Joe Crepúsculo changes labels like he changes socks. It’s not a particularly bad thing. If anything, it reaffirms his status as Spain's indie's enfant terrible. The artist has announced the rise of his own label Ópalo Negro, where we totally expect him to fetichize and carve deeper into his obsessions. Crepúsculo's new single “Carreras de Cabeza” is already showing signs of that. The vocoder, the synth escalations, the funk ornaments and the witty silly lyrics sure speak of an artist working under absolute freedom. If Rebolledo afforded us all a midnight ride through cosmopolis in “Corvette Ninja,” Crepúsculo percolates us into the crowded, funk-chasing roads of his head. Not nearly as good or catchy as “Mi Fabrica de Baile,” but it’s an amusing transition single that attains to the abrasion of the Crepúsculo experience.
Baile de Magos, Joe Crepúsculo Mushroom Pillow, Spain Rating: 76 by Glòria Guirao Soro
The punk troubadour, as we used to know Joe Crepúsculo back when he started doing music solo, comes back with an album that is clearly inspired by the Spanish techno of the '90s. Thus he completes the slow transition from his first lo-fi punk recordings as an outcast songwriter into these more deeply ironic canned techno rhythms as a satirical disco commentator. Composed and recorded in Mallorca, Baile de magos has a subtle Balearic taste expressed in very pushy synthetic progressions, sometimes mixed with a slight touch of free jazz and house sounds, but never abandoning the jokey, somewhat cryptic and rather philosophical tone of his lyrics and the scratchy, unprocessed voice.
It’s difficult to say whether this is nostalgia or just a jokey experimental trip, it seems to me that it is more of an homage to '90s Spanish electronic music, an epic appropriation of its sound, but in an estranged way, as the treatment of the voice track shows. As for the lyrics, Joe Crepúsculo keeps writing about life and death, relationships, drinking coffee, saints and robots, even about dancing in the bathroom. But, if we could just leave the texts behind and focus on the sound itself, we could see that this album is not like the five previous ones.
Baile de magos is about dancing in every way, starting with the reminiscences of the bakalao club culture and even the references to popular music and cumbia, like in “Hoy no me quiero levantar,” continuing with the structure of the songs, all of them having a strong climax that pushes us to dance (or at least to move our head back and forth), and ending with the epic lyrics of songs. “Nuevo Amanecer” describes a new awakening, “Mi fábrica de baile” presents Crepúsculo’s unstoppable dance factory, “Batalla de robots” tries to wake up the robot in us, and “Leyenda” (featuring Russian Red), with all its references to swords and fights, is the most epic track. Just don’t listen to this record in the office; it may be too awkward for your coworkers.
Let’s just get the obvious stuff out first. Like most people writing about La Estrella de David’s Maracaibo have been pointing out, David Rodríguez is indeed that sort of discreet figure that’s silently but importantly contributing to shaping the sound of a particular scene, in this case, one that features some of our more beloved Spanish indie acts. Because whether it’s through the delayed influence of his band Beef or his production work in Romancero and LP2, he’s constantly being referred to as an influence for many indie bands from that side of the Atlantic. Added to that is the fact that this latest release features collaborations from musicians of that scene (La Bien Querida, Joe Crepúsculo, Za!, Thelemáticos), all of this to say this was a well-anticipated album, not only for us, but especially for every Spanish publication out there with a weakness for indie bands.
Initial tracks in Maracaibo show Rodríguez’s intentions to continue in his rediscovery of Spanish pop songwriting, yet it’s halfway through the album that he starts walking a more interesting territory. After his Cluster-inspired ambient piece, “La Gran Fiesta de la Democracia Parte 1,” follows the slightly dissonant yet simple “Parte 2,” which is filled with a Spacemen 3-like atmosphere and the experimentalism of his Beef era. Yet the standout tracks in Maracaibo are probably his blues rock number, “El Más Romano del Mundo,” and his heavily romantic and simple “Un Último Esfuerzo,” where Rodríguez exercises himself in building yet another nicely crafted romantic song around a simple two chord pattern and its occasionally encompassing keyboards. And, as has always been common with most Spanish pop (indie or not), the record finds its best lines precisely in this romantic backdrop (“ella me da la certeza, subiendo las escaleras”), which our own Enrique Coyotzi described as “deeply moving manifestations” in his review of the track.
