Best Concerts of the Year 2014

The day has arrived... it's time to begin with our Best-of-the-year LISTS! As we did in 2013, we start with our favourite concerts. Exciting new bands, two amazing veterans I thought I was never going to see, the fulfilled dream of attending (at least one) Indietracks... and, in the most personal note ever, seeing your own blood brought you into tears. Yes, it's been a fabulous year in what regards to live music. Hope you like it!

Cosmen Adelaida - La [2] de Apolo
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

10. Cosmen Adelaida (La [2] de Apolo, Barcelona, February 5th)
One of my favourite Spanish bands, and they have just nailed this 2014 with the release of 'La Foto Fantasma' (look for it at the best albums of the year list), but this gig arrived even before we heard the record. Very powerful, tight and straight to the jugular show from start to finish, with stunning new indie-rock tunes like 'El Parque', 'Familia/Trabajo' or 'Becerro de Oro' adding diversity and strength to an already exciting collection of tunes (go hurry and check out '7 Picos'). Flawless.

The Chills - Indietracks
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

9. The Chills (Indietracks, Ripley, July 25th)

The first day of the Festival at the Midland Railway Center had a very special date, with one of Flying Nun's most unforgettable bands. Of course, I was eager to hear, for the first time, quintessential, eternal tunes like 'Pink Frost' or 'Heavenly Pop Hit' (sounded glorious, just glorious), but I admit I wasn't expecting to see a band in such full form, with still so much to say, something new tunes proved (looking forward to new album). It doesn't rank higher because it was too short, but still, for an hour I was in New Zealand, one of the realms of indiepop. 

Courtney Barnett - Primavera Sound
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

8. Courtney Barnett (Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, May 31st)
The Melbourne singer-songwriter is one of the most exciting acts that have appeared recently. She's charismatic. She's extremely talented, creating excellent tunes ranging from folk to rock packed with outstanding lyrics (she's easily one of the best lyricists out there today, funny, witty, thoughtful while being the opposite of pedantic). She's spontaneous and things look natural, unforced and genuine with her. And my Goodness! She really knows how to deliver a dynamic, relentless show. Courtney Barnett took Pitchfork's stage and won us over. Fingers crossed there's a chance to see her in a more intimate venue. Could be priceless.

Withered Hand - Indietracks
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

7. Withered Hand (Indietracks, Ripley, July 27th)

Indietracks again. Dan Willson has offered us 'New Gods', among the best records of the year. So expectations were high, very high. Then you realise Ms. Pam Berry is doing backing vocals. And you have your friend and admired musician Jeremy Jensen from the Very Most next to you, smiling just like you when masterpieces 'Horseshoe' and 'Black Tambourine' are played. Could it get better than this? Yes indeed. For me it did with 'Religious Songs'. Larger than life tune. Larger than life performance. More than five months after I still get goosebumps.

Savages - Sala Apolo
Photo: Rafa Piera - Indienauta

6. Savages (Sala Apolo, Barcelona, February 18th)

Unfortunately, the FAKE & DEAD city of Barcelona wasn't ready for a band like Savages. People prefer to chat or constantly check their stupid Iphones. That's why it ranks a 6. It's a shame because here's a band that battles on stage. They try to remind us there was a time when music was powerful, interesting, intriguing, meaningful. And they do taking no prisoners live. A gig without concessions, fuelled with dense and long new tunes. The quartet is one of the most impressive stage presences I have ever seen. The magnetism and fierce attitude of Jehnny Beth, the guitar transformed into a machine gun in the hands of Gemma Thompson and the terrific, striking rhythm section of drummer Fay Milton and bassist Ayse Hassan. They are an earthquake. A landslide. 

Slowdive - Primavera Sound
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

5. Slowdive (Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, May 30th)
Many will say My Bloody Valentine. Others Ride. Mine is Slowdive, by far, far, far. On a day where The National was also playing, this was the concert to remember. First time hearing live tunes like 'Avalyn', 'Catch the Breeze', 'Machine Gun' or 'When the Sun Hits'. First time seeing my dear Rachel Goswell on stage, shining. First time going ecstatic in a massive, open space with tunes always dreamt to be enjoyed that way. Slowdive, you made my forget myself for a while...

Boutade - Sala Razzmatazz
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

4. Boutade (Razzmatazz 3, Barcelona, October 17th)
And just when you thought it couldn't get more personal... I don't know if you can imagine what it means for someone so passionate about music to write about a band that is fronted by his own brother, also a stubborn music lover himself. And how hard is to write about it without losing your composure. Wasn't the first time seeing him on stage, but it was clearly the finest. In total command of the scenario-situation, the band was almost flawless, putting a show that ignited after 'Grey Is a Lie' and became simply majestic in tunes like 'In My Own Desert', 'White Rats', or that heavenly, breathtaking finale that was 'Lost Friends'. How you've grown, my beloved little brother. Here's a real band waiting for you to be discovered.

