Tag: Madrid Spain

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Founded by Tomas Garrido, Matías Tangerina and Oliveras, Madrid-based krautrock outfit TUTUPATU has managed to fuse each individual member’s diverse and eclectic backgrounds in classical music, jazz, rock, electronic music, experimental noise, drone and even ethnic music. After spending over a year of dedicated rehearsals, the Spanish quartet has meticulously crafted a unique sound that defies categorization and invites exploration.

The group’s collective aim is to shape an auditory landscape that defies convention, drawing inspiration from trance-inducing repetition that transcends genre while resonating with the eclectic blend of their individual influences. Through their sonic explorations, they attempt to guide listeners on an introspective journey into uncharted realms.

The Spanish outfit’s full-length debut, IV is slated for a February 14, 2024 release through Broken Clover Records. Their desire to capture TUTUPATU’s essence led them to secure an underground location in their hometown, where they set up a private recording studio. Then they locked themselves in for a 72-hour recording session. For that session, the members of TUTUPATU aimed for unfiltered creativity: 32 tracks rolling at all times, doors locked, lights dimmed, and volume cranked. The result is reportedly a mesmerizing blend of motorik drums, throbbing baselines, howling guitars, wailing saxophones, ethereal synths and a myriad of flute and other folk instruments intricately woven together through the album’s five songs.

Clocking in at a little under four minutes, IV‘s lead single “Tangerina” is a meditative and droning composition built around a d supple and propulsive bass line, looping and strummed bursts of acoustic guitar, off kilter yet driving percussion and gently warbling feedback. “Tangerina” manages to simultaneously feel both completely improvised and crafted, rooted in the innate and uncanny simpatico between the band’s members in a way that’s seamlessly blends free jazz, jazz fusion and krautrock.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: La Femme Shares Breezy “No Pasa Nada”

Paris-based JOVM mainstays La Femme have spent quite a bit time touring across Latin American and Spain. Those experienced helped inspired the band’s first song entirely in Spanish, “Le Jardin,” which appeared on their third album, last year’s Paradigmes.

“Le Jardin” led the band down the path to write Teatro Lucido. Deriving its name from a mythic theater, where the band has played many times while touring in Mexico, the album, which is slated for a Friday release will be their first album with lyrics written and sung entirely in Spanish. Teatro Lucido will also be the first of a planned thematic series of albums that the band has dubbed Collection Odyssèe.

Teatro Lucido is informed by their adventures in Seville, Granada, Madrid, Mexico City, Cuautepec, Padul — all of which hold important places in their hearts, because they had a ton of laughs, joys, tears and disappointments in each. The album also reportedly draws from a number of different inspirations including Spain’s Semana Santa — or holy week; pasodoble, reggaeton, Brazilian and Andalusian rhythms, classical guitars and 80s Movida among others. Much like their previous releases, the members of French JOVM mainstays wrote, composed and produced the album entirely by themselves, while inviting numerous female vocalists to participate in the process. 

In the lead-up to the album’s release on Friday, I’ve managed to write about two of the album’s singles:

“Sacatela,” a breezy, Tropicalia-like take on psych pop centered around an infectious, call-and-response vocal-led hook paired shuffling Latin rhythms and lyrics sung entirely in Spanish. 

“Y Tu Te Vas,” a track centered around cinematic, flamenco-inspired guitars and a tweeter and woofer rocking reggaeton beat that might bring Rosalía, Bad Bunny, and others to mind. The song features a sultry, Shakira-like turn from Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Tatiana Hazel. “Tatiana is an artist living in Los Angeles where I recorded the track in 2019,” La Femme’s Marlon Magnée says of their collaboration. ‘Y Tu Te Vas’ is one of the more powerful tracks voice-wise on the album. Tatiana brings the track to another dimension, she really is one of the new artists to follow on the American scene.”

Written when La Femme’s Sacha Got was living at Adios Amores’ Iman Amar’s place in Grenada Spain, Teatro Lucida’s third and latest single “No Pasa Nada” centered around ’60s and ’70s Brazilian rhythms, strummed guitar, woozy synths and ethereal vocals from Amar. But the song’s seemingly breezy and easygoing nature is superficial; the song’s lyrics focus something far more menacing and fucked up — a night out in a foreign country gone horribly wrong.

