	EL HIJO Canciones gringas CD-EP [nois060]

	TEX LA HOMA INTO TIMELESS SHADOWS CD-EP [nois 059]

	JUNE PANIC BELLYBUTTONLESS BOY CD-EP [nois 044]

	GRUPO SALVAJE AQUÍ HAY DRAGONES CD-álbum [nois 1065]

	FROG EYES THE FUTURE IS INTER-DISCIPLINARY OR NOT AT ALL CD-EP [nois 055]

	XIU XIU TU MI PIACI CD-EP [nois058]

	MANYFINGERS OUR WORN SHADOW CD-álbum + DVD [nois1064]

	MAQUILADORA THE GULF CD-EP [nois 057]

	YELLOW SWANS DRIFT mini-CD (38 minutos) [nois 054]

	TARA JANE O' NEIL A RAVELING CD-EP [nois 056]

	THIS SONG IS A MESS AND... MARBLE MOUTH CD-EP [nois 051]

	12TWELVE L'Univers CD-álbum [nois 1060]

	MANTA RAY Torres de Electricidad CD-álbum [nois 1057]

	El Hijo La piel del oso CD-EP [nois053]

	Tartufi Trouble CD-EP [nois052]

	THE SECRET SOCIETY Sad boys dance when no-one's watching CD-álbum [nois 1059]

	Chris Brokaw Incredible Love CD-álbum [nois1061]

	LD & THE NEW CRITICISM Tragic Realism CD-álbum [nois1062]

	The Strugglers You win CD-álbum [nois1056]

	VV.AA. Songs To Break God's heart CD-álbum [nois1054]

	Darren Hayman Cortinaland CD-EP [nois050]

	WINDSOR FOR THE DERBY Confianza / Visiones CD-EP [nois048]

	XIU XIU La foret Cd-álbum [nois 1058]

	REFREE La matrona Cd-álbum [nois 1047]

	The Zephyrs Bright Yellow Flowers on a Dark Double Bed Cd-álbum [nois 1050]

	P:ANO Brigadoon Cd-álbum + 2 temas extra [nois 1055]

	BURD EARLY Falling Feather CD-EP [nois 046]

	APSE apse CD-EP [nois 047]

	Viva las Vegas 2 Cd-álbum [nois 1048]

	Aroah En el patio interior mini CD [nois049]

	Damon & Naomi The earth is blue Cd-album + cd-sigle (ed. limitada) [nois1052]

	MUS Divina Lluz, una película de Ramón Lluis Bande DVD [noisdvd03]

	Matt Elliott Drinking Songs Cd-álbum [nois 1049]

	JR La JR Cd-álbum [nois1053]

	The Strugglers The Fair Store CD-EP [nois042]

	Xiu Xiu Fleshettes Cd-ep [nois045]

	Destroyer Your Blues + 3 Cd-álbum [nois1044]

	Tara Jane O´Neil You Sound, Reflect Cd [nois1051]

	Thalia Zedek Trust Not Those In Whom... Cd [nois1045]

	Julie Doiron Goodnight Nobody Cd [nois1046]

	VV.AA. Acuarela Songs 3 2xCD [nois 1043] CD1 Piano Magic / Berg Sans Nipple / Tex la homa / Girls in Hawaii / Julie Doiron / June Panic / Chris Brokaw / Lowlights / Jr. / Rivulets / Anari / The Somnambulants / Tara Jane O´Neil & Kristina / Árbol / Early Day Miners CD2 Destroyer / The Decemberists / The Impossible Shapes / Bud Early / Tarentel / Miztura / Mines / Old Jerusalem / Loud / Maquiladora / The King Cobran / Lorna / Ant / Colch-on

	Rivulets you've got your own Cd-ep [nois040] “You’ve Got Your Own” is a sensational EP featuring what is probably the most focused Rivulets to date: five compelling and emotional songs, stemming from a guitar with old wood reminiscences and haunted vocals bordering between whispers and agonic vibrations. The heartfelt emotion is accompanied by gorgeous vocal chorus reinforcements, airy suspended chords and the tense sonic storm of “Let It Go”, on which Nathan beats the hell out of a drumset in the best tradition of SWANS. Five all-new songs, which could be compared to those of Mark Hollis, Neil Halstead, Nick Drake, Richard Youngs, and the Cure (“shadow of a ghost”), all of which adhere to an astonishing expressiveness. Obliging nobility…

	For Stars ...It Falls Apart Cd [nois1042]

	Berg Sans Nipple BSN play the immutable Truth Cd-ep [nois041] “BSN Play the Immutable Truth” is a record that goes a step further than “Form Of...” in demonstrating that the essence of Berg sans Nipple’s project is in itself unclassifiable. “An Eternity of Purgatory” starts with pop whispers and dilutes amongst syncopated drums and vibraphone echoes, while “Hark, The Poonie Angel sings!” brings together floating trumpets with synthetic rythms; “Swordfighting” is an intimidating superposition of dismembered melodies, but then “Memory Hole”, despite threatening to continue along the path of darkness, embraces the melodies of melancholic trumpets and paused redoubling. As always, an original, expressive and eclectic piece...loyal to its branding.