Ought - Primavera Club
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

3. Ought (Primavera Club, Barcelona, November 2nd)
We were tired and seriously considering leaving the Festival. We didn't have any expectations with this Canadians. But what a tragic mistake it would have been. We would have missed a mind-blowing, completely hypnotic gig from the very first second. An impossible and extraordinarily personal music, recalling Wire, The Velvet & The Fall at the same time. Explosive and expansive combination, full of twists, tone changes and surprises, and propelled by Tim Beeler, an incredible frontman, summoning Mark E. Smith, David Byrne and Jarvis Cocker altogether. What a discovery.

St. Vincent - Primavera Sound
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

2. St.Vincent (Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, May 29th)
Almost every magazine is rating Annie Clark's latest album among the best of the year. That's not my case (I prefer 'Strange Mercy' and her earlier works), but it's hard for me to suggest many better options to see an artists performing live. At Primavera Sound she delivered a masterful example of what does it mean arriving to a state of absolute control and knowledge about playing live while showing all possibilities of your own skills. Superb show of a unique, true artist.

Fear of Men - Primavera Club
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

1. Fear of Men (Primavera Club, Barcelona, October 31st)

Topping the list I have chosen one of the Blog most beloved bands, praise dand hailed recurrently from the very first time I discovered them. Was hoping for a great gig for sure, but at Primavera Club they surprised me in the most positive way. More upbeat and danceable than expected. Jangle-pop combined with the mystery of post-punk, far from the fragilty Jessica Weiss' sweet vocals can suggest on a first impression. With Daniel Falvey fabulous guitar playing and Weiss showing she's a strong, engaging frontwoman (striking rendition of 'Pink Frost' from The Chills included), the gig was a triumph from start to finish. I left my throat trying to reach the higher notes, I danced like no many people has seen and was lucky enough to greet them after the show. Just a perfect night...

Want to check last year's best concerts? Just click here
What about 2012? Click here 
And 2011? Then check here

Indietracks 2014 in brief, day 3

Final chapter of our Indietracks Festival's summary with the quick chronicle of Sunday 27th of July!

The Good

Splendid day: Saw nine complete gigs! I think we beat the Primavera Sound mark! And seven of them were excellent shows. Particularly happy with a couple of recent discoveries, The Hobbes Fanclub and The Wendy Darlings, who were terrific live. Give them a listen, you'll thank me!

With The Swapsies, Liverpool's finest!
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Friends playing: In which universe can the stars align and allow us to watch The Swapsies, Watoo Watoo and The Very Most in less than five hours? The answer is Indietracks. First, the Liverpool band just confirmed us that if they don't put a smile in your face while hearing/watching them, you are in big trouble. They are not only a group to love, delivering a charming set where new tunes were as exciting as their classics (they are classics, at least for me), but also a bunch of the nicest people. What a pleasure to meet them! Later on, Watoo Watoo overcame some sound issues at the church stage and built a fine Stereolabsque show, with a charming cover of Young Marble Giants included. And finally, "our Boise man", Jeremy Jensen, aka The Very Most, and his assembled international super-band, put a slowly in crescendo concert at the outdoor stage, with lovely Vinnie Ransome in shared vocal duties and Pablo Valcárcel nailing it from his drum kit. Thank you friends!

Watoo Watoo, French's delight
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Afternoon with The Very Most
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

The Bad

Sweet Baboo/The Just Joans: Just a matter of taste, but after two songs at the Sweet Baboo's gig we just got bored, so we moved to the indoor stage to see what was all the fuzz about The Just Joans. At an overcrowded and loudly singing venue of the night... didn't get it. For me, very flat and unremarkable.
Headliner downer (again): 'Awoo' was a great album, but since then I lost track of The Hidden Cameras... until Indietracks. Dark disco? Tribal pop? Not my cup of tea, and a pretty weird choice to put an end to the Festival, imo.
Two painful misses: Couldn't make it into the church to see The Yearning, and Cosines clashed with The Very Most. Was so eager to see both bands. Best, and painful example of what an amazing line-up was arranged on Sunday.

