back to You- Twerps
4. Been in the wars- New Politicians
5. Can’t You Feel - Bruising 
6. Chateau Lobby #4- Father John Misty
7. Continental Shelf- Viet Cong
8. Courage- Villagers
9. Creep Me Out- Ghost Transmission
10. Depreston- Courtney Barnett
11. Desencuentros- The New Raemon
12. Fool- Nadine Shah
13. Hold You Down - Love Signs
14. Hollow Veins- Surf City
15. I Wanna Be a Writer - Etti / Etta 
16. Let You Know- The Fireworks
17. Made my mind up- Mikal Cronin
18. O- Desperate Journalist
19. Running Late- Flyying Colours
20. Scene Sick- Diet Cig
21. Should Have Known Better- Sufjan Stevens
22. Sleeping in the Backseat- Tigercats
23. Surface Envy- Sleater-Kinney
24. Stars- The Treasures of Mexico
25. Swept Away- Star Tropics
26. Tearing the posters down- Dick Diver
27. The House- Le Volume Courbe
28. The Legend of Chavo Guerrero- The Mountain Goats
29. Umi - Pinkshinyultrablast
30. Young Girls- PINS

Click here to check the SoundCloud playlist!

Primavera Sound 2015 in brief, day 2

Quickly following the previous post with the opening day, here's the quick review of our first "big day", Thursday 28th, at the Primavera Sound Festival 2015. Quite a bit to highlight!

The Good

The Replacements: Never been a huge fan, but seeing a band so damn solid at Primavera stage, with Paul Westenberg attacking relentlessly the tunes, having fun with the snippets, including Joy Division and the Jackson 5. And to hear 'Color Me Impressed', 'Left of the Dial', and the immense 'Alex Chilton' (goosebumps, goosebumps all over, is there a more flammable chorus?) was just memorable. Eternal songs, eternal band.

 The Replacements, rock left of the dial. Photo: Bloodbuzzed 

Viet Cong: With a couple of tunes extended to, imo, an unnecessary and pointless length, their show was flawless, fierce, tense, menacing. Here an explosive band with an incredible potential.

Viet Cong, march of post-punk-rock. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

The Bad

Black Keys: Awful, extremely flat sound at the Heineken stage for what it (on paper) was one of the biggest headliners of the Festival. I'm not a fan of their music, but I was hoping for a fun, playful gig. Regrettably, it wouldn't be the last time the sound issues at that stage appeared.

The Queen

Twerps: Have you ever had the feeling that, despite you are going to see a band for the first time, you already know it will be a great show? When there's no doubt you're are about to enjoy one of "these moments" only music can offer you? That's what happened with Twerps at Pitchfork. 'Range Anxiety' is one of the records of the year (won't waste any single second on this, IT IS, period), and indiepop gems like 'I Don't Mind', 'Back to You' or 'Shoulders', to name just three, proved. 45 minutes of pure magic, a perennial smile on the face of this humble blogger from start to finish. Once again, what would we do without Antipodean pop?

Twerps, the worst band name for such a wonderful band. Photo: Bloodbuzzed 

Brief of the second "big day" of the PS15, Friday 30th arriving as quickly as we can!

Primavera Sound 2015: my draft schedule

And the day has come. It's time to, at least make the first attempt, and try to assemble the puzzle that the Primavera Sound Festival schedules' are. And also time to start digesting and make some painful choices due to the recurring, I guess they are inevitable, overlaps. So, are you ready to "play" with us? Pending on Primavera als Parcs' schedule this is what our PS 2015 looks like (initial impressions):  

  

Thursday, May 28th, Parc del Fòrum
18:35 Twerps (Pitchfork)
19:45 Viet Cong (Pitchfork)
21:10 The Replacements (Primavera)
22:20 Antony and the Johnsons (Heineken)* 
22:50 Spiritualized (ATP)
23:45 The Black Keys (Primavera)
The "easy" day, it goes quite smoothly, with the sole exception of missing Antony and the Johnsons (although I'm very far from being a fan, I was curious), and the clash between the highly recommendable Ought versus The Replacements.