	Migala La increíble aventura CD + DVD [nois1041]

	Xiu Xiu Fabulous Muscles Cd [nois1038]

	The Clientele Ariadne Cd-ep [nois039]

	Aroah The Last Laugh Cd [nois1039]

	The Decemberists The Tain Cd-ep [nois038] You could label “The Tain” as an unpredictable composition. What’s more, unpredictable from various points of view: as if an EP with one only song, divided into five different movements, wasn’t original enough (even though it’s 18 minutes long), the piece is very loosely based on the Celtic mythology cycle of the same name. Most known in its translation by Irish poet Thomas Kinsella, the Tain (or Tain Bo Cualnge) tells of the Cattle Raid of Cooley, in which the noted witch-queen Maeb attempts to wrestle a Great White Bull from the clutches of a northern king. Their re-telling, however, is very abstract and not strange to the sensitivity (both musical and in terms of literature) of The Decemberists, which are a creative group rather than a music band in the strictest sense of the word. Stemming from a concept conceived by Colin Meloy, who was born in Helena (Montana)but moved to Portland, The Decemberists turned into a rock band by bringing together the talent of Rachel Blumberg (drums), Nate Query (bass guitar), Jenny Conlee (accordion and keyboards) and Chris Funk (electric guitar and pedal steel guitar). Guided by Meloy’s melodic instinct and narrative pulse (he does hold a degree in creative writing), the band’s first step is a five-song EP, with the suggestive title of “Five Songs”, released by themselves in 2001 and re-issued a year later, together with debut album “Castaways and Cutouts” by the Portland Hush label. Then, in 2003, fabulous and rebellious label Kill Rock Stars takes an interest in this peculiar group; it distributes their first LP internationally releases their second step, “Her Majesty The Decemberists”. They are widely acclaimed, and their pop streak leads to cliché comparisons with groups such as Belle & Sebastian (harmonic sensitivity) and Neutral Milk Hotel (healthy schizophrenia). But The Tain is also related to Built to Spill’s skill for rock-art or to Clem Snide’s slightly ironic traditional renewal. They always, however, maintain a beat of their own. As in “The Tain”, which are five songs in one. A hurricane that starts up with acoustic lament of porch music backed up by the muscley riff of rock’n’roll and wrapped in a cloak of celestial choirs and melodramatic chords, which takes advantage of a piano and seducing female vocals to recreate the best port cabaret, just before biting its tail and losing it amongst martial drum beats and ending with a return to the vitamin-overflowing guitars that conceived the piece. Unpredictable? Yes, thank you.

	Grupo Salvaje In Black We Trust Cd-álbum [nois1037] Black is usually the emblem of silence, of intimacy. It grants nobility and elegance, especially when it’s shiny. However, in occasions, it can become an accomplice of dishonour and evil. The great Johnny Cash introduced it as a counterweight of the sequinned suits worn by other Country musicians and opted for it as a personal identity symbol until his recent death, a result of the world’s injustice. A personal symbol of style that translates into an attitude, which the Madrid band Grupo Salvaje have chosen as a homage for the christening of their debut album, thus broadening the list of links and references already in their album; starting off with the band’s name (Grupo Salvaje=The Wild Bunch), after Sam Peckimpah’s disturbing film, and following with the album title, an ironic charade of the altered legend on the back of dollar notes. The thing is In Black We Trust was going to be called Cash, in accordance with the band’s wish to honour the spirit and consistency of the Man in Black’s songs, and in the meantime, play on the game of words by referring to the currency that inspired the emblematic title. But regardless of circumstances and intentions, the nine songs of Grupo Salvaje’s presentation transmit, from the very first moment, the notions and ideals of a well-traced reflection and exploration of creative possibilities. A throbbing voyage headed by the experienced Ernesto González, without doubt the most credited member of a band that stems from the much-awaited revival/transformation after a decade of compromise with Pribata Idaho’s agenda, a pop-rock band which released four albums and many singles and EPs (including one collaboration with Peter Holsapple of The Db’s and REM) between 1992 and 2000. One of them “Hope” (1997) was even published in Japan. The voice of Ernesto, more delving and deeper than ever, decidedly different, distinguishes and conditions In Black We Trust’s career to a great extent. His touching and subtly differentiated approach to each song –from the elegance of the “Oh! My Dear” to the vivacity of “Sorrynonews” passing through the solemn impact of “Watercolor Summer”– is the backdrop for a compilation of songs with an individual character that are nonetheless part of a single effort. A record that takes off immediately and combines heart and lucidity to perfection, with both poetry and disturbance, a seducing range of sensations based on lyrics of pain and love, of roses and desperation, of the divine and the humane, of Elvis and God. Abel Hernández (Migala, Emak Bakia) contributes to the well-accomplished compactness of the theme line, both through a compromised and flowing production process and through the use of sound and atmospheric effects, which inevitably remind us of the legacy of Scott Walker, Leonard Cohen, Lambchop and, of course, Migala. A splendid and well-measured instrumentation, the absolute protagonist of the brief and pampered “Desheredada”, makes up the vehicle of that is built with epic –as in the chord crescendo in the closing of “The Survivor”–, has a number plate of melancholy and is fitted with a cinematographic touch stemming from a dose of complicity. As a result, elegance, intimacy, nobility and silence impose themselves, hidden by the metaphoric reflection on black. Qualities and images that are transmitted through a catalogue of compositions with intentional substance, which showcases the will of these five musicians to embrace the principles and manoeuvres of an authentic wild bunch. Moreover, they brandish skill and feelings as their main arms against futility and mediocrity, with that categorical combination of conscience and intuition. Just in that way.

