Harvest of maturity and youth
Like every year, the albums by groups from the Valencian Community that are on the list of best national albums are not included in the local list so as not to duplicate them. This year those included in the national list are La Pena No Es Comfortable (Mushroom Pillow) by Jimena Amarillo and All Are Correct (Montgrí) by Los Manises. In the local harvest there has been, as always, a great variety of styles, of high-quality albums that have had a good impact inside and outside the Valencian Community. After the votes of the collaborators of the Mondo Sonoro Comunidad Valenciana edition, they have won first place on the Tercer Sol list (Almirante, María Inglés, Raúl Pérez, Miguel Molina) with their album Presentimiento (BCore / Carcosa / Discodrome) , for its quality, progression and projection. The album, which came out in February, was recorded, mixed and produced by Santi García at the Ultramarinos Costa Brava studios, with the cover illustration by Joel González Salgado. Among the 25 best LPs there are rock, power pop, urban music, folk, electro pop, punk, songwriting or shoegaze among other styles, but what has continued to hit the most for a few years in the Valencian Community is post punk.
1 – Third Sun
Feeling
BCore / Carcosa Records / Discodrome
POST PUNK / Layers of sounds with airs and reminiscences of noise pop, post punk and space rock are perfectly intertwined with the penetrating, whispering and dark voice of the Admiral, along with rhythms that capture you from beginning to end in songs that usually have an in crescendo with an apotheotic or slow ending. Internal energy that transports you to a space of catharsis that borders on ecstasy.—A. Mendez
2 – Guilt
POST-PUNK / A set of songs with a certain luminous darkness and pop, melancholic and sad, with electronics and piercing guitars and forceful drums is what sounds in this new release with a change of vocalist to continue in the wave of melodic post punk of the earth.—A. Mendez
3 – Exfan
POWER POP / It seems that they are still determined to get each song a hit, a single, and here they achieve it, based on Pat’s guitar hits and Tommy’s pounding on the drums. If they did not exist, they would have to be invented, they are an essential power duo, with their own, recognizable and authentic sound.—A. Mendez
4 – Holy Week
ALT-ROCK / Self-defense as a reaction to violence and instability is the concept, with a compact and heterogeneous sound with songs full of rage, protest against violence and instability, and against patriarchy in the world of music, a declaration of intentions.—A. Mendez
5 – Technical Orthopedics
PUNK / Abrasive guitars and a splintered voice dictate a dark imaginary that resolves as an escape route or irreverent scream. Sharp and rough, it cuts through from end to end like a knife, unceremoniously. To jump into the void, or dance until you lose strength.—Andrea Giménez
6 – Sansidro
MEDITERRANEAN FOLK/ Mediterranean and Sahel flavors together with a light sixties psychedelia with a tropical flavor, to release some original, calm songs, with the pause that comes from living day to day without expecting much from the future. Its rhythmic silences with a flamenco air are magical.—A. Mendez
7 – Extra season
POP / Miriam Ferrero and Paula Barberán have taken charge of the flagship band of Valencian punk-pop, with a series of songs full of melodies, sisterhood, controlled hooliganism and exaltation of friendship in equal parts, along with that contained rage of today’s youth.—A. Mendez
8 – The Maria
INDIE FOLK / Songs that act as modern romances set to music that tell stories about his past, the future of traditional music, love and his transformation as an artist. A risky, brilliant and transgressive variant of the popular song adapting it to the 21st century.—Àngel Bort
9 – Sandra Monfort
ELECTRONIC FOLK / Uniting tradition and modernity is not easy, Sandra has achieved it by taking the essence of popular folklore, including pasodobles, boleros, bachatas, some ballads and mixing it with electronics and pop to obtain odes to melodic empowerment of absolute maturity.—Àngel Bort
10 – Gazella
SHOEGAZE / Experimentation and the most danceable rhythms of the nineties come together with a warm and melancholic voice, creating dreamlike songs that change rhythm little by little. A breath of young and fresh air floods the listener with dark and poetic lyrics to escape reality.—A. Mendez
11 – The Zigarros
ROCK / From the most classic, hooligan and spirited rock, they have moved on to songs with more arrangements and singing about love, always with their hallmark within rock and roll, along with that spirit of the 70s that they have always sucked from, updating it with rage and genius. That rockers also mature.—A. Mendez
