Everyone predicted the bursting of the festival bubble for 2023, and it turns out that it has exploded in our faces. And so much so that at this point it already seems that by 2024 there are few free places left on the calendar for that summer that now, with this and climate change, lasts six months. And if we continue with the explosions, the year we left has confirmed that of southern bands like Bogotá burns o La Plazuela, real rockets of our scene. We also celebrate that this fireworks have been causing a chain of detonations and not only the easy gunpowder projects have taken off. We talk about Goodbye Loves, María José Llergo, True FaunOh The Trinity, our best album from the South. A Chinese proverb says that legitimate gold is not afraid of fire. Don’t let the noise stop.
The southern scene always offers us a list of albums with the same route in substance and form as the national one. From bands uploaded to that new wave like The Trinity and that “Sheriff Playa” o “Dramatic” of Mary of John that get wet on that shore between the generational and the timeless. Classics that do not fail like Jota and Lapido or that truth that avant-garde artists have found in their roots, is the case of Dani Llamas, Pyramid, Crudo Pimento o Cristian de Moret. Then there are albums to remember the year 2023 as the year of takeoff Lord Malvo o Children Fighting. Even so, you know, they are all who are, but not all who are are.
1
THE TRINITY
Sheriff Playa
Con Sheriff Playa The people of Malaga put their feet in the sea water to refresh their proposal and, without stopping getting wet, they return to the neighborhood to continue colliding with what surrounds them. Carlangas fosters that novelty in the sound of La Trinidad that distinguishes them from the rest of their generation. It is clear that making just another garage pop album was not part of La Trinidad’s plans, and their second LP clearly shows us that the imagination of Sixto Martín and company, once again, does not understand chronological gaps or generational barriers. As if they were DEVOs on the Costa del Sol, they will transport us from one point to another within its exquisite referential geography.
2
MARY OF JOHN
Dramatic
Heart and courage have led María de Juan, who else, to complete this bold reincarnation of the copla in the current sound and urban imagination. A movie from before, with characters from now. An album that confirms that kind look at the roots of music in the entire new music scene.
Jota and Zulueta have always had a tacit connection. Far from being carried away by that somewhat sordid curse commonly associated with Zulueta, the man from Granada has found in these unpublished videos doses of warmth, nostalgia, romanticism, happiness, depth, optimism and passion for art.
After two albums where she rediscovered a new artistic path and her own voice, drawing on those roots that she always had so close to home, Dani Llamas surpasses herself, and it was difficult, with Sangre, the third round where she lets herself spring forth, freer than ever. , that deep red liquid that runs through his veins.
5
PYRAMID
Campo Modular
We have been looking forward to Pirámide’s full-length debut. The Sevillian trio signs an album that speaks of localism in a universal key, of folklore through electronics and of the countryside and life through modular synthesis. Tradition/avant-garde, intimacy/social commitment and reflection/celebration.
6
LORD MALVO
Obstacle race
Another of the debutants of the year. Lord Malvo’s is a diary of songs that brilliantly avoid commonplaces. With this album, the band from Malaga becomes one of the references in the new wave of Andalusian pop along with La Trinidad, Colectivo Da Silva or Vera Fauna.
7
STONE
At first blood
The Granada native is in good shape in his ninth solo album. An album that draws on the deepest musical heritage of the United States, but at the same time his strong and clear authorial imprint shines. His best work of the last fifteen years, on par with albums like Cartografía.
8
CRISTIAN DE MORET
Red Horse
Second gallop, freer, more ambitious and risky. His electric quejío extends and merges with the sister roots of black and Arabic music at times, crossing landscapes brimming with electronica and rock in vein. A sound alchemy that bubbles and flows with the naturalness of its own breathing.
No Drama It is as is. An explosion of liberation for Marian Frutos, but this time in body and soul. No platitudes and self-help rhetoric. The woman from Murcia has always sought inner peace in Kuve’s songs, now she declares war on everything that involves contention and she does it by burning soles.
10
EXCURSION
Love stories and other shit
Calavera Records
From living fire to embers, from passion to redemption. Eskorzo’s eighth album delves into the wounds of war, leaning on the shoulders of friends like Rozalén, La Pegatina or the Brazilians Francisco, el hombre. A toast to all the shit that life brings us.
11
CRUDO Pimento
Carmen 13:7
It has been repeated many times that there is no way to classify Crudo Pimento’s proposal, and this time the cliché is real. They metabolize a thousand references (from dark wave to flamenco, oriental music, kraut, dark folk, electric mantras…) Yes, but in the end they distill something wildly their own.
12
CHILDREN FIGHTING
Territory
We have always felt a weakness for Javier Bolivar’s songs or rather, for his exploration. Territory It is that new atlas of feelings with which the man from Granada starts us on his new journey. With honesty as the cardinal point and Jaime Beltrán at the helm.
13
DELLAFUENTE
Tears for another day
When one listens Tears for another day You have the strange feeling that you are looking at Dellafuente’s first album. Dellafuente is that it seems to always be born anew with each release, perhaps that is why it maintains the purity that others have lost.