	Early Day Miners The Sonograph EP CD-EP [nois037]

	The Album Leaf Seal Beach cd-ep [nois036]

	Refree Nones Cd [nois1036] Refree is the alter ego of Raül Fernandez, music journalist and one of the most productive members of our independent music scene since the early 90s. Far from conceiving “Nones”, his second album, as a sporadic, parallel or passing venture that overlaps with his other many projects, Raül makes it a personal work that turns out to be one of the best records the Spanish pop world has witnessed in the last years. Biography: However, prior to this second piece of work for Acuarela, Refree had already made inroads with the publishing of “Quitamiedos”, for which they counted with the collaboration of –amongst others–Françoiz Breut, Abel Hernández (Migala) or José Luis Aguado (Manta Ray), in addition to some of the main musicians from Barcelona’s jazz scene. “Quitamiedos” –too ambitious or to dispersed, depending on how you look at it– was born and bred out of its time and context, and received better reviews abroad than in Spain. In France, it was chosen by the demanding Magic! Magazine as one of last year’s best international records, and Les Inrockuptibles highlighted it as a lyrical spirit and delicately woven piece of work. In North America, magazines such as Exclaim or reputed on-line publications such as Splendid or Epitonic, outlined its “varied keys of expression”, its well-blended influences –“from Dirty Three to Friends of Dean Martínez, passing through Ennio Morricone, they said–, and the “breath of fresh air” it meant to all those who feel “somewhat weary of the limits that pop and rock impose on themselves”. As an epilogue to “Quitamiedos” Refree supported The Zephyrs, Neil Halstead and Migala, and played in places such as Portugal and Russia. The two concerts in Moscow surprised a stunned audience who thought they’d seen the “Catalan Radiohead”, as was stated by a TV report on National television channel TV3, which sent their cameras out to the Russian capital. But none of this had prepared us in the least for a record like “Nones”, Refree’s new release. “Nones”: “Nones” is not an “on-the-scene” record, nor the logical result of talent, work and inspiration serving the traditional modernity of our little independent world, –where one has to continuously boast new points of view in order to be noticed, and labelling styles equal those of a supermarket attendant. Neither is it an “alternative” or “adolescent” album. It is actually an explosion that keeps a balanced appearance; the reflection of a dramatic maturity crisis that leaves us with a bitter aftertaste. Trumpets, violins, bass guitar, an omnipresent piano, together with a touch of electric fits and a few sound effects –sober and experimental at times– don’t distract us one bit from the final intention of Raül Fernandez, on whom poetry has grown as a beard. Framed by artists that range from Jaume Sisa, Dominique A and Le Mans, to the “experimental” 70s side of Claudio Baglioni or Joan Manuel Serrat, the album’s influences and coincidences are best subliminal. An immediate reference to Dominique A, Migala, Etienne Daho, Leo Ferré or Georges Moustaki is unavoidable, but it is equally easy to realise that none of these were taking into account in the elaboration of the 12 songs that make up “Nones” (by the way, it’s a Catalan expression used in childrens language when you cradle them to sleep). To talk of influences, classic songwriting, chanson or post-folk seems meaningless, when it is patently clear that the aim of the record is to extract the maximum out of a creatively inspired moment. Here, we should pay special attention to the rich instrumentation of the record –from the dark to the luminous–; the result of working with a fixed band instead of just using casual collaborators. In many songs of the record, which greatly succeeds in not being excessively eclectic nor merely ornamental, we hear the beautiful and melancholic voice of Irene Tremblay –“Aroah”, as the guitar of Olivier Mellano, a Dominique A regular. The front cover is by Francoiz Breut, who, as always, combines brutality and innocence. “Nones” is the product of a cross between Mediterranean tradition and the tones and keys of jazz. While most of the Spanish bands source from Anglo-Saxon influences, Refree looks towards Europe. France, Italy and Catalonia seem to be the ideal locations for Raül Fernandez’s tunes and moving lyrics: the blank paper crisis, a beheaded rat in the cellar, a father who lies awake waiting for his daughter to return from a party, the ending of youth, single mothers and domestic disasters of ranging emotional and romantic intensity...Themes that Refree cap without being neither soft nor sarcastic or devoid of parody, in the way of a non-electronic Magnetic Fields, disillusioned by life and future. Or as if Nacho Vegas had never read Dennis Cooper or Raymond Carver, nor listened to the Bad seeds. In “El hueco” (“the space”) –that talks about looking for a comfortable space to be lonely in, a space where one can remember and understand the past– is a small homage to the writer Belén Gopegui and her novel “Questione di scala”. A sure thing is that Raül Fernandez –who sings both in Spanish and Catalan– takes what he says and does very seriously. Listening to “Nones” is an experience that compares to watching one of those films which echo in your mind and your heart as you leave the cinema, or to reading a significant book –and not precisely for its metaphors and adjectives–, and, of course, it means enjoying a series of songs (of sharp lyrics and carefully arranged tunes, both in their richness and simplicity) that are as truthful as they are faithful to reality. Although it’s a fact that a poet is everything but poetical, records like this have driven some people to write about music. Just as records like this have given some people a reason to stop writing about music.