12 – Electric Hearts
ROCK / Its title summarizes the spirit that permeates it. An album with soul and bile; intimate, introspective, born from the heart but also from the gut, from that uncertain place in the anatomy where bad blood accumulates. Energetic and disturbing, it does not reveal its true depth.—Javier Pérez
13 – Annacrusa
ROCK / Record born from the bowels, revealing the lights and shadows of an eternal search for the path to follow in the melancholic tone that is already its own. He travels through the raw passage of time, referring to fears but without becoming depressed. One step further in its sound cosmos.—Andrea Giménez
14 – Doctor Divago
ROCK / Exudes contained rage, energy and a good dose of anger. Difficult to choose between the ten gems on the album. An album with character, punch, adrenaline, unbridled, disturbing, elegant, precious and a bit of bad temper. The best of the doctor (depending on tastes) but undeniably blameless.—Javier Pérez
15 – Virgin of the Periphery
Crime in Spain Vol. 1
PSYCHOTROPIC FOLK/ There is no possible hiding place in an album that smells like a permanent hangover, full of distorted guitars and omnipresent keyboards, where Mr. Perfumme and Violeta Ausina sing in a desperate struggle to ascend from the nocturnal alcoholic hells of a road movie.—Raquel g.
16 – Maluks
URBAN MUSIC / Tropical electro music made for singing and dancing based on dancehall beats, Latin rhythms, urban, reggae and even techno. Fresh and empowered songs that talk about love, nostalgia, violence against women and struggle, with catchy and singable choruses.—Àngel Bort
17 – Colomet
POP URBÀ / Personal themes such as family, friends, love and heartbreak are present in compositions of electronic pop and urban music, sung melodically and sweetly in Valencian, which give off good vibes and joy. Youth, progression and good work go hand in hand.—Àngel Bort
18 – Johnny B Zero
I don’t like Rock & Roll
Actúa Música Entertainment
POP ROCK / They have gained followers by switching to Spanish, with songs with similar structures to those of their other albums, without complexes or fear of showing emotions and sincerity. The songs contain a little more pop as a whole, but without losing the importance of the guitars.—A. Mendez
19 – Palmer
ELECTRONIC / Subtlety and intimacy are presented as dance pills, a party for the senses made with care, with lyrics that taste like Valencian folklore and social consciousness and updated reminiscences of bakalao, trance, synthwave and hardbass. An ear pill.—A. Mendez
20 – Carolina Otero & The Someone Elses
POP / Switching to Spanish has been a success, and so has pop. Although the guitars continue to have great strength, they have achieved a more crystalline sound, with subtlety and a certain fragility, which together with a great command of language, make these songs become pop odes from another era.—A. Mendez
21 – Blue Boi
ELECTRONICS / Fractures the foundations of the instrumental, but embraces them warmly in the lyrical part. The duo imprints an iota of hope and resolution. A work that keeps the pulse of experimentation, even more synthetic, towards the beam of light of vital unlocking.—Andrea Giménez
22 – Platz
ALTERNATIVE ROCK / A certain adolescent rebellion of those who have everything but not enough is glimpsed in cuts that draw from the 90s, bringing them closer to the present with freshness and self-confidence. Recommended as psychotherapy for the generational dissatisfactions of today’s youth.—A. Mendez
23 – B.O.W
HARD ROCK / From hard rock, to melodic rock, to classic melancholic rock, these veterans from Alicante know what they are doing and they do it well. Forcefulness and versatility, with solid arguments such as the density of his compositions, where rock is the protagonist.—A. Mendez
Chasing Shadows de B.O.W
24 – Ana Zomeño
CANÇÓ D’AUTOR / An optimistic vision of the life of those who want to dedicate themselves fully to music, and who with songs like these, have it easy. With a soft, calm and sweet voice that captivates with its tenderness, just like the luminous music that relaxes the soul with fresh and spring sounds.—A. Mendez
25 – Luis Carrillo
POP ROCK / Of the 10 songs on the album, 8 are reinterpretations of songs that appeared on their albums Raíces and Claroscuro; The remaining two are the ones that give added value to the album: an unreleased song, A mano parte and a version of Vinc d’un poble by the Catalan singer-songwriter Judit Neddermann.—Javier Pérez