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Friday, March 31, 2017

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 141

IT troubles solved (not a computer crush but a pretty serious upset), so here we are, ready to fire back with our latest TOP TEN JUKEBOX. It's a diverse playlist conformed mostly with exciting "newbies" plus a few "repeaters", like Horsebeach or Rat Columns returning in knockout form, or the latest tune from our beloved Bleached. Lot to love here! Have a nice weekend and remember, all songs are available at our Soundcloud page (Join Us!).




Direct links to 2017 Jukebox playlists

Saturday, March 25, 2017

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 140

Do you feel tired, kind of dizzy, without energy? Well, it's the first week of Spring, what did you expect? We are all feeling the same way (don't get me started about the nonsense but mandatory change of hour coming Saturday/Sunday), so we are ready to cheer up a bit our "seasonal emotional state" with our latest TOP TEN JUKEBOX. This time with few familiar faces, only Black Honey and Adult Mom, joining a bunch of new proposals to pay attention to, like The Bright Light Social Hour or Trementina's terrifc tunes. Plenty to discover! Have a nice weekend and remember, all songs are available at our Soundcloud page (Join Us!).




Direct links to 2017 Jukebox playlists

Thursday, March 23, 2017

The Indie Anthology 78: essential songs

More immortal music coming in our Anthology section! From the Antipodes to the other kingdom of indiepop, Scotland, in order to get disarmed by one of the finest albums of the 90s, from a shamefully underrated band (happily reactivated by the way). It's all jangle over here!

Song: Obscurity Knocks
Artist: The Trash Can Sinatras
Year: 1990
First, the mandatory question. It's The Trash Can Sinatras or the plain & shorter Trashcan Sinatras? I discovered them as the first option, so that's why I'm sticking with it. When Internet & mp3 weren't so all over the place, and discovering music was quite a bit harder (but much more exciting), there were those sort of compilations folders in the computers made after too many hours of song-hunting. I had one (no kidding) named Scotland unknowns (work in progress) and my two standouts there were 'Obscurity Knocks' and 'Maybe I Should Drive' (I just tossed a coin to choose between the two!). It took me a while to properly listen to 'Cake', the majestic album that included the two gems. What a glorious record, still sounding as emotional and fresh as the first day I listened. Of course, there's the guitar lines, inviting and gently at first, more upbeat and anthemic as the chorus arrives, preparing the listener for the whole burst of pop adrenaline (the harmonies before the final rush, gosh!) arriving in its mesmerizing last minute. But there were also the lyrics, which I guess helped  A LOT to make the difference back then... You know when you discover a song at the right age and seems is talking about you? That's 'Obscurity Knocks' for me, with the killer line "looking at my watch and i’m half-past caring". The bites behind the beauty, the knocks of light beneath the darkness or viceversa.. What a song, what a band!

Saturday, March 18, 2017

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 139

The weekend is here, so it's time for more music! Our latest TOP TEN JUKEBOX arrives with some dear friends returning to action, like The King in Mirrors and When Nalda Became Punk, surefires as Diet Cig or Dream Wife, and a bunch of stunning new discoveries (granted won't be the last time for many of them at the Blog). Plenty to enjoy! And remember, all songs are available at our Soundcloud page (Join Us!).




Direct links to 2017 Jukebox playlists

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

The Indie Anthology 77: essential songs

For the next chapter of our revamped Anthology we haven't moved very long. From Dunedin to Adelaide (I have the feeling I could made all music Blog sections with music from the Antipodes), to introduce you to one of the greatest pop songwriters of Australia (which, in my book, means being one of the world's best), never praised enough and, sadly not known enough outside his country. Let's go South!

Song: Before Too Long
Artist: Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls
Year: 1986

My beloved Neil Finn is, of course, the one who "blame". I got so obsessed with his music (solo, Crowded House, with his brother Tim, with Splitz Enz that makes me remember he might have another well-deserved spot in this section) that it was "mandatory" for me to seek for likewise artists/bands. It wouldn't take too long (sorry about that) for Paul's tunes to conquer me... I mean, how many songs as instantly addictive as 'Before Too Long' or 'Leaps and Bounds' (choruses, choruses, choruses!) can you resist before converting yourself into a devoted fan. The surprise (same as what happened with Crowded House, and sadly very similar with all the stunning music coming from the Antipodes) was discovering Kelly was pretty huge in Australia while he was mostly unknown here. So there was plenty to hunt back and got in love with. 'Careless', 'Dumb Things', 'To Her Door', 'Deeper Water'. Besides, Paul is also a great storyteller (please listen to 'Bradman'!)... for God's sake, he even wrote a tune, 'Everything's Turning Into White', and named an entire album, 'So Much Water Close to Home', based on Raymond Carver stories, beat that! I could go on for days as, like Neil, Paul Kelly is simply one of pop finest craftsmen. So when the two gathered in 2012-2013 for that 'Goin' Your Way' tour/album together it was a true feast... and a natural "match", made in music heavens (and I'll blame myself forever for not living there, what a magic bunch of concerts must had been). A maestro "found" thanks to another maestro.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Discoverer 153: new indie findings

It wasn't planned, we guarantee you! But this week's trio of music findings in our discoverer series, are all based in Texas (Dallas & Austin) so here comes our unexpected little tribute to the 'Lone Star State'. A place for great music!