Directed by the band, the accompanying video for “No Pasa Nada” was shot in the streets of Grenada, Spain — and features the band partying and having a wild night on the town that includes the familiar drunken, late night, zombie lurch thought town and the collapse into a queasy heap of limbs. The video was innspired by a night on the town the band had back in 2018, which ended with the members of the band blacking out. It was the kind of night that ends in the morning at 8AM when kids are going to school,” La Femme’s Sacha Got says.That kind of night where you drink to forget, and you end up forgetting what you drank… or you just don’t want to remember. And when you wake you’re like ‘No problem, nothing happened!’”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Founded back in 2010, Parisian psych pop act and longtime JOVM mainstays  La Femme — currently, founding members Sacha Got and Marlon Magnée, along with Sam Lefévre, Noé Delmas, Cleémence Quélennec, Clara Luiciani, Jane Peynot, Marilou Chollet and Lucas Nunez Ritter — managed to hoodwink the French music industry by lining up a DIY Stateside tour as a then unknown band, with $3,000 Euros and their debut EP, that year’s Le Podium #1. 

After playing 20 gigs across the States, the members of La Femme returned to their native France with immense interest from the Parisian music scene. “The industry was like, ‘What the fuck? They have an EP out and they are touring in the US and we don’t know them?” Marlon Magnée told The Guardian. “So the buzz began to start. When we came back to France, it was red carpet. Fucking DIY.” 

2013’s critically applauded and commercially successful full-length debut Psycho Tropical Berlin found the Parisian JOVM mainstays making a wild, creative and sonic left turn incorporating krautrock and synths to their unique take on surf rock and psych pop. The album eventually earned a Victoires de la Musique Award.

Building upon a rapidly growing national and international profile, La Femme’s sophomore album, 2016’s Mystére to praise by Sound Opinions, The Line of Best Fit, The Guardian, AllMusic, BrooklynVegan and a lengthy list of others. 

The French JOVM mainstays long-awaited, third album Paradigmes was released last year through the band’s own Disque Pointu and distributed through IDOL. And if you’ve been frequenting this site over the course of this year, you’d recall that it’s been a very busy on for the Paris-based outfit: In April, La Femme released Paradigmes: Le Film, a full-length film co-directed by the band’s Sacha Got and Marlon Magnée and Aymeric Bergada du Cadet that highlights the band’s humor and creativity while being primarily centered around Paradigmes‘ material. (You can watch it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Wnil2ipf0)

The also released an exclusive, vinyl Record Store Day edition of Paradigmes, Paradigmes: suppléments, a deluxe edition of their critically applauded third album. To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Paradigmes, La Femme announced the release of a limited collection of NFTs made from the original frames used for the animated video for “Foutre le Bordel.” The NFTs were released by  by Ballad(r), an NFT launchpad for artists and institutions in the music industry. These unique digital works of art included a unique audio track made from stems of the original song and unlocked exclusive content and numerous real-life perks for each lucky NFT holder. 

During the JOVM mainstays’ time touring across Latin America and Spain, the band wrote their first song entirely in Spanish, “Le Jardin,” which appeared on the aforementioned Paradigmes. “Le Jardin” led the band down the path to write Teatro Lucido. Deriving its name from a mythic theater, where the band has played many times while touring in Mexico, the album, which is slated for a November 4, 2022 release will be their first album with lyrics written and sung entirely in Spanish. Teatro Lucido will also be the first of a planned thematic series of albums that the band calls Collection Odyssèe.

Teatro Lucido is informed by their adventures in Seville, Granada, Madrid, Mexico City, Cuautepec, Padul — all of which hold important places in their hearts, because they had a ton of laughs, joys, tears and disappointments in each. The album also reportedly draws from a number of different inspirations including Spain’s Semana Santa — or holy week; pasodoble, reggaeton, Brazilian and Andalusian rhythms, classical guitars and 80s Movida among others. Much like their previous releases, the members of French JOVM mainstays wrote, composed and produced the album entirely by themselves, while inviting numerous female vocalists to participate in the process. 