Friday, May 29th, Parc del Fòrum
17:00 The Pastels (Heineken Hidden Stage) 
17:45 Núria Graham (Pitchfork)
19:00 Ex Hex (Pitchfork)
20:35 The Julie Ruin (Ray-Ban)
22:20 Sleater-Kinney (Heineken) 
23:45 Ride (Primavera)
The "big day" it's a pretty excruciating one. Getting into the Pastels' gig will be tough (as you have to grab the tickets well in advance that same day). There's not a lot to choose among until Ex Hex... and then overlaps all over until. Will see The Julie Ruin so bye to The New Pornographers, Patti Smith, Tobias Jesso Jr.. and also to Damien Rice and Belle and Sebastian, 'cause the important gig of the day is, of course, Sleater-Kinney. Then Ride and over? What an incredible day could have been...

Saturday, May 30th, Parc del Fòrum
16:00 Patti Smith (Auditori Rockdelux)
17:30 Ben Watt (Auditori Rockdelux) 
18:55 The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Primavera)
20:30 Tori Amos (Ray-Ban)
21:40 DIIV (Pitchfork)
22.20 Interpol Heineken)*
23:00 Flyying Colours (H & M Pro)
23:45 The Strokes  (Primavera)
Same sad song. Nice start with Patti and Ben Watt, then a sort of a wasteland (although we'll manage) and more clashes. DIIV will be the chosen band and then, whatever happens...

Sunday, May 31th, Apolo/Sala BARTS
19:40 Soledad Vélez (BARTS) 
20:45 Torres (BARTS) 
A very relaxed day with just one gig that we really want to attend, but what a gig. We love Torres... Sure (and also hope) there will be more changes and adds to this schedule as the Festival approaches. We'll see!

* Incomplete, or depending on the distances between stages

Discoverer 109: new indie findings

Here comes the first trio of discoveries of 2015! We are back in full, overpowered mode, so get ready, you have been warned!

Pinkshinyultrablast. New year, new exciting proposals from Shelflife, folks. This time coming from Saint Petersburg, Russia, here's a quintet formed in 2007, but their only release to date didn't arrive until 2009, in the form of EP 'Happy Songs For Happy Zombies', out via Odd Box Records. Luckily, the combo is alive and kicking, as the debut album 'Everything Else Matters',   available since last week through Shelflife and ClubAC30 majestically proves. Gold shoegaze for shoegazing addicts, echoing Lush, Slowdive, Sabres of Paradise but also adding hints of dream-pop, the icy, otherworldly spirit of Cocteau Twins (get haunted by Lyubov's voice) and glimpses of electronic. Indeed, an ultrablast.

Wildhoney. More lighting floating in space, now thanks to this band, another quintet, hailing from Baltimore, Maryland and formed in 2011. After first demos surfaced the blogosphere in 2012, their s/t debut EP arrived a year later, followed in 2014 by another EP, 'Seventeen Forever'. And now they are back with 'Sleep Through It', debut album out now via Deranged/Forward Records. Shoegaze with a million faces, at times raw and noisy, others poppier and gentle, here's the aggression and the caress, the urgency and the atmosphere, the haze and the light. Very hard to resist.

Viet Cong. A hype with a reason. Hailing from Calgary, Alberta, this Canadian band formed in 2012 from the ashes of the troubled group Women. Bassist Matt Flegel started a new project with Scott 'Monty' Munro, live guitarist for Chad Van Gaalen, quickly expanding into a quartet with drummer Mike Wallace and guitarist Daniel Christiansen. Their debut came a year later with a self-released cassette, reissued by Mexican Summer on vinyl past summer. They signed with Jagjaguwar, who along with Flemish Eye has just released the highly anticipated s/t first album. Seven fierce, angular, gloomy and elusive tunes of post-punk. A beast that we will have the chance to see live at Primavera Sound.

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox 35

The year's end is quicky arriving and, although we are working hard in our best of the year lists, here's a new round of our TOP TEN playlist series! Please enjoy with our proposals, combining exciting new acts with consacrated ones. And remember, is also available at our Blog's soundcloud page. Join Us!

Direct links to the previous Jukebox weeks
Week 1      Week 8        Week 15     Week 22   Week 29
Week 2      Week 9        Week 16     Week 23  Week 30 
Week 3      Week 10      Week 17     Week 24  Week 31 
Week 4      Week 11      Week 18     Week 25   Week 32
Week 5      Week 12      Week 19     Week 26   Week 33
Week 6      Week 13      Week 20     Week 27   Week 34
Week 7      Week 14       Week 21     Week 28

Welcome to the Jukebox!