The Queen

Withered Hand, with Pam Berry
on his right. I'm converted
Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Withered Hand: Was really looking forward to hear Dan Willson live, as I believe their latest album, 'New Gods' is among the best of the year to date. Expectations only got higher when realised Pam Berry from mythic Black Tambourine was on stage on backing vocals duties. Soon, quite early on the set, masterpieces 'Horseshoe' and 'Black Tambourine' appeared, summoning the spirit of Alex Chilton and giving me goosebumps. Then I thought the gig could only get worse. But I was wrong. Tremendously wrong. The MOMENT, my moment at Indietracks arrived with 'Religious Songs'. First time I heard it, but what an immense, breathtaking, infinite tune and performance. A blast. A revelation.

Indietracks Festival 2014: Timetables

Indietracks 2014 timetables' were unveiled some days ago, so as we do with Primavera Sound, we wanted to post our "route" within the Festival. But completing our schedule (Saturday in particular) has been an incredibly tough task. Still have to figure out about distances between stages, but as a first attempt, this is what our Indietracks 2014 looks like:

Friday, July 25th, Outdoor Stage
17:50 Teen Canteen
18.50 Spearmint
19:50 The Chills
21:15 Allo Darlin'
No problems and zero doubts here, just four bands to enjoy...

Saturday, July 26th
14:40-15:20 The Royal Landscaping Society (Outdoor Stage)
15:40-16:20 Thee AHs (Outdoor)
16:40-17.20 Linda Guilala (Outdoor)
18:40-19:20 The Spook School (Outdoor)
19:20-20:00 Nat Johnson (Church Stage)
20:00-21:00 Dean Wareham (Indoor Stage)
21:15-22:15 Gruff Rhys (Outdoor)
Huge drama, even bigger than the ones we recurrently have at Primavera Sound. Nat Johnson clashing with The Popguns and Joanna Gruesome? Dean Wareham clashing The Popguns and The Proper Ornaments? Manhattan Love Suicides clashing with The Spook School? Needless to say, this day will see changes for sure...

Sunday, July 27th
13:00-13:40 The Swapsies (Indoor Stage)
14:20-15:00 Watoo Watoo (Church Stage)
15:00-15:40 The Wendy Darling (Indoor)
16:00-16:40 The Hobbes Fanclub (Indoor)

16:40-17:20 The Very Most (Outdoor Stage)

17:20-18:00 The Yearning (Church) 

18:00-18:40 Night Flowers (Indoor)

19:00-19:40 The Just Joans (Indoor)

20:00-21:00 Withered Hand (Indoor)

21:15-22:15 The Hidden Cameras (Outdoor)
Aiming to see ten bands, including our dear Swapsies, Watoo Watoo and of course, The Very Most... and you know what? We are still forced to miss some bands we would love to see Cosines & The Flatmates. What an impressive line-up this is, Indietracks.

Sure it won't be the final schedule!

Best Records and EPs of the year 2014... so far

Hard to believe, but half of 2014 is already gone. So, as we do every June since this Blog was born, time to take a look to what year has offered in terms of music so far. As started in 2013, before the list of best songs that will arrive late in the forthcoming week, here's another with our favourite 25 records & EPs of the year to date (all 2014 releases already available). Listed in alphabetical order (the "proper" best-of list comes at the end of the year). Just a way to recognize a bunch of great works!

Are We There Yet?- Sharon Van Etten

Atlas- Real Estate

Before There Were Pictures- Pale Lights

Burn Your Fire to No Witness- Angel Olsen

Courting Strong- Martha

Dalliance- Gold-Bears

Detour- Soft Science

Floristry- Trick Mammoth

Flyying Colours- Flyying Colours

Fruits del teu Bosc- Renaldo & Clara

Gingerlys- Gingerlys

Go Guitars- She Sir

Indiepop or Whatever!- When Nalda Became Punk

In Dreams- Fireflies

La Foto Fantasma- Cosmen Adelaida

Loom- Fear of Men

Mundo Fatal- Me and the Bees

New Gods- Withered Hand

Our Year in the Wilderness- The Hi-Life Companion

Sealed with a Kiss- Alpaca Sports

The Best Hunter- Boutade

The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas- Courtney Barnett

Things Too Obvious to Sing- The Very Most
Une Si Longue Attente- Watoo Watoo
Xeristar- Linda Guilala

Indietracks Festival 2014: line-up closed!

Indietracks Festival unveiled their latest additions to 2014's edition yesterday night, completing what looks like a truly amazing line-up. So, honouring the tradition of setting our (and colouring) personal agenda at the Festivals we take part, here's how now looks our (rough draft) schedule, without knowing when are the majority of bands playing and the timetables. I already want to see near half of the Festival (including several favourites that I'm dying to see live)... and I know I'll add many names after "hunting" for them. Counting down the days!.

