Best Songs of the Year 2017...so far

As promised, here’s our list with our best songs of 2017 to date! This year, as the "tune harvest" is excellent so far, we have had to expand the playlist from our usual 30 to 40. That is the only change, with the rest of the ‘rules’ remaining the same: alphabetical order, as the proper rank is in December, all songs released during 2017, and just one tune per group. You can enjoy all of them on the Spotify playlist below. Hope you like it, we believe it's a great soundtrack of this nearly past six months!

Afghan Whigs - Demon in Profile

Aldous Harding - Imagining my Man

Algiers - The Underside of Power

Amber Arcades - It changes

Big Thief - Shark Smile

Cayetana - Am I Dead Yet?

Chemtrails - Deranged

Cosmen Adelaida - Contra la Pared

Danny de la Matyr -Lines

Fazerdaze - Lucky girl

Filthy Friends - Any Kind of Crowd

Hater - Mental Haven

Hurray for the Riff Raff - Pa’lante

Jay Som - 1 Billion Dogs

Land of Talk - This Time

LCD Soundsystem - Call the Police

Los Planetas - Espíritu Olímpico

Lunch Ladies - Love Is Overrated

Marika Hackman - My Lover Cindy

Mark Lanegan -Beehive

Real Estate - Darling

Renaldo & Clara - Sense Voler

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Julie’s Place

Rose Elinor Dougall - Colour of Water

Slowdive - Star Roving

Spinning Coin - Raining on Hope Street

The Bats - Rooftops

The Big Moon - Sucker

The Districts - If Before I Wake

The Luxembourg Signal - Laura Palmer

The Molochs - No More Cryin'

The National - The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness

The Orielles - Sugar Tastes Like Salt

The Popguns - So Long

The Stammer - Over & Over

The Stevens - Chancer

Tim Darcy - Tall Glass of Water

Vagabon - The Embers

We.the Pigs - Go Away

Zuzu - What You Want

And if you want to check the previous years, click on 2011,2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 selections!

Best Records and EPs of the year 2017... so far

Here we are again, half of the year has almost passed... Which means it´s time to unveil our list with our 25 best records and EPs of the year so far! According to tradition, the albums and EPs are listed in alphabetical order, as the proper ranking will arrive at the end of 2017, as usual. Hoping you enjoy these amazing selection of great music (the year has been quite good to date, and what´s ahead looks exciting) so we recommend you to stay tunned, because, for starters our favourite songs of this six months are about to be online very soon!

Aimee Mann - Mental Illness
Alexandra Savior - Belladonna of Sadness
Apartamentos Acapulco - Nuevos Testamentos
Chastity Belt - I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone
Danny de la Matyr - Crybaby
Desperate Journalist - Grow Up
Fazerdaze - Morningside
Ghost Transmission - Echoes
Hazel English - Just Give In/ Never Going Home
Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Navigator
Kevin Morby - City Music
Land of Talk - Life After Youth
Novella - Change of State
Priests - Nothing Feels Natural
Renaldo & Clara - Els Afores
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - The French Press
Rose Elinor Dougall- Stellular
Slowdive - Slowdive
Stutter Steps - Floored
The Bats - The Deep Set
The Courtneys - The Courtneys II
The Fireworks - Dream About You EP
The Magnetic Fields - 50 Songs Memoir
The Mountain Goats - Goths
Últim Cavall - Records de Kyoto

More lists? Click on the years to check our 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 selections!

* Note: Currently listening to Fleet Foxes, Ride, She Sir new albums or the terrific EP from We. the Pigs... pretty sure some of them are "fated" to be on the Best Of lists at the end of the year...

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 150

Here we are, suffering the first heat wave of the season (yes, we are still in June, but as the dumbest POTUS ever and his parade of evil, professional ass-suckers say, there's no climate change, right?), and also suffering a crazier than ever political week here (where the dangerous people are the ones that try to kick out a criminal organisation from power instead of that corrupt party)... but here comes a much deserved time out in the form of our new  TOP TEN Jukebox! We have reached the 150 playlists mark and we are doing with something that is intrinsic to this Blog: lots of new discoveries, plus the mandatory inclusion of the collaboration of two Blog favourites, Lee Ranaldo joining forces with our beloved Sharon Van Etten. Enjoy, be careful with high temperatures 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

The Bloodbuzzed Jukebox Week 149

The first Jukebox after Primavera Sound Festival is usually a hard one to do (it's called post-Festival depression). But not this time, thanks to the great tunes assembled on our weekly Top Ten. A pretty diverse playlist with exciting new discoveries as Annie Hart or Rat Fancy, from our beloved label HHBTM Records, as well as some 'old friends' of the Blog, like the ace return of The Stammer or We.the Pigs, plus the wonderful surprise of Jestream Pony, a group formed by The Fireworks and The Luxembourg Signal members. So, plenty to listen, enjoy and discover! 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

Primavera Sound 2017 in brief, day 3

And here arrives the third and final take of our quick chronicles of the Primavera Sound 2017, with our impressions of Saturday 3rd, just an excellent day, with a couple of really memorable gigs to put a terrific end to a Festival that might rank lower than previous editions for us, but still has had much (much more than initially expected, to be honest) to be enjoyed, celebrated and written about. So, time to go back to the Fòrum!

