BACK TO SCHOOL
Apart from information regarding the final line-up (COME reunion included) of the annual Tanned Tin Festival, below you can read about all the Acuarela new releases: La JR, Tex La Homa, The Clientele, Maquiladora, Jonquil, Grouper/Inca Ore, num9 and a brand new album by The Secret Society, titled "I am becoming what I hate the most". All of them are already available thru' our shop and at very special prices.
Coming soon: new arty-facts from Matt Elliott and Ora Cogan.
Coming soon: new arty-facts from Matt Elliott and Ora Cogan.
Tanned Tin festival 2008: full line-up!
The first COME concert in 10 years (their last release on Matador was “Gently, Down the Stream, 1998) will take place at Tanned Tin (November 12th to 16th in Castellon, Spain). An exclusive and unique chance to witness one of the more important comebacks in recent music history. Information, tickets price, selling points… clicking banner above > Also click here for a new feature (in English) about the event: http://www.planbmag.com/features/now-booking-tanned-tin-festival/
The Clientele release third and last of trilogy of EP's
"That Night, a Forest Grew" is the third, and last, of a trilogy of EPs The Clientele have recorded for Acuarela. They have always used the Acuarela EPs as a way to stretch out between albums, to create a through-the-looking-glass version of the band that shadows the better-known history of their albums. 'Ariadne' experimented with drones and minimalism, 'The Lost Weekend' stretched the foggy sound of their debut to epic proportions.
In contrast ‘That Night, a Forest Grew' is the most commercial and –shockingly- danceable thing they've ever recorded. Part Bacharach, part Television, part Orange Juice, the EP shares the pristine clarity, light and shade of 'God Save the Clientele', but adds a n...
The Secret Society, second assault
Three years have passed since Sad Boys Dance When No One’s Watching, the first album from The Secret Society, came out. That was an important work for Pepo M. (actually the only permanent member behind this changing society): it obtained really surprising and moving reviews on international magazines like Rolling Stone, Les Inrockuptibles, Uncut, Rif Raf; it made thousands of miles, with Pepo playing alone or with their long time mates Andrés Perruca on drums and Javier Vicente on guitar, lapsteel and piano; together they visited Portugal, Austria, Russia, France and Belgium; they shared vans and stages with bands like Arab Strap, Xiu Xiu, Dominique A, Magnolia Electric Co., Tara Jane O’Neil, Destroyer, or Frog Eyes to name a few...
This is October 2008 and The Secret Society has their new ammunition ready to launch, hidden in one of those long and intriguing names so beloved by Pepo: I Am Becoming What I Hate the Most. So explicit, so fast: 10 songs in 35 minutes. Be ready those who hav...
The sad-eyed pop of UK's Tex La Homa
Departing from the more electronic oriented sounds on previous albums by Tex la Homa, 'Little Flashes of Sunlight on a Cold Dark Sea' is a collection of eleven acoustic songs featuring Matt Shaw on every instrument, mainly guitar and piano, keyboards and his voice. All against a microphone and a computer, within the emptiness of his room in Poole, Southern England.
The aim Shaw tried to achieve while writing the songs of 'Little Flashes of Sunlight on a Cold Dark Sea' was to write very simple but melodic songs. To reduce everything down to what it is actually needed to communicate an idea or a story, and to try to keep things cl...
Grouper and Inca Ore split CD
The sound Liz Harris projects on her records under the moniker Grouper has been said to be deceptively simple, but truly emotional. Layers of vocals processed again and again through loop delays and chains of effects that create gorgeous whirlpools of chants, guitar drones and tape noise, all full of something unique, pure and powerfully beautiful.
The kind of magic Harris manages to inject into her recordings is something Eva Saelens knows about quite well, as Inca Ore she has also sung and produced music with a touch of wilderness and witchery. Liz and Eva compi...
The Strugglers on the (euro) road again.
The Latest Rights, the fourth full-length by The Strugglers glides through its nine deftly crafted tracks with a calm confidence. Bickford tosses off sly line-breaks, equates youth’s freedoms with adulthood’s burdens, and addresses love, sex, and death all with the same penetrating sanity, as if in the same breath -- one long, slow reflection. Now they play in several Euro countries: Gijón (November 1st), Vigo (5th), Santander (6th), Porto (7th), Madrid (8th, + Tex La homa + the floorbirds), Zarautz (9th), Algeciras (11th), Castellón (13th) and Bordeaux (15th and 16th). More gigs to be confirmed soon.
Brice Randall Bickford has been making music under the name The Strugglers since 2001, releasing three full-length albums, an EP, and numerous compilation tracks. He has toured the U.S. and Europe, sharing the stage with acts such as Destroyer (with whom he toured Spain and Portugal), Smog, David B...