FRIDAY 25 JULY
Allo Darlin’ │ The Chills │ Spearmint │ TeenCanteen

SATURDAY 26 JULY
Gruff Rhys │ Dean Wareham │ Joanna Gruesome
The Popguns │The Spook School

SUNDAY 27 JULY
The Hidden Cameras │ Withered Hand │ Sweet Baboo
The Just Joans │ Night Flowers

Plus the following playing over the weekend:
Thee AHs │ Axolotes Mexicanas │ Big Joanie │ Bill Botting │ The Blue Minkies │Cosines │ Dorotea │ Elopes │ The Flatmates │ The Hidden Horses │ The Hobbes Fanclub │ Laura J Martin │ Let’s Wrestle│Linda Guilala │ Lisa Bouvier │ Los Cripis│ Lost Tapes │ Marc and Graeme Elston │ MJ Hibbett and the Validators │ Nat Johnson │ No Ditching │ Okinawa Picture Show │ ONSIND │ The Proper Ornaments │ Ravioli Me Away │ The Royal Landscaping Society │ Slum of Legs │Skeletal Shakes │ The Swapsies │ The Thyme Machine │ Trust Fund │ The Very Most │ Watoo Watoo │ The Wellgreen │The Wendy Darlings │ Wolf Girl │ The Yawns │ The Yearning

Green- Definetely seeing them. Absolute must
Yellow- If there are no overlaps (in particular with the green ones), I'll be there for sure
Orange- Curious about it/"on research mode"

Bloodbuzzed at Indietracks 2014!

Not exactly a post, but I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer: Bloodbuzzed will be covering Indietracks 2014 for Indienauta and this humble blog! The indie press from Barcelona is going to the railroad, so excited!

What an amazing line-up already!!
Gruff Rhys │ Allo Darlin’ │ The Hidden Cameras │ Dean Wareham │ Joanna Gruesome │ Withered Hand │ The Popguns │ Rocketship │ Sweet Baboo │ Spearmint │  Thee AHs │ Axolotes Mexicanos │ Big Joanie │ The Blue Minkies │ Cosines │ Elopes │ Franny & Zooey │ The Just Joans │ Let’s Wrestle│ Laura J Martin │ Linda Guilala │ Los Cripis │ Lost Tapes │ MJ Hibbett and the Validators │ Night Flowers │ONSIND │ Slum of Legs │ The Spook School │ TeenCanteen │ The Very Most │ The Yawns │ The Wellgreen

PD: Any suggestion regarding flights, accommodation, distances is more than welcomed, thanks in advance!

Discoverer 89: new indie findings

It's been an non-desired hiatus, but here we are, back with a trio of great discoveries, enjoy!

The Understudies. Coming from London, the band formed in 2008, debuting with EP "Wanting vs Getting" in 2010 on Odd Box Records. The double-sided 7" single "Everyone Deserves at Least One Summer of Love" followed in 2011, and finally, since a couple of weeks ago, we can enjoy their debut album "Let Desire Guide Your Hand" released by Firestation Records. Classic heartwarming indiepop, utterly romantic, clearly reminiscent of The Beautiful South (boy-girl vocals passionately dealing with all our mundane miseries) and Morrissey, nicely invigorated & embellished by the arrangements of A Little Orchestra. Soul music, sweet British guitar pop full of soul. 

Withered Hand. Behind the enigmatic nickmane hides Dan Wilson, a Scottish musician based in Edinburgh, who played in several bands until he began a solo musical career at age 30, after one of his close friends died and he became father. That period of his life heavily determined his hugely praised debut "Good News" in 2009 (re-released in 2011 on Absolutely Kosher Records in the States). Now he's back with sophomore album "New Gods", out since February via Fortuna Pop (UK) & Slumberland Records (USA). Featuring stellar appearances from Pam Berry (Black Tambourine), Eugene Kelly (The Vaselines), members of Belle & Sebastian & Frightened Rabbit, the album is a mind-blowing example of a musician with a unique gift to pen perfect indiepop tunes. Unmissable.  
School. This Swedish quartet formed by quite famous musicians from different Gothenburg bands singing in English for the first time, just gathered last year, offering three wonderful singles to date: debut "So Long" in late 2013, followed by "Clouds Aside" and now "Head Over Here", all of which through Luxury. Timeless indiepop pieces, showing a style that fits comfortably in an addictive place between jangle and dream-pop, with the bursting vocals of Alice B completing the arresting, immediately catchy trio of extremely promising tunes. Eagerly awaiting for more! 

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!