The Good

Van Morrison: A music myth that is part of my childhood and teenager soundtrack, that opened his gig with 'Too Late', 'Moondance' and 'Have I Told You Lately'. It was just impossible not to get emotional...

The "lion of Belfast" gets jazzy. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Angel Olsen: First thing first. She would deserve to be on the final section of this post, taking the top spot of the day (but we had to choose just one gig). Impeccable, magnetic, irresistible from start to finish. In total command of the stage, the tunes and the audience during the complete set. Confidence, talent, solid band backing her, charm and huge tunes, the climax arriving with the gigantic 'Sister', one of the Blog's favourite tunes from past year. Just mesmerizing.

Angel Olsen. 'Our' woman at Primavera Sound. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Hamilton Leithauser: Another voice and mighty presence live to follow. Hamilton is a 'surefire'. Every time his throat explodes, you 'go places', every word he sings sounds true and heartfelt. He seemed really happy to be at Ptichfork stage, enjoying himself and giving all he has to put a great show. And his solo career is already sprinkled with amazing tunes, like 'Sick as a Dog', 'Alexandra', '1959' and, of course, the immense 'A 1.000 Times', another favourite from last year. You can't wrong with Hamilton.

Mr. Leithauser, would watch him live a 1.000 times. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

The Bad

Queuing for Auditori (second part): Yet again, there has to be a better way to organize this sort of massive gigs at Auditori. This time (2nd Magnetic Fields show) we didn't have to buy an extra-ticket, but still we queued for quite a while... and missed a couple of opening tunes. Again. 
Van Morrison: Yes, this is not a mistake. Van 'the man' show deserves to be in the previous category but also in this one. Because as much of a touching moment was seeing him live, his singing (or his lack of, better said) and the sort of bland, 'Starbucks' jazz versions of his eternal tunes they don't any justice at all to his memorable legacy.
As****es: We haven't complained about annoying people at the Festival so far. Luckily, we felt we didn't face as many annoying people (chit-chatters, posers) as previous editions... until Saturday. During Hamilton's gig we dealt with the 'traditional' category of bored folks joining the friend that really likes who's playing... and are decided to make him (and all the audience) notice they are THAT uninterested. But there was an even more irritating situation. During the majestic Angel Olsen's show we had to listen a couple of, how can we define them? Internet trolls showing up? XXI century haters? Why on Earth someone should decide, with all the options they had at PS, to go watch someone that they hate in advance? And why the need to express that hate to the unknown mass that is gathered to hear & see the artist? What a pain in the arse (and absurdly wrong) they were...

The Queen
Teenage Fanclub: I insist, Angel Olsen also deserves to be included in this spot. But having to choose only one option as the top gig of the day we have to go with the Scottish legends because a) It was the first time (finally!!!) seeing them live; b) they were terrific and c) they played 'Start Again', 'Star Sign', 'About You', 'I Need Direction', 'Sparky's Dream', 'I'm In Love', 'Everything Flows', and the list can go on... Did we need to say anything else? How can you beat that? A lot of singing our throats out, sweating, dancing and smiling for the best gig (alongside Ms. Olsen) of the Primavera Sound Festival 2017 for us.

McGinley, Blake and Love, indiepop dream team. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

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

Primavera Sound 2017 in brief, day 2

As promised, here's the second round of our quick chronicles of how it was Primavera Sound 2017 for us. After the first post devoted to Thursday 1st of June, here comes Friday 2nd, a day that seemed the weakest in paper, but still had several noteworthy moments to enjoy and highlight. Let the good times roll!

The Good

Lawrence Arabia: Charming pop music at the Hidden Stage courtesy of James Milne (what an amicable frontman) and his locally assembled band (Hi-jauh to the rescue!), putting out an impeccable, gentle and immediately lovable show to start the afternoon with a big smile.

Lawrence Arabia, Christchurch-Barcelona pop connection. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Mitski: Among the best album debuts of last year, Mitski Miyawaki stark, minimalist staging approach might make you think on a cold performer on a first impression. What a mistake that is. She lets the music do the talking, with the fury coming from the bursting guitars, the visceral screams and the blows of her melodic vocal turns. And soon you realize she is going to be in the same league of St. Vincent or Angel Olsen. She is untamable.