Eventually, a lot of the songs on this album feel either like inconsequential eclecticism, like “Decathlon” and its gypsy rhythm explorations, or weary revisions of Spanish traditional songwriting, like the cover version of Julio Iglesias’ “La Carretera.” While his more politically suggestive lyrics and one liners, like “se tiró el último pedo” or “nunca ganaremos Eurovisión,” fall terribly short of those in Los Punsetes’ LP2. Overall, it’s not like Rodríguez has done much to change his band’s sound, since most of its conspicuous elements (careless interpretation and unpolished-yet-sometimes-charming production) remain throughout the record. But what’s a little unsettling about it is how most of it just doesn’t quite reach the bar that was set by (and yes, I’m returning to those two records in particular) Romancero and LP2, with all of their inventive instrumentation and lyrical force, which was perhaps what we were hoping to see a little more of in Maracaibo.
Nuevo Ritmo, Joe Crepúsculo Canada (Records), Spain Rating: 69 by Jean-Stephane Beriot
Joe Crepúsculo is not a perfectionist, or as obsessive as Brian Wilson. This was my immediate thought when I learned Joël Iriarte’s fourth album was actually a reconstruction of the many hits accomplished on his previous 2008-released albums Escuela de Zebras & Supercrepus, his last album Chill Out (2009) was apparently omitted. The album's title Nuevo Ritmo gave us a hint of Crepúsculo artistic continuum, but the reformation, enhancement, and re-enactment of his past songs make up for a complicated surprise.
For the last three years, Joe’s pop-avant premise has been unmatched by anyone else on his field; there are plenty of bright individuals on the techno department, but very few of them to rely on when it came to finding an escape from the ordinary. For the first time in his career, he is taking us to common places, and that’s one of the last attributes we would expect to find in his persona. Nuevo Ritmo isn’t a betrayal on the fans or the artist's vision; it’s actually a brave and romantic proposal. Crepúsculo, a pop adventurer, explores the sounds of the West on this –relatively new- record. The result is a hit-or-miss album of Americanized conjuncture and romanticized Latinism.
The best pieces in Nuevo Ritmo resolve around South-American rhythms, which Iriarte seems to be genuinely attached to. When listening to “Escuela de Zebras” one can’t help but think he’s been listening to Pibe Chorros a bit too much. First single “Tus Cosas Buenas” is spectacular; the corner where disco strings and reggaeton meet Wendy Sulca. Spectacular, but also misleading as most of the new versions are diminished to softer (and less-uncouth) structures. Other tracks that get optimized with new clothes include “Baraja de Cuchillos” and “Amor Congelado.” If we were to extract the country-inclined and North-American pieces, we would be left with a much more pleasing set (including the four new impressive tunes).
The critical reception of the album has been lukewarm among Spain’s most critical sources; perhaps a viewpoint from this side of the world can put things in perspective. And here it is: no matter where you’re from, or how physically-distant you might be from a particular subject, we simply don’t get very aroused by art assembled in new packaging. But don’t get it wrong, Nuevo Ritmo isn’t an opportunistic record by any means; it’s a conceptual album that reaffirms Iriarte’s status as an uncompromised author. If this review seems like a total-panned text, it’s only because we truly feel we’re in front of one of the most unique artists of our generation. Nuevo Ritmo is not a bad album by any means; it’s just a difficult experience for those of us outside the ‘crepus’ orbital.
Considering CANADA (Spain’s great music video inc) went outside its medium to release the new album by Joe Crepúsculo, we knew we could expect a promising video to go along with such catchy song. In Nuevo Ritmo, the Barcelona pop visionary is exploring the sounds of America (in all of its fragments). The clip directed by Manolo Vasquez starts out with some impressive blaxpoitation titles, and goes on to having Joel Iriarte exploring the hills on a donkey alongside pal Sergio Perez. We were eagerly expecting Wendy Sulca spoof, but we forgive them only because of the cool ponchos. The pair of loopy guys found some gorgeous ladies on the hill, a big twist to The Hills Have Eyes (indeed, more like Charlie Angels).
