Showing posts with label extraperlo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label extraperlo. Show all posts
Extraperlo - “Chill Aquí”
When talking about tropicalia-pop band from Spain Extraperlo, we always come to the point of citing them as one of the few bands that with each release expands their own palette. As our dear Pierre once mentioned, "they’ve succeeded at admirably looking for new ways to conjure leisure-evoking melodical opulence, afrobeat-inspired guitar licks, and 80’s pad beats into truly stuttering internet-era pop songs."
With their third album upon us, "Chill Aquí" comes as a beachy and heavy-lidded respite from the anxious and comparatively busy production on their 2012 breakthrough, Delirio Específico. It’s more of their seemingly tossed-off guitar balladry, stretched-out and warbled, just more of the Extraperlo who wants to love you tender. To that end, the title track is pretty much the platonic idea of the current era, an exploration of the always tough task of decisión making and insecurities laid out on top of a slowly unspooling guitar line.
Chill Aquí drops February 5 via CANADA Editorial
Capitán - Compulsión
Discoteca Océano, Spain
Rating: 69
by Glòria Guirao Soro
Recorded more than a year ago and already presented live, Compulsión (Discoteca Océano, 2013) finally got a release. Capitán had kept it almost as a relic, since only two of its songs had been included in a 2012 compilation by Discos Walden, La Fonoteca, and Maravillosos Ruidos, which also featured tracks from Barcelona bands Viva Ben-Hur, Arponera, and Villarroel. It’s not until now that we have been able to listen to the complete oeuvre of the band led by Cacho Salvador, who is also Extraperlo’s bassist.
Capitán is a three-member band from Barcelona, formed by Cacho himself with musicians Adrián de Alfonso (Don The Tiger, Bèstia Ferida, Veracruz) and Pau Riutort (Beach Beach, Extraperlo). Quite a supergroup, we could say. Compulsión is a dark, enveloping, and depressing album. It is about anxiety and pressure, about feeling lost and lonely. With simple and repetitive rhythmical progressions and atmospheric sound effects, the deep voice dives into gloomy waves of melody. It is related to Spanish New Wave, especially to bands such as Golpes Bajos, but it is also clearly influenced by the music of Bauhaus, Joy Division, Nick Cave—I think of “Do You Love Me?”, for example—a more opaque version of Echo and the Bunnymen, or even Interpol, although this last comparison may irk some.
The idea of a concept album sounds to me a bit too pretentious, but it is true that there is a common mood to all the lyrics and a defining sound of the whole. This homogeneity has to do with some improvisation and with de Aflonso's noisy touch that spills over from his project Don The Tiger. On the contrary, side projects of the rest of the members in the band are far more colorful and brighter than Compulsión, which is one of the interesting things about this album. Intuition, experimentation, immersion in the deep, dark ambience of loneliness and distress are the key concepts to understand this exploration of other paths in music and emotion that Cacho Salvador and bandmates are in.
Extraperlo - Delirio Específico
Delirio Específico, ExtraperloCanada, Spain
Rating: 84
by Pierre Lestruhaut
The main story arc surrounding Extraperlo’s new record is that after breakthrough album Desayuno Continental, as the band was put on halt while each member went its own separate way to work on different projects (Borja Rosal as guitar player for El Guincho, and Alba Blasi as half of Granit were quick to spring), it also gave them the opportunity to mature and evolve as musicians individually. Added to the fact they’ve now teamed up with Pablo Díaz-Reixa as producer for their latest record Delirio Específico, it seems to explain why the most ear-catching divergence from their previous release is just how much cleaner the whole thing sounds. By association, words like accessibility and polishedness start to pop out, meaning that the framework for Deliro Específico is inherently poppier, relatable, and communal. The equivalent of evolving from warm art house films into lush technicolor sagas.