Danny de la Matyr. Born & raised in Dallas, Texas, and following the footsteps of his father, a country musician, Danny quickly blossomed into a gifted artist (he majored in painting and drawing) within the emergent scene around Denton. Aside playing in a renowned Beatles cover band, A Hard Night’s Day, he fronted The Days, a celebrated local power-pop combo who published one album 'The Mystery Of The Watched Pot' in 1996 before calling it a day. Then De La Matyr moved to L.A., making himself a name as in-demand guitarist/singer (playing for Rhett Miller, Jesse Malin or Lukas Haas), while he assembled another short-fated band, The Sheers, who recorded LP 'Goodbye World' in 2006. Next step for Danny was backing Luther Russell on several albums and tours, as well as contributing harmonies to the self-titled debut album by Those Pretty Wrongs, Luther’s project with Big Star's legend Jody Stephens. In return, Luther got in charge of production duties of De la Matyr's first solo album, which got an anticipated release with the 7" 'Lines b/w “How Can It Be' in late 2013. Now, since February 2017, and thanks to our beloved Pretty Olivia Records, 'Crybaby' has seen the light of day. I could remark Danny's masterful songcrafting, his arresting voice... but these would be understatements. Let me say it sounds as exciting, haunting and disarming as finding there was another amazing Big Star record "missing", waiting to be discovered. This Blog album of the year so far...

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Molly BurchBorn and raised in L.A., California, but now based in Austin, Ms. Burch was surrounded by the arts since a very early age, as both her parents work in the movie industry (as writer/producer and casting director). The old Hollywood musicals were a first but major influence. One that impulsed her finding her own voice as a teenager and packing up to University of North Carolina in Asheville to study Jazz Vocal Performance, where she met guitarist Dailey Toliver, a key contributor to her music. After moving to Austin Burch began to write her own songs, tunes that, with the help of Toliver and Dan Duszynski of Cross Record, have become 'Please Be Mine', debut album out since February via Captured Tracks. A soulful, smoky, vintage affair, one in which Burch's vocals stand out, an Angel Olsen close pal as well as a modern Patsy Cline reincarnation, warm, raw & real. Definitely one to watch, folks.
Blushing. And we remain in Austin for our last discoverer of the week, this promising dream-pop/shoegaze quartet (as a curiosity, formed by two married couples) formed in the summer of 2015, when Michelle Soto found the right music companion for her guitar compositions in Christina Carmona, quickly enlisting their respective husbands's talents on drums and lead guitar to assemble a proper band. Now we can enjoy their self-released debut EP 'Tether', out since January 13th, four tunes that are able to channel the eerie atmospheres of dream-pop, the most serene, ecstatic beauty of shoegaze, and the knack for pop melodies of, let's say, Lush or even The Sundays. A blissful beginning for a must-follow band.     

Saturday, March 11, 2017

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 138

Sunny day (Summer has arrived to Barcelona, but we sadly wonder where did the other seasons go, don't ask Trump administration or the GOP, they don't have ANY answer) and a new Minifestival ahead of us this afternoon. So, in order to start the "warm-up", here comes our latest TOP TEN JUKEBOX with some gems like the stunning new tune by Mark Lanegan, more hits from must-listens Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Hater, and the returns of The Coathangers (über catchy chorus...) and Chastity Belt. Have fun and remember, all songs are available at our Soundcloud page (Join Us!).




Direct links to 2017 Jukebox playlists

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

“Certain Women”, what we talk about when we talk...

Certain Women 

One thing is for certain. I’ll try to watch every film that Kelly Reichardt’s direct. In a time and age of an epidemy of movie superheroes (OK, some of them might not be that bad) and hipster movies as shallow as a perfume ad, she’s a real, refreshing, major hope. Subtle, heartfelt, not pleasing in a Hollywodesque (yeah, I mean simplistic) or Drivesque way (yeah, I mean fake, artificial), yet absorbing and, what’s even more important, enduring. ‘Certain Women’ is another example of Reichardt’s fascinating and commanding talents.

Based on Maile Meloy’s short stories collection ‘Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It‘ (which I hope it arrives to Spain, so intrigued), the film carries us to Southern Montana’s isolated prairie towns to meet four women and her lives in a triple, sequenced storytelling, where the links between them are extremely accidental (well, there’s no connection whatsoever between the second and third story, to begin with), yet the final codas of each story assemble some sort of unified conclusion… that every viewer would have to find & decide by himself/herself. Take your time, don’t rush. Allow yourself for a little more than 90 minutes without looking to your mobile phone. I know you can. The rewards are awaiting you.