Just before the JOVM mainstays last North American tour, La Femme shared “Sacatela,” a breezy, Tropicalia-like take on psych pop centered around an infectious, call-and-response vocal-led hook, snuggling Latin rhythms and lyrics sung entirely in Spanish.

The album’s second and latest single “Y Tu Te Vas” is centered around cinematic, flamenco-inspired guitars and a tweeter and woofer rocking reggaeton beat that might bring Rosalía, Bad Bunny, and others to mind. The song features a sultry, Shakira-like turn from Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Tatiana Hazel.

“Tatiana is an artist living in Los Angeles where I recorded the track in 2019,” La Femme’s Marlon Magnée says of their collaboration. ‘Y Tu Te Vas’ is one of the more powerful tracks voice-wise on the album. Tatiana brings the track to another dimension, she really is one of the new artists to follow on the American scene.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: La Femme Share a Hilarious and Summery Visual for Breezy “Sacatela”

Founded back in 2010, Parisian psych pop act and longtime JOVM mainstays  La Femme — currently, founding members Sacha Got and Marlon Magnée, along with Sam Lefévre, Noé Delmas, Cleémence Quélennec, Clara Luiciani, Jane Peynot, Marilou Chollet and Lucas Nunez Ritter — managed to completely hoodwink the French music industry by lining up a DIY Stateside tour as a then unknown band, with only $3,000 Euros and their debut EP, that year’s Le Podium #1. 

After playing 20 gigs across the States, the members of La Femme returned to their native France with immense interest from the Parisian music scene. “The industry was like, ‘What the fuck? They have an EP out and they are touring in the US and we don’t know them?” Marlon Magnée told The Guardian. “So the buzz began to start. When we came back to France, it was red carpet. Fucking DIY.” 

2013’s critically applauded and commercially successful full-length debut Psycho Tropical Berlin found the Parisian JOVM mainstays making a wild, creative and sonic left turn incorporating krautrock and synths to the mix. The album eventually earned a Victoires de la Musique Award. Building upon a rapidly growing national and international profile, La Femme’s sophomore album, 2016’s Mystére to praise by Sound Opinions, The Line of Best Fit, The Guardian, AllMusic, BrooklynVegan and a lengthy list of others. 

The French JOVM mainstays long-awaited, third album Paradigmes was released last year through the band’s own Disque Pointu and distributed through IDOL. And over the course of 2021, I managed to write about five of the album’s nine — that’s right, nine! — released singles: 

  • “Cool Colorado,” a coolly bombastic single that seemed indebted to Scott Walker and Ennio Morricone soundtracks while being an “ode to the San Francisco of the 70s — and to Colorado, the first American state to legalize cannabis. 
  • Disconnexion,” a surreal what-the-fuck fever dream centered around pulsating Giorgio Moroder-like motorik grooves, a fiery banjo solo, atmospheric electronics, twinkling synth arpeggios, a philosophic soliloquy delivered in a dry, academic French and operatic caterwauling. 
  • “Foutre le Bordel,” a breakneck freak out that meshed Freedom of Choice-era DEVO and Giorgio Moroder with ’77 punk rock nihilism. 
  • “Le Jardin,” an achingly sad lullaby written and sung in Spanish — the band’s first song in Spanish. Inspired by a trip to Spain that the band took a few years ago, the song as the band explains is a kind of an old-school slow dance, which underlines how fragile and random fate is. 
  • “Pasadena,” a slow-burning, woozy ballad that sounds — and feels — like a narcotic-induced haze. Written as an informal response and continuation of the story told in “Septembre,” off the band’s sophomore album, “Pasadena” features the main character of “Septembre” as a teenager. And as a result, the song is about budding romances — primarily their seemingly carefree nature at the time, their eventual difficulties and confusions, and the weight of peer pressure. 