Jonquil premiere "Whistle Blow" mini-album
Oxford-based Jonquil release a new Mini-CD, "Whistle Blow", which sees them reinventing themselves as re-inventors of pop music, with moments of sublime melodicism set against dense polyrhythms that call to mind Animal Collective, Built to Spill, early Arcade Fire or Akron/Family, and some camp-side gathering, incorporating doo-wop, party horn arrangements and gentle balladry. Now they will be premiering their new release in: Valladolid (22nd october), Aveiro (23rd), Porto (24th), Lisbon (25th), Madrid (26th) and Barcelona (31st).
Hailing from the musical city of Oxford, Jonquil have had a very prolific two years of existence that has resulted in two full length albums, both on Try Harder Records (Foals, Blood Red Shoes), and two self-released tour CDRs. Numbering six members and a far...
Reissue of classic Maquiladora albums!
Maquiladora create songs from a sense of place. Eric Nielsen, Bruce McKenzie and Phil Beaumont (with occasional guests of Black Heart Procession, Modest Mouse and The God Machine) approach music from all sides, a sound which conjures up moods of the deserts and oceans providing a landscape that is both familiar and remotely distant. Acuarela is pleased to release a new take on Maquiladora's early works on 'St. Cecilia's Drowning' - 'White Sands' and 'Ritual Of Hearts' revisited.
A re-mastered collection of songs recorded between 1995 and 2002, including nine previously unreleased songs, which present a graceful invitation into the musical journey of this reclusive band. The menu of instruments that catered to these recordings stretches from the expected guitar, drums and b...
17 Animales, a new album by LA JR
The best unheralded Spanish (or European?) band of all times, LA JR, are led as usual by Frank, Rafa and Borja as the ultimate Dadaist-pop ensemble. There is no exact definition for the word ‘dada’ and there are no exact words to describe the multifariousness of LA JR. '17 animales' is a work of dark lounge, trance Kraut-Rock groove or just anti-jazz-folk.
THIS is to music what assemblage is to art; an overlaying of diverse, motley materials; it sounds like porcelain, wood, glass and it squeaks even though it doesn’t sound like squeaking. Pendulum-like piano playing, husky basses, humming from the tide of the keyboards, every element bursts into bu...
Ora Cogan: new album and tour
Ora Cogan was born and raised on a small island on the west coast of Canada, her house was a recording studio and her Family played host to a constant stream of musicians and travelers. She started writing songs and performing at 12. Now based in Vancouver, BC. Ora stitches blues, old-time and ethereal ballads into her unique sound.
"Harbouring", the second reference of Borne Recordings after Laura Gibson´s "If you come to greet me"- features guitar and a voice that could melt butter and ...
Novedad Libros: Thomas Frank "¿Qué pasa con Kansas?"
El enigmático espectáculo de un suicidio colectivo a gran escala siempre resulta fascinante. Pensemos en los cientos de seguidores de la secta de Jim Jones que ingirieron, obedientes, veneno en su campamento de la Guyana. En el terreno económico, eso mismo está sucediendo hoy en Kansas. Ése es el objeto de este excelente libro de Thomas Frank. La sencillez de su estilo no debe impedir que veamos su análisis político afilado como una cuchilla. Fijando su atención en Kansas, cuna de la revuelta populista conservadora, Frank describe con acierto la paradoja fundamental de su construcción ideológica: el desfase, la falta de cualquier conexión cognitiva, entre los intereses económicos y las cuestiones 'morales'.
¿Qué sucede cuando la oposición de clase de base económica (agricultores pobres y obreros contra abogados, banqueros y grandes empresas) se traspone/codifica como la oposición entre los honrados trabajadores cristianos y buenos americanos por un lado, y los progresistas decadentes que beben ca...
Num9: a collection of remixes
Six tracks related in some way to possibly the best Spanish indie band ever: Migala, revisited by Num9. Or how to dance to Migala, Nacho Vegas, Fantasy Bar, Emak Bakia, El Hijo and Num9.
A very special record made under the lens of Coque Yturriaga, who used to play guitar in Migala and now builds pop hymns with keyboards, samplers and computers under the Num9 moniker. Syncopated beats, rhythm, electronic shades, melodies sporting a strange and subtle ...
Acuarela's blog (Spanish only)
Nuestro blog sigue su curso. Últimamente hemos escrito sobre el nuevo vídeoclip de Fantasy Bar, recientes conciertos de Matt Elliott, El Hijo y Vic Chesnutt, una entrevista a Dennis Cooper, y críticas de discos como las de Portastic, Okkervil River, Dosh, o Silver Jews, amén de reflexiones personales de toda índole. Estamos en http://acuarela-algodemi.blogspot.com/