	VV.AA. Acuarela. Películas musicales DVD [noisdvd01] Features: Estratexa (fragmentu), Take a Look y Qué nińo soy (MANTA RAY), Myriam, la primera, Recuerdos y Come Home (AROAH), Al debalu (MUS), Autómata (VIVA LAS VEGAS), Caer, rodar (DIARIU), Voz de radio virtual en la casa de las afueras (EMAK BAKIA), NH3 light, Merche* y Los Carteles (Sr. Chinarro), The guilt (MIGALA) and the documentary "Estratexa". Length: 79 minutes. Multizone.

	The Zephyrs A Year to the Day Cd [nois1035]

	Jacques Roses for Ashes CD [nois035] At this point, doing an exhaustive follow-up of Anthony Reynolds' career -of his many projects as well as his work as a solo artist, would involve such a large amount of empirical data that it seems to be an absurdly impossible task. So, let's talk about the hard facts and keep it short: Reynolds became famous as the leader of Jack, and produced much respected records: his debut "Pioneer Soundtracks", "The Jazz Age" or "The End of the Way It's Always Been", and EPs such as the highly amusing "La Belle et la Discotheque" (Acuarela, 2001). As a member of Jacques, the alter ego he created with another Jack -Matthew Scott in this case, Reynolds has cruised labels like I Records o Setanta; their résumé boasts a fair number of 7" and EPs, as well as albums such as "To Stars". The "Romantic" EP (Acuarela, 2002), a renewal of their commitment to timeless and classical inspiration, was Jacques' last step. After that, led by a British fondness for the medium format, Jacques have taken one step further in their restless career with "Roses for Ashes". Still with Acuarela, the five songs in this new release are faithful to the guidelines Reynolds has conscientiously set: class, utterly elegant decadence and capricious shifting (embracing soul, techno pop or recited poetry). In "Tuesday's child" he develops a personal white version of black music, silky and romantic, and then strikes suddenly with "Banished by the Underground, Hunted by the Overground" and its shy noisiness -not because of what it says, but because of what it insists on hiding. Reynolds' then dares to go and corrupt Hal David and Burt Bacharach with "Silverblues", a swampy ballad which he turns into a choky and needy lament. "Butterbaby" starts and finishes with shy pop, but turns cheekily addictive towards the middle, and as a conclusion, the song that names the album wraps Oriental vocals in misty cloud sounds. But on top of everything else -Jack and Jacques, folk and blues, pop and cheeky eighties style, there will always be the voice, the pose and the attitude of a man for whom life is music; life is also Reynolds' best way of staging what a great star he is and will always be. He deserves it.

	Emak Bakia Frecuencias de un rojo devastador CD-álbum [nois1034] The third album of EMAK BAKIA has just been released. The trio, formed by Abel Hernández and Coque Yturriaga (both are also members of Migala), together with David Fernández, present us with a work titled "Frecuencias de un rojo devastador" (Frequencies of a devastating red). A compilation of 14 stirring, poetical and agonizing songs, the album is a puzzle of sounds and images that remind us of cut'n'paste, Matt Elliot, Hood, hip hop, the Warp label or "indietronic". It is probably one of the best albums of the year 2003, from a group who has admirers amongst people like Piano Magic, Ian Crause o Thalia Zedek, and whose "Jane", "Después" (After) and last year's CD-EP "Un Cuerpo Extrańo" ("an unidentified body") -one of the most outstanding in 2002, according to magazines such as Rockdelux, were highly acclaimed by reviewers. This "Frecuencias de un rojo devastador" comes in, at the best possible moment; after a lengthy experience both at home and en route. The new album casts a sidelong glance at past discography, but tries to stay clear from any tumbles. Although it starts and finishes with "La telarańa de sus ojos" ("The Spiderweb Eyes") and "Vista aérea del viaje a Tsukiji" ("Aerial View of the Trip to Tsukiji"), two pieces of introverted acoustic folk, the band leaves its most classical traits to one side for the rest of the album. It deepens in the use of abstraction and hip-hop constructions, without straying too far from the main tune, or from whatever it is that actually makes the tracks so personal. In this case, the vocals are secondary, but unexpectedly take the lead or the stage and throw you when you least expect it. The distinctive keyboards that marked the start of the band are still there, yet tarnished, in many occasions, by a dark and cold leitmotif. To sum up, the album opens a new path for restless and excitable minds that see music as an unavoidable remedy for their unique perception of the world. "Frecuencias de un rojo devastador" searches, dazes you, moves you, wanders, returns, rebounds, discovers and tells a story. All in one.