So far, 2022 has been very busy for the Paris-based JOVM mainstays: Back in April, La Femme released Paradigmes: Le Film, a full-length film co-directed by the band’s Sacha Got and Marlon Magnée and Aymeric Bergada du Cadet that highlights the band’s humor and creativity while being primarily centered around Paradigmes‘ material. (You can watch it on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Wnil2ipf0)

The also released an exclusive, vinyl Record Store Day edition of Paradigmes, Paradigmes: suppléments, a deluxe edition of their critically applauded third album. Along with the Record Store Day exclusive vinyl release of Paradigmes: suppléments, the band released yet another single off Paradigmes, the album closing track “Tu T’en Lasses,” a slow-burning and atmospheric fever dream, centered around skittering beats, glistening synths and a distorted yet mournful horn solo paired with dreamily delivered vocals.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Paradigmes, La Femme announced the release of a limited collection of NFTs made from the original frames used for the animated video for “Foutre le Bordel.” The NFTs were released by  by Ballad(r), an NFT launchpad for artists and institutions in the music industry. These unique digital works of art included a unique audio track made from stems of the original song and unlocked exclusive content and numerous real-life perks for each lucky NFT holder.

During the JOVM mainstays’ time touring across Latin America and Spain, the band wrote their first song entirely in Spanish, “Le Jardin,” which appeared on the aforementioned Paradigmes. “Le Jardin” led the band down the path to write Teatro Lucido. Deriving its name from a mythic theater, where the band has played many times while touring in Mexico, the album, which is slated for a November 4, 2022 release will be their first album with lyrics written and sung entirely in Spanish. Teatro Lucido will also be the first of a planned thematic series of albums that the band calls Collection Odyssèe.

The album is informed by their adventures in Seville, Granada, Madrid, Mexico City, Cuautepec, Padul — all of which hold important places in their hearts, because they had a ton of laughs, joys, tears and disappointments in each. The album also reportedly draws from a number of different inspirations including Spain’s Semana Santa — or holy week; pasodoble, reggaeton, Brazilian and Andalusian rhythms., classical guitars and 80s Movida among others. Much like their previous releases, the members of French JOVM mainstays wrote, composed and produced the album entirely by themselves, while inviting numerous female vocalists to participate in the process.

Now, as you may recall just before the JOVM mainstays last North American tour, La Femme shared “Sacatela.” Inspired by their tours across South American and Spain, “Sacatela” is a Tropicalia-take on psych pop featuring shuffling Latin rhythms and lyrics sung entirely in Spanish paired with an infectious call-and-response vocal-led hook.

Directed by Ilan Zerrouki and starring Itziar Guardamino Sanchez, Marlon Magnée, Sacha Got, Ysé Grospiron, Samantha Quealy, Sam Lefèvre, Daniel Barda and Francesco Mocchia Di Coggiola, the accompanying visual for “Sacatela” was shot in Nice, France and is a breezy, stylish blast of seemingly carefree, easy-going summer, full of frolicking at the beach, rooftop parties and the like. But things quickly go hilariously wrong with some of the video’s cast getting violently ill. As the band explains the video is about unacknowledged desires and un-pursued dreams, which is also called “sacatelaism.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Parisian Electronic Act Voie81 Releases a Nostalgia-Inducing Visual for “1989”

Deriving their name from the French of word for “track” while simultaneously being a bit of a punny joke based on the French word or voice — voix — and for 1981, a paradigm shifting year that saw massive technological and societal changes, the Paris-based electro pop/New Wave outfit Voie 81 prominently features three female vocalists hailing from Paris, Madrid, and Berlin, who sing unifying and socially conscious lyrics in German, English, Spanish and French. 

Their full-length debut, Ralentir, which translates into “slow down” in French finds the act further establishing a sound that’s heavily indebted to and influenced by the analog synth sounds of the 80s while thematically focusing on humans’ resistance to an unfair and unjust world — and the hope fora much better, fairer world.

Last year, I wrote about album track “Nirvana,” a euphoric track with an arena friendly hook and sultrily delivered French vocals that — to my ears — that reminded me a bit of early-to-mid 80s New Order, Giorgio Moroder, Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and even contemporaries like DBFC.