Mitski, static wonder. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

The Make-up: You might find the band very unsurprising, too classic in their attempt to recreate that "vintage" funk-soul-rock spirit. But NO ONE can't deny the power, joy and good vibes a night with Ian Svenonius can provide to any willing to listen & watch. Summoning the spirits of James Brown and Iggy Pop, giving everything he has and beyond to engage the audience, the wild frontman and his well-oiled band are a guarantee of fun (and a threat to that hipster self-absorption).

The Make-up, rock'n'roll suicide. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

The Bad

Queing for Auditori: There has to be a better way to organize this sort of massives events at Auditori. I mean, you waste a lot of time just queueing to buy the mandatory extra-tickets in advance... and then you spend another lifetime queueing again to enter the gig. The result? You have missed the four first tunes of the show. Frustrating.
Eating at Primavera: Rephrasing a famous Woody Allen quote "The food in this place is terrible. Yes, and it's so expensive one would expect not even the Brits will pay for it". Enough said...

The Queen
The Magnetic Fields: Another "first time" and a mandatory gig was seeing Stephen Merritt live presenting his new concept album '50 songs memoir'. Splitted in two shows (Friday and Saturday), of 25 songs each, The Magnetic Fields proposal was a serious threat to every PS17 line-up planning... but a lovely experience to be seen and heard. Cute and intimate stage setup (very nice visuals) a seven-piece band enveloping every single tune with grace and elegance. An entertaining story-biography (more engaging the first day, imo the songs were more diverse and less languid) to be told with that deadpan, offbeat sense of humour that is one of Merritt's trademark. But another of his "signatures", by far the more important one (and just in case you didn't know it), is that the man can write POP TUNES. At Primavera Sound we were lucky to hear a great bunch of them.

Special guests at Stephen Merritt's home. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Brief of the third and final "big day" of the PS17, Saturday 3rd, arriving very soon!

Primavera Sound 2017 in brief, day 1

Just having some rest after the end of the main days of Primavera Sound Festival (PS) 2017, what an intense weekend this has been! (our advice is not to mix daily work with Festivals, if you can). So, pretty exhausted but with the memories still fresh from the gigs enjoyed, here's the first of our traditional quick chronicles with our experience at this Festival's edition. What follows is our take of Thursday 1st, with a couple of notes on Tuesday's showcase at Apolo. Let's go!

The Good

Heaven is far from Mordor: We swear it. There's "another" Primavera Sound happening at the smaller stages (referring here to Pitchfork and Adidas). On Thursday, most of our to-see list of bands was, by pure chance, playing on both stages, and it just offered us a great, comfortable, smooth afternoon-night of music.

Alexandra Savior, bewitching mystery girl. Photo: Bloodbuzzed

Julia Jacklin, let the Aussie win, you'll thank me.
Photo: Bloodbuzzed 

Women should run the world: Les Sueques, Let's Eat Grandma, Kokoshca, Nots, Alexandra Savior, Julia Jacklin (and we missed Kate Tempest)... Tuesday and Thursday were full of interesting female artists/bands, proving the point the most exciting music is coming from women these days (been a while now)... a tendency that was going to repeat during the whole Festival. Ms. Jacklin in particular delivered a near-perfect show, quietly captivating, self-assured, naturally warm & charming, proving she's fated for great things. Keep and eye on her...

Fun with the Molochs: Nuggets garage, early Stones-styled R&B, hints of that "Mancunian grit"... What a contagious and straightforward show The Molochs put. Give me that beat!

The Bad

Let's Eat Grandma: It might had to do with the massification at Apolo, making the air unbreathable, but just let's say we didn´t get it, what an amorphous collection of tunes...
Primavera music fair: It is just me or it's getting worse each year? Where are the records? The amount of hipster s**t to be sold is just depressing. And what the hell is FNAC doing there, by the way?

The Queen
The Afghan Whigs: Eager to see Greg Dulli and Co. live for the first time, the band was instantly ready to take Ray-Ban stage by assault. The show was furious and passionate, all muscle and intensity, with not a single dull moment or less remarkable. Something that speaks wonders about their "resurrection", considering the gig was heavy on tunes from their latest two albums ('Demon in profile' is a killer live). Add the unstoppable force of well-known high-caliber pieces as 'Gentlemen', the stormy 'Debonair', or the highlight of the night imo, the majestic take of 'John the Baptist', the fierce performance of Dulli, and the instrumental flawless, and there's only one possible conclusion. A lot of black love to end the first day of PS on a very high note.

The Afghan Whigs, high-blooded souls. Photo: Bloodbuzzed  

Brief of the second "big day" of the PS17, Friday 2nd, coming next in a hurry, so stay tuned!