	Julie Doiron / Okkervil River split-album CD-álbum [nois1033] Listening to this split CD is like watching someone rise, naked, from bed in the morning, laze around the house for a few hours, gradually don formal dress, walk outside, and get hit by a car. It traverses, in a leisurely 39 minutes, the distance between the softest whispers and the loudest screams, encompassing at either pole the lullaby and the murder ballad. It also displays modern folk music in both contemplative and ecstatic modes, as a soft tracery of whispers and strums and as a ragged tapestry of trembling strings, simmering organ, and tumultuous gusts of distortion. Julie Doiron, who starts things off, began her career as the 18-year-old bassist for Canadian lo-fi darlings Eric's Trip, with whom she recorded three acclaimed albums for Sub Pop before striking out on her own after the group's demise in 1996. Doiron's second solo outing, Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars, netted Doiron Canada's prestigious Juno award in 2000; since then, she has published a book of her photographs with New Brunswick's Broken Jaw Press and released three subsequent albums on Jagjaguwar. Doiron's half of this split - five solo performances recorded at her home in the mornings and evenings of December 2002 -represents her most startlingly intimate and unguarded work yet. Where in the past she has either carefully draped her songs in rainy cascades of electric guitars and shimmering keyboards or presented them elegantly spare and immaculately recorded, here Doiron casually sketches out her songs, leaving in fumbling fingers, missed lines, and sounds from the next room (including those of her four children). These new songs find their writer more content than she has perhaps ever appeared on record, singing lullabies to her family, love-songs about sleeping in on snowy November mornings, and affectionate tributes to her favorite musicians. Where Doiron's approach to modern songwriter-based folk is homey and uncluttered, her Jagjaguwar brethren Okkervil River offer instead something more far turbulent. Building on the sound of their critically-praised Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See, this Austin, TX group here mixes skeletal folk, lush chamber pop, and supple rock and roll in service of the literate, uncompromising songs of frontman Will Sheff. "He Passes Number Thirty-Three," a sidelong tribute to missed chances, starts off as delicately as Doiron's whisper-quietest moments before turning into a contemplative ballad and, just as quickly, a towering prog-soul singalong. And then, once the distortion subsides, the paired murder songs hit and Okkervil River promptly steer this split out of the sun room and onto the chopping block. Coming so quickly on the heels of Doiron's intimate strummings, these songs (one of them a version of the American traditional "Omie Wise") are an alarming but aesthetically bracing change, the kind of weird and welcome surprise that only a split CD can fully deliver.

	Manta Ray Take a Look Cd-EP [nois033]

	Sr. Chinarro El ventrílocuo de sí mismo CD-álbum [nois1032] Sr. Chinarro's most recent work is a closing chapter for the frantic activity that has dominated the last two years -two albums and two singles. Antonio explains the temperament and harshness of the projects that followed "La pena máxima" by saying: "all the previous songs to 'La opera…' were woven on a mesh of uneasiness. I decided to be direct and expose the mesh, I didn't feel like weaving". But paradoxically, and in line with the constant emotional and stylistic turnarounds of his restless character, Luque has set aside a dynamic and glossy sound for "El ventrílocuo de sí mismo": something like the perfect mix between "Brotherhood" (New Order), and the first homonymous album of The Smiths, providing it can be said, at this point, that Sr. Chinarro sounds more or less like something other than Sr. Chinarro. Ten songs of lyrical and ironic pop that sum up all the learning and musical knowledge Antonio Luque has been acquiring for years. "El ventrílocuo de sí mismo" is, without doubt, one of his most brilliant and inspired records. Satanic hearts, balls of San Vito, volcanic pans, satanic wines, fools with pencils and workers in tuxedos arrange meetings in compositions that have been described as "customary", "surreal" and even "purely mathematical". A lot has been said about his style as a writer. One can easily find the echoes of Paolo Conte, Robert Smith, Ian Curtis, flamenco music, Kafka, the Mediterranean, popular festivities and the sad thoughtfulness of someone who cannot tell jokes or dance sevillanas, despite living at the centre of all the merriment. In many ways, his lyrics evoke the secret Andalusia of beach huts, old schoolmates at the stream, fairs spent dressed in a raincoat, and short-tempered parents with empty wallets. Domestic life and the absurdity of adult life seem to have heavily influenced his most recent writing. As he confessed in an interview for the French web page Popnews.com, Luque feels his new album has been shaped by: "summer, jealousy, B minor, varied humming, diverse humming, an unfriendly folklore, the records I like, and myself".