Working with highly influential musician-turned-producer-du-jour El Guincho, and releasing the record through new home of the cool label Canada after abandoning previous home of the cool Mushroom Pillow, the changes in entourage feel as though they’re simultaneously trying to safely ride the trendiness train, while also aligning themselves with a certain scene and aesthetic that carries a whole ethos of its own. First single “Ardiente Figura” shines not only as one of the best pop songs to come out of Spain this year, but as a relentless fluttering of post-punk, tropicalia, dub, and afrobeat influences consolidated into a riff that shudders your every bone, a hook that pervades your brain, and a bridge that melts your heart. All of this done with admirable restraint, and an impressive congealing of their influences into convincingly original melodies and arrangements.
But for a band that shows such restraint in their performance, the themes throughout the album appear to be rampant with luxuriousness. One could quickly shelve their lyrics as straight-out pop idioms, yet with repeated listens they seem to offer some vivid imagery that’s possibly related to fiery sexuality (“Ardiente Figura” and “A Nivel Carnal”), and seaside rapture (“Las Corrientes del Golfo” and “Viaje a Brasil”). Borja Rosal has allegedly succeeded at his conscious attempt to sound a lot less like Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins, though when his roaring voice gets paired with new-wavey staccato riffage (such as in “Las Corrientes de Golfo”) the Soda Stereo extrapolation CF’s own Gio Guillén mentioned does start to feel a bit inevitable to point at. Alba Blasi’s occasional appearances though, show off a tonal counterpoint that adds considerable breadth to Extraperlo’s palette, a band that here pulls together such elegance and energy from the most disparate of sounds.
Leaving barely any silences between tracks does nothing but reinforce the contrast in cohesiveness between their debut and sophomore records, which points out to the fact that Delirio Específico can be misinterpreted as the effort of a band still working to find their ground and tailoring what’s coming closer to be their dreamed-about sound. But perhaps that’s the whole point of Extraperlo. In an interview for PlayGround, when asked about the possibility of dropping an eventual third record, Borja Rosal stated they would need to find ways to do things differently, in order to keep the creative spirit alive. It’s their own nonconformity that truly defines Extraperlo. And in Delirio Específico, as a band that’s still experimenting with expanding their own palette, they’ve succeeded at admirably looking for new ways to conjure leisure-evoking melodical opulence, afrobeat-inspired guitar licks, and 80’s pad beats into truly stuttering internet-era pop songs.
Featured: Extraperlo - "Bañadores"
Everytime I go back to Desayuno Continental I regret not giving it a much higher rating, but I guess that’s one of the many drawbacks regarding ratings. Good thing this is only a blog, and we get chances to redeem ourselves in some way or another, I’m hoping to do so by including their single “Bañadores” into our features. It’s my second favorite piece from Extraperlo’s first album, which also includes the orgasmic “Las Palmeras del Amor” and a bunch of very cool beach-ready chants circling around El Guincho’s tricky pop allies including Coconot, Manos de Topo, Veracruz, Internet2, Joe Crepusculo among others, all Fonograma favorites.
“Bañadores” also has an amazing best of the year contender video, posted here a couple of months ago. This has been a great year for Mushroom Pillow; if only for the amount of attention Delorean has gathered after Pitchfork’s BestNewMusic tag (you can read our Ayrton Senna review here). While they’re also reissuing La Habitacion Roja’s discography, we learn Triangulo de Amor Bizarro is ready to go into the studio to record their much anticipated follow up to their brilliant debut, can’t wait! They will also be visiting Mexico in a couple of days along with Los Planetas and Christina Rosenvinge, I wish I was there. Back, to Extraperlo, don’t miss out, they can be a great pastime and a lot more.
Video: "Bañadores", Extraperlo
The first video from Extraperlo, whose debut release Desayuno Continental gets a whole lot better during the summer. I was hoping to see a video for their first single "Las Palmeras del Amor", but they decide to give "Bañadores" a chance and I must say, this is my second favorite video of the year, just after Alexico's bloody and religiously codified video for "Mis amigos y yo te amamos." I love the non-linear narrative of the video, the bleak sensitivity from director Oriol Barbera and specially the video's ability to defy time and age. All that plus, doesn't it look great particularly in this site? We kinda have that look & feel.