“1989,” Ralentir‘s latest track is centered around a relentless motorik groove, glistening synth arpeggios, angular guitars, thumping beats and brief bursts of industrial clang and clatter. The end result is a song that seems to mesh John Carpenter‘s retro-futuristic soundtracks with New Order. As the band explains “1989 is more than the last year of the 80s! It symbolizes a pivotal stage, when everything has accelerated : technological, climate and enormous geopolitical changes.”

Directed by the members of Voie 81 and Oculusprime.tv, the recently released video, which was also edited by Oculusprime.tv features stock footage of some of the world-changing technology and events that happened in 1989 from new video games, the fall of the Berlin Wall, as well as young people partying and just enjoying life.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Parrots Release a Rousingly Anthemic Ode to The Modern Worker

Aclaimed Madrid-based indie rock/garage rock act and JOVM mainstays The Parrots was founded by Diego García (vocals, guitars), Alex de Lucas (vocals, bass) back in 2014. With a handful of independently released singles, the band which, at the time featured Garcia, de Lucas and Daniel “Larry” Balboa (drums) nosily burst into the scene, receiving attention for establishing a boozy, raucous and mischievous sensibility to their overall sound and approach.

Along with Hinds and Los Nastys, The Parrots brought Madrid’s garage rock scene into the international arena, eventually signing to London-based label Heavenly Recordings, who released their critically applauded full-length debut, 2016’s Los Niños Sin Miedo. Since then, the members of The Parrots have been busy with a relentless touring schedule, winning fans across the world with their sweaty and raw punk rock-inspired ferocity. But in that time, they’ve also managed to released a collection of singles that have found the act pushing the boundaries of their sound — while going through a lineup change.

Slated for an October 29, 2021 release through their longtime label home, the Madrid-based JOVM mainstays’ highly-anticipated Tom Furse-produced sophomore album, DOS reportedly represents a new phase for the newly-constituted duo: while revealing an act that has gained a bolstered sense of confidence in their creative processes and taking pride in surrounding themselves with those they love and those who inspire them, the album’s material sonically is a decided change of sonic direction.

“Most of the album was recorded in Wilton Way Studios in Hackney in periods between summer 2019 and the start of 2020. Because of lockdown, it ended up getting finished in Madrid with Harto Rodriguez,” the duo explain in press notes. “Recording at home was really nice because it meant we could call on some of our very talented friends to join us in the studio. Most of the record was written before the lockdown but that unexpected pause in all of our lives made us rethink some of it and finish bits off in a different way. Also, when we knew we couldn’t go back to London to finish it, we decided to invite a lot of our friends back home to the studio. That made recording feel almost like a celebration. Everyone we knew was fine; even with the global pause we could still find the bright spots and stay together.

“Most of the album was recorded in Wilton Way Studios in Hackney in periods between summer 2019 and the start of 2020. Because of lockdown, it ended up getting finished in Madrid with Harto Rodriguez,” the duo explain in press notes. “Recording at home was really nice because it meant we could call on some of our very talented friends to join us in the studio. Most of the record was written before the lockdown but that unexpected pause in all of our lives made us rethink some of it and finish bits off in a different way. Also, when we knew we couldn’t go back to London to finish it, we decided to invite a lot of our friends back home to the studio. That made recording feel almost like a celebration. Everyone we knew was fine; even with the global pause we could still find the bright spots and stay together.

Even though garage rock is kind of the core of all our influences, in the last few years we’ve been listening to lots of stuff that we’d kind of relegated to a second position,” the duo continues. “We rediscovered a lot of artists that we listened back when we first fell in love with music — bands like LCD Soundsystem and Gang of Four, lots of mutant disco. Tom really helped us there, he made sense out of the chaotic mashup of influences that we brought into the studio. And because we’ve always loved hip hop, we followed a different approach to putting songs together, using samples and sampling ourselves a lot. Beastie Boys, ESG, Devo, Los Zombies (the Spanish band) were all a very big influence on the tone of the record. Also the Spanish music scene has been changing a lot in the last years and listening to a lot of new Spanish artists has helped us break down some walls and made us create music in a more free way.”