	Manta Ray Estratexa Vinilo 180 gramos [nois1031LP]

	Manta Ray Estratexa cd [nois1031] Truman Capote said it through Santa Teresa: “There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers”. So there was people asking for Manta Ray to return to rock, and their new album goes so much further than that. When they started as a Spanish independent band, we knew that the hole existed because they were just filling it: in “With Love And Squalor” (from the Subterfuge Ep “Escuezme”, in 1994) we saw raw noise rock with bluesy tradition in the same way that made Afghan Whigs or Come so good to everybody. Their first album, self-titled, was a shock and also their live acts, intelligent and ambitious. And always looking for the best teachers: at “Diminuto Cielo” -their first album with Astro, the record label that carried them from then to 2001- Manta Ray played with Spanish cult (and mad and sinister and... ) singer Corcobado, being their tour together something really special. Then the five guys from Xixón (Asturies), after letting a couple of member go finally set up as a band with José Luis García singing and playing guitar, Nacho Vegas (Migala) playing guitars and effects, Nacho Álvarez as bassist, Xabel Vegas on the drum thing and Frank Rudow playing each thing that you can imagine it’s possible to play. And they reached a crossroad: maybe in Tolouse there’s an answer through the best European rock band of the nineties, Diabologum. “La Última Historia de Seducción” is a split-cd where both bands share knowledge and music, and the best excuse for touring both sides of the frontier. In 1998 they gave us “Pequeńas Puertas que se Cierran, Pequeńas Puertas que se Abren”, a catalogue of their new ambitions and open-mindedness. That summer they played the Benicŕssim Festival with Yo La Tengo and PJ Harvey amongst others, and respected stars like Sonic Youth got shocked by their powerful concert: they’ve grown and we’re happy to see it. And not only us, because it’s normal for Manta Ray to be designed as the ‘best national live act of 199X, year by year on the independent press (like the Rock the Lux magazine), and it’s clear that they’re the most important band in the history of Spanish indie music (with Migala maybe, the only other Spanish indie band well-known outside our country). They recorded a single for Amsterdam VPRO Radio Station, but that’s not an ending: 99 it’s the release date for two curious albums, “Score”, a cinematic-tribute featured in 36rd Festival de Cine de Gijón, and “Manta Ray Vs. Cosmos”, where they let their songs be remixed by the hungry technoheads of the Cosmos crew. Nacho Vegas then decided to start with his solo career and to help Migala. But Manta Ray don’t stop: with the basque producer Kaki Arkarazo at the mixing desk, 2000 “Esperanza” (hope) don’t give it up of course, more rock in the rock edge, more further in the experimental sides... But they don’t want to feel alone and a year after they released “Heptágono” hand-to-hand with Schwarz, a really good psychedelic band from Murcia, and many other projects began... For example, Viva Las Vegas, a band based in the José Luis García and Frank Rudow duo, where they explore in experimental and minimal music (but always focused on a almost bluesy way of song). They released last year a split cd with Chris Brokaw (from Come), and in the 2002 Tanned Tin edition -a festival in Santander, North of Spain- they did a gig with him. Their debut album was out this year too. And we can’t forget that in Tanned Tin 2001 Frank and Nacho Álvarez joined Thalia Zedek (the other half in Come’s brain) in a gig that went so well that they decided to continue it as an all-over-Spain tour, and a final gig at Benicŕssim Festival. Finally on his own, proud and ready, Manta Ray get a step right back to jump so much further: through Acuarela Discos (the Spanish record label that put Migala, Mus or Aroah out of Spain) and again with Kaki Arkarazo, they give us “Estratexa”, an extraordinary rock (almost punk!) journey closer to the cult heroes Suicide or the contemporary math horror from Trans Am or the french genious Programme than to the indie rock of early nineties. “Take a Look” will get you scared by it’s brutal rythm and spiral bass, and screaming and clautrophobia... And “Estratexa” (the song) isn’t less agressive with it’s fuzzy bass and powerful drums. And what’d be “Qué Nińo Soy” but another frighten self-criticism hardcore spit? With “Asalto” you’ll need no lyrics to imagine what’s happening there, with those guitars up & down... And “Monotonía” (gutural voice among sick and sexual bass hits) and “Ébola” (new rock’n’roll? Ha!) are explicit from it’s names. Only through “Ańada” we’ll see not so much r.p.m. and landscape and ambient feeling. The double-ending “Rosa Parks” and “Ausfahrt” is thoughful and mathematic, more focused into the sound and less into the (dark) emotion. But don’t get wrong with “Another Man”, because it ends in a way that didn’t promised to. Finally, this album is a take no prisoners effort of martial rythm out of breath. And when you think that they’re being reflexive, get scary because they’re building fallen cathedrals. Take care. Get out of their way. It’s the best advice.