We must admit Joe Crepusculo’s third album Chillout was one of the weirdest and most difficult albums we heard last year, so confusing none us took on the challenge of reviewing it. It’s been a couple of months and it’s still a hard one to get through. But don’t worry, this techno master still holds a big space on our hearts; the fact that he is so challenging is reason enough for us submerge into his bizarre world. One thing is for sure, his method to approach existentialism takes unexpected turns, like in his latest video “Batalla de Robots.” According to Hipersonica, this is a new song specifically written by Joe for “the first interplanetary robot combat.” Geeky or not, the song is a blast and the video is what one would expect from such fascinating event. "Despierta el robot que llevas dentro."
I must admit that listening to “9.6” for the first time threw me off guard; it was way too far from what La Bien Querida had done with her demos and it sounded weird. Romancero is not only growing on people’s minds, it’s actually transcending as one of the year’s best pop albums and I should say “9.6” is one of its best tracks along with “Bendita”, “Corpus Christi” and “Ya No.” This video is directed by Luis Cervero who at this point, should be handed some kind of award for his awesome videos. This hot new single has also been remixed by Guille Milkyway (La Casa Azul) and Hidrogenesse, can’t wait to hear both, too bad the guys from Elefant Records are so 90ish they only stream songs through Real Player. And oh yes, that's Joe Crepusculo (looking hot) in the video.
After an unfortunate plan of release, Discoteca Oceano finally got Joe Crepúsculo's latest baby Chillout out on Spain’s shelves, his first one to be commercially available on a physical format. Actually, some lucky people got a chance to buy Escuela de Zebras and Supercrepus in a very limited, almost exclusive, CD release of his two very awesome 2008 albums. You gotta love his videos; they’re funny, genius, creepy, cheap, exaggerated, and his latest is no exception. “Siento Que Muero” is currently my favorite song from the album (review coming soon), and this video directed by Luis Cervero and Ana Ibáñez is his best visual offer since "La Cancion de tu Vida" (which you know, is our 24th favorite song of the 00s). Joe told us his album will probably be available for download on his awesome 90ish website soon, stay tuned.
Joe Crepúsculo is one of the coolest ‘dudes’ in music, now in the industry as he is about to release his first commercial release titled Chill Out through Discoteca Oceano, it will be their second official release following El Guincho’s Alegranza! Considering we loved both Escuela de Zebras and Supercrepus, we’re super psyched about it, not to mention he’s like an honoree member of the club, always suggesting great new artists to look up to and collaborating in a bunch of our features. “Toda Esta Energia” opens the new disc, it isn’t exactly the first single I belief, it’s an upfront of what’s coming next month. Here is the very traumatizing video, hint, don’t try to make sense of it, sense it. Musica para la ocasión.
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.
VIVA LA MUSICA! INTERNET2 Producciones Doradas, Spain Rating: 76 By Carlos Reyes
We were first introduced to Internet2 by Joe Crepusculo’s “Caja de Lluvia” (one of the many good from Supercrepus) and it was surprising although not entirely convincing, it showed up near the end of the song managing to make Joe’s naturally sloppy vocals into the most charming thing. The song left me confused, so much that I related the emerging sound to “a storm of noise going nowhere”, and now it actually makes sense, it’s that and a whole lot more. It’s an album full of freedom in its structure and themes, what’s truly special is that it’s not trying to break rules or get through any kind of restrictions, it simply lacks walls. Viva La Musica! really carries its name with distinction, it’s full of misbehaving loops floating around, clashing into each other as they please, and a single man aligning them into his interpretation of a never-ending fest.