The triptych of stories that ‘Certain Women’ is begins with Laura (played by Laura Dern), a provincial lawyer dealing (maybe I should say stuck) with what it seems an affaire going nowhere (he’s a married guy) plus a deeply troubled, close to craziness, client (a building-site carpenter) who is desperate for some sort of emotional support at the same time he seeks for professional advice… in a case he has zero chance of winning. We have a pretty surREAL action scene (don’t look for heroes, everyone one here is all flesh and bones, happily) before we shift to the second story, but despite being the more dynamic of the trio, imo is also the weakest, with some scenes that seem too awkward to relate (the car conversation, for example) with.

But things only get better from now on. The second story (the connection with the previous one is revealed early) is the confirmation Reichardt’s could be the perfect choice to translate all the great stories of Bobbie Ann Mason, Lorrie Moore, Jean Stafford or, sure, Raymond Carver, into arresting films. Lead by Gina (played by the always amazing Michelle Williams, a regular on Reichardt’s filmography), here’s a quiet but poignant and crystal-clear tale of marriage and motherhood (a pure millennial teenage daughter) struggles. One in which trying to convince an elderly and neighbour to give (or sell) them a pile of original indigenous sandstone he has unused in his yard and that she wants to use for their new house, becomes an obsession and a factor for realizing the disaffection, the rupture she feels regarding her family, her hopes. The inability to communicate, the muted depression, the disconnection… the discontent. Terrific.

And then comes the third piece, which is simply majestic, about the connection (and the lack of it) between two women: a timid, good-spirited and solitary rancher (didn’t know Lily Gladstone before, but what a presence in front of the camera, what an eloquence with just a look, what an actress we have found) and Elizabeth (flawless performance by Kristen Stewart), a young education law night school teacher that has to drive for four hours back and forth to reach the town and her home. It might be the oldest love story ever-told, where one part doesn’t correspond the other, but it’s very hard for me to remember many movies in recent times where I have been moved so much. The final car drive, the dreamlike rhythm and colours. The intimacy that doesn’t need words. The conclusion… Masterpiece.

I understand ‘Certain Women’ might not be suitable for everyone due to its pace (could it be trimmed down some minutes? Sure, as every movie, right?) and Reichardt’s conscious refusal to offer the viewer a catharsis or that fundamental, dramatic key scene where everything falls to pieces or gets together. But aside from the aforementioned first story where overall satisfaction can be discussed, I found the film a bold, touching and disarming statement, full of little triumphs encapsulated in a murmur, a cigarette smoked into the wilderness, a desperate look into the horizon or an unhurried horse ride. What a brave filmmaker is Kelly Reichardt.

SCORE: 7/10

The Indie Anthology 76: essential songs

Been meaning to update the Anthology section for such a long time.. it's been ages! But finally, here we are, ready for the next chapter that, surprise surprise, bring us back (always good to be back) to my beloved Antipodes, specifically to the city of indiepop, Dunedin, in order to meet one of those Flying Nun bands that were (at least here) placed criminally "under the radar", despite their graceful and ethereal tunes. So, no time to waste, let's return to the magic island...

Song: As Does the Sun
Artist: Look Blue Go Purple
Year: 1985
Once started, I couldn't help but keep the "hunting" among the music treasures awaiting me from the Antipodes. Can't remember exactly where or how (I'm pretty sure some lost text within the Internet) that was defining Look Blue Go Purple (LBGP) as the 'female Bats'. Of course, had to check them immediately. And yes, I did understand the comparison. But no, they deserved attention on their own, not because gender issues or a similitude to amazing bands. 'Bewitched', there has never been an EP name more appropriate to reflect its content. There's something chilling, mysterious (can I say otherworldly?) yet instantly melodic and catchy in the quintet's indiepop approach (hints of baroque pop as well as folk), a pretty short career with so many stunning pieces (at least, check their 'Compilation' album folks, you won't regret it). It's been a very close fight between 'As Does the Sun' versus 'Circumspect Penelope', with 'I Don't Want You Anyway' and 'Cactus Cat' ranking closely behind, but Norma O'Malley's flute makes the difference here, adding a sylphlike, intangible quality to a tune that flourishes thanks to their trademark Byrdesque guitar lines and the captivating echo that propels the vocal harmonies. I always think LBGP tunes would fit majestically in an adventure movie or book, when the hidden treasure is discovered, revealing itself as something antique and for sure, unique, but what's even more important, everlasting... like their music.

Friday, March 3, 2017

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 137

Welcome to the psychedelic & jangle week! We have an antidote (at least, temporary) to this world full of chaos, surrealistic situations and, let's be clear, stupid thoughts. A nice dose of new exciting music in our latest  TOP TEN JUKEBOX , full of surprises and diverse sounds, as well as the promising returns of The Feelies, The Mountain Goats, WALL, or Hoops. Overall, a much needed help to keep our sanity. Have a really nice weekend and remember, all songs are available at our Soundcloud page (Join Us!).




Direct links to 2017 Jukebox playlists