	VV.AA. Acuarela Songs 2 3 cd [nois1029] Acuarela Songs 2 is a tribute, a melting pot and a briefing point. Last year’s “Acuarela Songs” was a 2CD album that compiled songs from Spanish and international bands that used the word ‘Acuarela’ (ie: watercolour) in their songs. Voices from different places and different languages that somehow paid homage to the label. The album was highly acclaimed by the critics (mostly on the States and France), and now Acuarela releases the second volume, a three-step way to celebrate its ninth birthday. One. Melancholic hope and deep emotion: brought by the Austin-based duo The Windsor for the Derby formed by Dan Matz and Jason McNeely -plus collaborations- who have recorded for hip labels like Young God, Aesthetics or Trance Syndicate. Followed by a track from ex Come voice and guitar Thalia Zedek, who shows us her most intimate rock. Natural Snow Buildings published by the Paris-based cd-r distro company Hinah, give us a warm little song made with lazy guitars and emotive cellos. Not like Experience, the new band from Michel Cloup the guy that was the compositive 50% in European cult band Diabologum. Last year they burnt out our venues and best-of-the-year lists. Rock! Jack from the UK tell us a new tale on basic techno and style crazyness (with frontman Anthony Reynolds holding an emotional flag), while Nacho Vegas, former Manta Ray guitarist and nowadays member of the well-known spanish band Migala, works with Mónica Vacas (singer of the band Mus, who are also based on Asturias) on a new folkie Diariu song. From the States, one of the best dreamy pop bands, L’Altra, picture colours through a Donovan classic, and french man but Tucson resident Amor (50% of Calexico friends Amor-Belhom Duo) sings a classic pop comedy. Spanish indie stars Migala who know really well the shades that exist between black and white, do an amazing instrumental version of a ghost song they’ve found in the remains of a fire. Man, the trio from Nantes (France), deliver a delicious and mediterranean instrumental acoustic folk piece, published on Les Disques du Soleil et de l’Acier. From Boston, four piece Victory At Sea, give us a tense and dramatic rock ballad with the stunning voice of Mona Elliot, just between The Black Heart Procession and Rachel’s. And James William Hindle proves why he works for Badman Recording Co. and why he appeared on the John Denver’s tribute compiled by Mark Kozelek: his classic folk reveals that he’s a master of tiny emotions. The same goes for Jack’s alter-ego, Jacques, who finishes this first step with a minimal masterpiece. Two. No concession: Manta Ray, the best Spanish rock band, gets monochromatic and rock the place with the first electrifying chapter in this second part of the tale. Together in history with Victory At Sea through Spore, 27 is a three-member band with force and sense, power and harmonic colour. But not with the tradition of British most secret pop diamond, Bitter Springs, who make clear why the word pop has to be written with capital letters when is used in the same sentence as their name. Just like the greatest french chansonnier of the nineties, Dominique A, that shows that he’s far away from orthodoxy. The Zephyrs (from Scotland) gave us last year their shoegazing pop pearls, and this is another thrilling one. Spanish band (from Valencia) Polar, with a long and full of great records career, show us here a beautiful indie pop hit, and The Strugglers walk on by a path that’s not less good for being well-known: Randy Bickford sings a classic country rock song that we’re going to love. Next step is the delicious and dramatic chamber pop music from a Vancouver duo call P:ano, Nick Krgovich and Larissa Loyva (here with Mariko Molander on viola), and Grupo Salvaje is a dark homage to Pekinpah’s Wild Bunch, in classic rock format with lyrics from Jesús Llorente (boss at Acuarela) and with musicians like Ernesto González (from Spanish cult indie band Pribata Idaho). Just in time to let Yann Tambour, last french genious, break his dark ambient electronica solo project, Encre, with a band that enlarges and sets fire to his stuff. Mus show us a raw demo version of a song from their recent album, “El Naval”, and Lisabö, the basque hardcore intelligentsia, let the record flow to a point where Guimo, five people from Bordeaux, close it up sightseeing the 4AD legacy with a melancholy landscape pop song. Three. True History: Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) gets on his way and introduces us to a dark and hipnotic nightmare. After that, St. Louis quartet The Potomac Accord gets heavy with an epic rock that translates Sunny Day Real Estate to landscaping, while Anamude (Ana Hortillosa) reveals from San Francisco her love to Shakespeare, John Fahey and Robert Johnson, via minimal folk pop. Then L’Altra repeat in Acuarela Songs singing in spanish over epic electronics and describe watercolour walking on foreign lands just like the german Green Apple Sea who move on american rock ground. Nicolas Laureau, co-founder of the great parisian label Prohibited, and former Prohibition and NLF3 member, goes solo as Don Nino with a minimal and bluesy folk piece, and Cynthia Nelson (Retsin, Ruby Falls) plays with Michael Littleton a warm pop song, a tribute to Sophie Drinker. Raül Fernández, (charming member of Élena, Romodance, Sitcom...), plays with friends in his solo project, Refree, and NYC technopop duo Vitesse who drop another elegant and retro bomb, just in time for Antonio Luque, a.k.a. Sr. Chinarro (probably the best Spanish pop band that survived from the early 90s) to play a song that could be in his last Ep “La Tapia del Perejil”. Brooklyn trio Timesbold reflect its watercolor over a dangerous and dark pop, and Transmissionary Six, probably a new name for you, present a song signed by Terri Moeller (Walkabouts) and Paul Austin (Willard Grant Conspiracy), and it’s recorded by Kevin Suggs, so you know, it rocks. Finally, the Spanish band from San Fernando (Cádiz), Ursula, get their hands on the Acuarela catalog to build a dark mosaic with samples and stolen texts. Definetely, the best ending...