En la cama con Anntona, Anntona
EN LA CAMA CON ANNTONA, ANNTONAGramaciones Grabofonicas, Spain ***1/2
Rating: 70
By Carlos Reyes
Is it me, or is Spain’s pop transitioning to a weird level of psychedelic bump? As soon as authors realized that they can share their songs without having a good voice, now there is this big group of guys imposing the popular demand for music that is pleasant to the ear, usually meaning a voice on pitch waiting for the musical arrangement and accompaniment to support its survival. Parents, now you can tell your kid he can be a singer even if he sounds like a rooster. I don’t want to go to Manos de Topo right now, but for those not aware of this movement I must warn you, Anntona is one of them, probably the sweetest one also. He is the guitarist of Los Punsetes, the revelation in Spanish rock last year; in this sense, he shares a lot with other colleagues who are now upfront in side journeys, like Joe Crepusculo who is part of Tarantula or El Guincho’s partner Aleix who recently formed Extraperlo. El Guincho describes this shift as “good pop singed like if they didn’t give a damn.” En La Cama Con Anntona is enganging, but let’s get it straight, even when he is talking about ugly girls, odors and porn, there’s this innocence dancing around as if it wasn’t aware to what’s been exposed or its implication with the sound. It’s really interesting how this projects approach the listener, I’m sure they don’t care too much if you like them, but they do make an effort to grab you in, and “Nunca es tarde” is like a hypnotizing session smoothing your entrance to a layer of the bizarre, and what’s more convincing to manipulate your mind than a self-reflecting song of all kinds, wants you to know of timeless youth and that it is never too late to love, or grow a beard. “Y ademas bastante fea” is been called an instant classic, I think it is way too funny to starting inflating a harmless song. Two female voices show up, both sound beautiful if you asked me, first Ariadna Punset vocalist of Los Punsetes in the pessimistic “Podia Volar” and in the best song of the album La Bien Querida in the reggaetonesque “Tu Hueles Mejor.” I’m glad to see some people are conscious of the beat and care enough to make something good out of it, remember “Cuando Hablamos” by Javiera Mena? It’s not an entirely fortunate album, some songs are heavy and dry, but I guess there is plenty of moisture to spread around through “Todo el mundo tiene porno en casa.”
Desayuno Continental, Extraperlo
DESAYUNO CONTINENTAL,
EXTRAPERLO
Mushroom Pillow, Spain *** 1/2
Rating: 77
By Carlos Reyes
Extraperlo is the latest band coming out of Spain dressing pop with tropicalia and thinking vocals should not overtake or suspend its surroundings. They follow the sun and breeze of El Guincho’s Alegranza!, the ideals of Coconot’s Cosa Astral, and the techno emblematic of Joe Crepusculo’s Escuela de Zebras and Supercrepus. It’s not as experimental as its influences but it’s actually harder to swallow as it struggles to reveal its true identity, the new Spanish indie movement has its very own tricks especially with pop. They’re signed under Mushroom Pillow which has proven to be one of our most beloved labels; the Madrid-based brand recently wowed us with the releases of Triangulo de Amor Bizarro and Sr. Chinarro. The trends among these guys seem to emphasize the tribal sound, supporting it with touches of modernity but ultimately remaining in the 90s, and having obscure deep vocals to contrast the vibrant sunny sounds of its background. These tracks are however, a reflection of the urban man giving himself a chance to know its own fabricated nature. For Extraperlo, the ideal opportunity or justification to reach stability while being happy is to bring friendship along to a resort with disco nights during the summer. First great single “Las Palmeras del Amor” despite having such a cheesy title bounces around with its intrepid lyrics on self-reflection, but of course they’re not to be taken seriously or at least, it’s hard to assimilate truth among strange bold vocals that don’t even want to be there in the first place. The environment seems simple enough, but some tracks like “Entre las plantas” and “Wornie” not only struggle to stand out, but position themselves as plot holes that do very little to become memorable. “Bañadores” is an astonishing track mostly because of its bridge continuum with the following piece “Cavalcade.” Both tracks serve as the neck of an uneven musical approach that is simply too delightful and at moments strangely amusing to not care about it, Desayuno Continental is full of warmth, and that's nothing but a luxurious gift for the upcoming spring break.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)