Full of force and clickable in all its pieces, I could only compare this to Pepepe’s Roba Orgon de Plantas y Animales and Emilio Jose’s Chorando Aprendese, except that Viva La Musica! is messier (and perhaps more abstract), stepping into this territory requires a point of direction, whether it is size, color or altitude, you can’t recruit massive amounts of sounds and expect them to celebrate freely without suffering some kind of chaos. The live shows are very interesting and are easier to understand his intentions, on stage he really is on full control of its creation, jumping on a programmed keyboard unleashing its magic as he practices his will of being a hidden author. On record, it sounds epic, it’s hard to recommend the WHOLE thing but some titles make up for the weak infrastructure of others. Starting with the blissful opener, “Dar Penita” is like a check list of what’s missing to attain the perfect intro, “can you feel it? Solo nos falta un clarinete de cartón, una chispa de sol…”, but there’s nothing missing, this is the one perfect piece to which the rest of the album looks up to, also, the only one to really feature undistorted vocals.
Everyone’s favorite dwarf from Snow White shows up in “Ton Tin” (Dopey), very instructional and even lame but at the end it does a good job linking the music to a Disney icon. The next track “Animals al Institut del Teatre” is a visit to the zoo, or a visit to the theater by some clever animals, either way it’s consciously cute, too much to tolerate. “DJ Turbofiesta” comes in to breathe some functionality to the middle of the album, which can get grueling without some food on your system. After many tracks with minimal use of vocals, the presence of vocal narrative is highly appreciated in “El Himno de la Biosfera Terrestre”, like most of the album, it sounds like a factory of sounds, perhaps they’re too sloppy or at lost but this a rush of sonic amplitudes not to be missed, makes itself be heard at whatever cost and cause, and it takes you with it whatever the hell it wants to go.
HUMILDAD TRASCENDENTAL, TARANTULA Producciones Doradas, Spain *** Rating: 64 By Carlos Reyes
Prior to Joe Crepusculo’s 2008 double feature (Escuela de Zebras + Supercrepus) and the resulting recognition that placed him on pop star status last year, he was part of Tarantula; one of the most discussed bands in Spain’s indie and responsible for one of the most memorable dissections among music critics. Truth is, Tarantula is far away from Crepusculo’s charming techno, this is freaky rock that asks for too much attention. While the self-serving allure proves to be an assertion for music itself, Tarantula’s Esperando a Ramon (2006) took it to the extremes falling into a mind-numbing and confused first LP. Humildad Trascendental is an improvement, for one they’re not trying to make a stance on what popular music should sound like, and so they get rid of the excessive gloom to present a joyful posture that will hopefully transcend through songs and not just personality. I wish Crepusculo would take charge of the main vocals since I find his voice to be stupidly charming, but I guess it doesn’t matter who is singing, they make it clear that their enlightening lyrics and heavy percussions will be enough to assimilate a couple of anthems. First track “Antisistema Solar” is galactic and an approximation to what aliens would see as western music. It is followed by “Gusano”, which interesting enough reminded me of a current Mexican Banda radio hit by Fidel Rueda. This is everything I’ve wished to get from Tarantula, a distinctive but crude track on the life of a worm turns to be more interesting that one would think, it’s a personal attack on a creature that “doesn’t smell good or bad … just boring.” The leading single “Con toda la marcha” is a moment of reflexion, in the year 2029 an asteroid will hit earth and awake a generation that still watches the Oscars and Eurovision. But the album becomes boring after a while; it never reduces its humor and futuristic appeal, but 15 songs add up to a very heavy album in need of moisture. There is however a final song that makes up for much of the dryness, their take on “El Vals de las Mariposas” is epic, I must confess I thought this song was written by a Mexican, like Joan Sebastian or something but it’s not, it’s just so damn close to our culture and Tarantula honor Danny Rivera’s song like no one else has probably done.
EN LA CAMA CON ANNTONA, ANNTONA Gramaciones 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 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’sEscuela 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.
So there was an artist with a double appearance in my list of the best albums of 2008, the psychedelic and bizarre world of Crepus, a world of musical freedom rarely found in pop. It’s been months since my first listen of Escuela de Zebras, and I must say that I’m rediscovering that album as its narrative is truly of reference, stories of love and people, about relationships. Crepusculo is now deservedly one of the most important figures in Spanish pop, even displacing Russian Red as the year’s big breakthrough in Spain. He has stopped by the blog and brings us one of his songs for us to highlight, “Los Lagartos” (from Supercrepus) which has some hot keys in an electrifying cumbia.