	Thalia Zedek You´re a big girl now mini cd [nois032] Thalia Zedek has been making music for two decades, in bands such as Dangerous Birds, Uzi, Live Skull and Come. During a summer 2002 heat wave she sandwiched a few days in between European tour dates to record six songs with her musician friends in engineer Andy Hong's air conditionless living room. The hot result: four peerless originals and two covers, one by Bob Dylan whose title she borrows for this EP. Thalia once again proves, following her first solo effort “Been Here and Gone” on Matador Records, that whatever she applies her voice and vision to becomes part of a body of seemingly timeless musical works. There is an air of authority in its world-weariness, a certain sang froid that resists the musical trends of the day. Her songs sound lived in, thoroughly hers and of the moment. And it is always astounding how surefooted she is in choosing cover material and making it sound as if it's always had a place in the Zedek canon. The Velvet Underground's “Candy Says”, written by Lou Reed about Warhol-circle celebrity transvestite Candy Darling, is a natural for Thalia with its theme of alienation from the self and others. Such gender-bending subject matter plays itself out even more subtly in her moving version of Dylan's “You're a Big Girl Now”: just make the conceptual jump to song narrator as woman. Here the theme is one of lost love, commonplace in Thalia's originals here as well. That's why, with such a preponderance of depressing lyrical concerns in her music, it's such a hoot to see this package's cover photo of Thalia lighting up a big fat stogie. You're a big girl now indeed. Delightful, yes, but a pose also suggesting the confidence with which she tackles her own songwriting. “Everything Unkind”, “No Substitutions”, and “No Fire” are simply as somberly grand as anything Thalia has written. And “JJ8”, despite its almost sprightly gait in comparison to the other song tempos, still sounds quite centered as it recounts even direr circumstance. Thalia's band features immensely talented and long-favored folks: Daniel Coughlin from ex-band Come, Mel Lederman of Victory at Sea, and David Michael Curry of The Willard Grant Conspiracy. They impart to the material all the eloquence and gravitas needed to render these marvelous songs Zedek standards.

	Greg Weeks Slightly West Cd-EP [nois029] Greg Weeks is an acoustic folk musician whose definition of the genre has grown terribly askew. Rock and experimental elements infuse much of his nocturnal daydream tinkering, provoking musics which at times lull, challenge, and undermine his listeners and their expectations of what the disheveled singer-songwriter is all about. The Rochester (NY) native´s songs sound like lost chamber folk treasures of the late-'60s psychedelic era. Combining finger-picked guitar, Moog, Mellotron, harmonium, and string arrangements, he creates dense, thoughtful songs reminiscent of Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, and Tim Buckley. The new Acuarela EP is all continental drift and Morricone flash symphonics, unfurling fluidic-like under a darkening moon. Past efforts have struck dread in the hearts of the chamber-folk set, with _Awake Like Sleep_'s world weariness challenging the sun to shine each morning (and thankfully losing this stand-off). The dark and dreamy album evokes the haunting work of Nico and even pays homage to her sublime version of Jackson Browne's "These Days" with an opening song with the same title.

	Vitesse You win again, gravity! cd [nois1030] Forth full-length album (with an exclusive extra track only for Europe) from mysterious American studio duo, sensual and sparkling synth-pop majesty. Songs drawn through a downpour of heavily layered analogue keyboard fortitude, chiming guitar filigree and spacey feedback sirens, delicately programmed retro rhythms, and a Stephin Merritt/Ian Curtis-inspired lyrical and vocal nonchalance… A sound so intimate and personal it’s been deemed “acoustic music powered by electricity” and “pop music through a soft lens”. Vitesse is all about classic Factory Records heyday. Rhythmatist/arranger Joshua Klein is a former member of Aden and Toulouse. Hewson Chen is a member of Alsace Lorraine. Previously Vitesse has released two full-length album on Hidden Agenda, 'A Certain Hostility' in 1998 and 'Chelsea 27099' in 2000. Last year Vitesse released their third LP, “What Cannot be but is", exclusively on Acuarela. Featuring covers of OMD and Bruce Springsteen, it was a jewel of introspective techno-pop, with lyrics about tearful eyes, time's passing, the need for redemption, dissatisfied hearts and the sensation that the world is changing too quickly. "You win again, gravity!" consist in 16 sentimental, dark and touching songs that sink in from the first listen, thanks to straightforward melodies and simple structures…