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Maldito,” DOS’ a single that found Garcia and de Lucas retaining a great deal of the scuzzy and distorted guitar driven-sound and the rousingly anthemic hooks that have won them fans globally, but giving it a slick studio polish that included a dash of autotunes on the song’s particularly punchy hook. But underneath the slick polish, the song is a bittersweet meditation on the nuanced and conflicting feelings involved in letting someone go — including longing, regret, the uneasy acceptance of the difficult decision made and the consequences of that decision on you and others. Adding to the new, forward thinking sonic direction that they’ve taken, the song features a guest spot from the commercially successful Spanish emcee C. Tangana. 

ttle over four-and-a-half minutes, and is centered around a relentless motorik groove, angular blasts of guitar, shimmering synth arpeggios and a rousingly anthemic, chant/shout-along hook. And while arguably being one of the most expansive and boldly arena friendly songs of their catalog, “You Work All Day And Then You Die” is fueled by a growing dissatisfaction and disgust with the lines of bullshit about work and adult responsibility that we’ve been sold — and are either untrue or impossible to achieve. It’s an urgent wake up call that says busting your ass and working at a job you hate to barely survive, to buy shit that won’t make you happy when the world is on fire is laziness at best, lunacy at worst.

“We wanted to write this song for a long time. The sounds, the epic in it were something that we had wanted to express for a long time and couldn’t have done it without the help of our amazing producer, Tom Furse,” Garcia and de Lucas explain. “On the lyrical side, we’ve been feeling that people are settling and giving up their dreams for the ones people post on social media, we wanted to express that lack of individuality, how it’s easier to copy other models of success rather than follow your own. With this song we wanted to punch that trend (or feeling) in the face and remind people and ourselves that success has more to do with personal feelings and self care than social acceptance. We’ve always felt very comfortable being treated as outsiders in most circles and we are proud of that, fight back, don’t kneel and don’t try to be liked by everyone. Some things work for you but others may not. Why are people so worried about communism and stuff when it’s capitalism itself which tries to make us all exactly the same, boring with the same dreams and motivations?”

Directed by Joaquin Luna, the recently released video for “You Work All Day And Then You Die” follows four hemmed-in and abused workers, struggling with their shitty realities, at points going through their days like automatons fueled by stress, desperation, financial necessity and lack of better options. It shouldn’t be surprising that the video’s protagonists work soulless and degrading work — we see a cleaning woman, a line chef/busboy type, a store clerk and two suit wearing office workers. Eventually we see each of these workers become increasingly fed up and in a familiar yet somewhat absurd catharsis, act out in what little liberation from their hell that they can.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Emerging French Act Voie 81 Releases a Shimmering, Synth Pop Banger

Deriving their name from the French of word for “track” while simultaneously being a bit of a pun for the French word for voice voix and for 1981, a paradigm shifting year that saw an incredible array of changes in technology and across society, the Paris-band electro pop/New Wave duo Voie 81 prominently features three female vocalists hailing from Paris, Madrid, and Berlin, who sing unifying and socially conscious lyrics in German, English, Spanish and French.

The act’s full-length debut Ralentir which means “slow down” in French finds the act further developing a sound that’s heavily influenced by the analog synth sound of the 80s while thematically touches upon humans’ resistance to an unfair and unjust world and the hope for a better, fairer world. The album’s first single “Nirvana” is a euphoric track centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, angular guitars and an arena friendly hook paired with vocals delivered in an ethereal yet sultry French. Sonically, the track finds the emerging French act nodding at early-to-mid 1980s New Order, Giorgio Moroder, Tour de France-era Kraftwerk and even contemporaries like DBFC.

Directed by the members of Voie 81, the recently released video for “Nirvana” is set in an industrial train yard as we follow, a boombox carrying dude and a gorgeous dancer, hang out and dance together before pulling out to follow a train track across the French train ride. The video manages to be playful and decidedly DIY.