Club Fonograma Features: JOE CREPUSCULO. Track: "Los Lagartos" Album: Supercrepus Label: Crepus Country: Spain >>> MP3 MySpace
Club Fonograma wishes you all a great new year, we’re hoping for a great 2009 ourselves, please be here with us. Two special songs for tonight: “Krazy” by Pitbull feat. Lil’ Jon, this song is for the clubs and for the iPods, although I must admit I was disappointed to find out that it doesn’t say “cancion pop let’s get crazy”, it only says “let’s jump up let’s get crazy”, such little changes would have made it even more exhilarating. The second one belongs to Joe Crepusculo, I told you he does music for the occasion and “Fiesta Mayor” is a proof of that.
Escuela de Zebras is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums of 2008; Joe Crepusculo’s bizarre vision is enchanting although hard to digest. He released his second album of the year titled Supercrepus last month, and has proven he is no one-hit-wonder. El Guincho has declared its admiration to him and now makes him justice with a remix of one of my favorite tracks on the album: “Gabriela.” It’s one of those songs that would have made the 80s even more colorful. Here is El Guincho’s take on his remix, which I found over at his blog Discoteca Oceano, which is always fun to read. Also included is my favorite song from Supercrepus, which I should be reviewing soon, it’s titled “La cancion de tu vida” and a must-download.
¡Esta es una de las cosas que más ilusión me hacen! Hace un montón de tiempo le pedí a Joel las pistas de su Gabriela para hacer una remezcla porque desde la primera vez que la escuché me obsesionó. Probé como 4 versiones diferentes pero no me quedaba contento nunca, hasta que me acordé que siempre había visto la canción como una historia de telenovela perfecta y me puse a pensar en cómo serían las sintonías del futuro. Me quedé sólo con la voz y la puse por un eco bien arriba, cantando por encima de unas capas de teclado camufladas en un ritmo de dub. Son muy pocos versos pero como todo lo que hace Joe no necesita nada más para que te enganche. Si no lo tienen ya, a bajar SUPERCREPUS!
ESCUELA DE ZEBRAS JOE CREPUSCULO Producciones Doradas, Spain **** Rating: 88 By Carlos Reyes
For those of you that are still buying music because of the great vocals, seriously, that's what concerts are for, or just go and watch American Idol. Keep that in mind while listening to Joe Crepusculo, my latest fascination from Spain. I first heard of him back in June from Pablo Diaz-Reixa (El Guincho) on Gorilla vs. Bear where he said Escuela de Zebras was his favorite album of this year so far. It's a mechanical album full of transitions and synthesizers, sometimes correlating towards the same direction and others collapsing into the electronic fields of the bizarre. School of Zebras indeed feels very animalistic in its wild approach to hug pop. Vocally it reminds me of Alaska (from Alaska y Dinamarca & Fangoria), musically definitely Grizzly Bear and lyrically, well, perhaps Ricardo Arjona on laxatives. This guy is hipster on extreme proportions. Crepusculo has such a scope for risk and possibilities that by itself elevates his approach to do his thing the way he wants to do it. Music for celebrations and holidays or to make any day a bright one, take a song like “Fiesta Mayor”, spin it loud and you’ll find a contagious happiness beneath the raspy voice. He also shows mastery with tropicalia in tracks like “Los Cazadores” and “La Lucha”, very symmetrical instrumental compositions with asymmetrical chorus supporting them. Lyrically, the most transcended songs are “Gabriela”, a Shakespearean love song and “Suena Brillante” which has become one of my favorite singles of the year. Joe Crepusculo is yet another artist giving their music for free, he just release a second 2008 album about a week ago and I can’t wait to play it, Escuela de Zebras is a hard one to digest, but oh man what a treat! I’m extracting some key tracks for you to taste, but this is a must download.
