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[adrofh]

Last Thursday a I saw The Rolling Stones live for the second time in my life at Rock In Rio Lisboa. 

It was also the occasion to discover Gary Clark Jr., a guy who's defined as the future of "Texas Blues". Here I offer you one of my favorite tracks by him for the time being, called "Please Come Home", it's just wonderfully deep and nostalgic.

[adrofh]

I'm not that much a fan of The Black Eyed Peas, but I just came across on Spotify with that incredible song, produced with Justin Tiberlake, of incredible lyrics and incredible logo called "Where Is The Love".

It's for me a song which brings me many memories from ten years ago, when the MTV was still doing great things, musical things. The lyrics are huge, very touching, denouncing racism, violence, discrimination in a time the States and other countries were in the middle of a war in Irak.

This powerful logo kind of lost presence, but I'm it hasn't been forgotten, for all it represents.

[adrofh]

Some fun.

[adrofh]

Beautiful execution by Lacoste with Disclosure's "You and Me" remix by Flume.

[adrofh]

A perfect jewel I found, live performance of Stevie Wonder's tube Higher Ground by the Red Hot Chili Peppers at David Letterman's show, in 1989 believe, to be back after two months with no posts.

Apart the great interpretation of the song, this video really presents the four members as they are. I saw four times the Peppers live, and I never saw an energy as strong as the one shown in this performance, specially in a barely twenty year old John Frusciante, under I don't know what substances, but above anything feeling the music like few ones do, and a long haired and sober (according to his bio “Scar Tissue“) Anthony Kiedis. And what can we say about Flea? Those plush pants are just unbelievable. And seeing Chad playing standing perfectly the independent, relaxed and funny guy he is. 

It's really impressive, it's pure crazy and funny Peppers from L.A. 

Cheers and happy to be with you guys again,

Adro

[adrofh]

This is Mick Jagger answering some questions on drugs in 1970.

Ironic, showy, not mince words, rebel, himself, and a showman after all.

Of course, lie. But I believe this is a kind of behavior that also makes this guy being idolized. Well, or hated!

Cheers,

Adro.

[adrofh]

Daft Punk + Julian Casablancas = Instant Crush.

Instant Crush. One of the most well received songs of Daft Punk's 2013 mega success “Random Access Memories“, and probably my favorite song of the album.

I would like to start talking about Julian Casablancas. He is the leader of The Strokes, a band that led the resurgence of Rock'n'Roll in the early 2ooo's and which perfectly managed to define an attractive group image, specially through the figure of its singer, of immense charisma and personality. I always believed to triumph in the music industry, you should create a character, or be one... which also will be reflected in your music. The Beatles were the good boys, the Stones the bad ones, Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie the incarnation of the glam move, the makeup by Kiss members and, of course, the robots of Daft Punk, to mention a few ones, are good examples. Added to this, there is that wonderful lyrical potential and stage presence that made of Julian Casablancas one of the most influenceable frontmen of the past decade. What is remarkable too about this man is his courage to innovate, challenging band mates and fans views, by choosing new directions and exploring other territories. Some may like it, some not; and I completely understand the last two albums of The Strokes may disconcert, but even if I prefer the primitive Strokes, I think I'm starting to appreciate this electronic input by Casablancas.

On the other hand are Daft Punk, the French duo who were part of that small vanguard group (with Laurent Garnier, David Guetta, Busy P, among others), in the early 90's in Paris, interested by the house music coming from Chicago and Manchester. They created a real cult to the personality by means of their robot helmets and were from the beginning precursors of the union of electronic music with other music styles. “Homework was to tell rockers techno music was also good. Discovery was to tell techno guys not to neglect rock“, Thomas Bangalter said once. And here is “Random Access Memories“, where we find, mixed with that electronic and techno basis, touches of funk, disco, soul...

Well, Daft Punk and Julian Casablancas were meant to cross paths. And the result is this great melancholic and moving song called “Instant Crush“. And fellas, here is the video, of beautiful production, starring The Strokes singer turned into a military waxwork who falls in love with a pretty shepherdess. It reminds me the story of a French cartoon (with an amazing soundtrack by the way) called Le Roi et l'oiseau (The King and the Mocking Bird), where also two people of different “color“ carry out their love story. Yeah all right, at least they don't finish molten..!

Musically open-minded, of futuristic and fantasy vision, both great artists and huge names in the music world, this definitely is an explosive association.

Cheers!

Adro.

[adrofh]

DEL CIELO A LA TIERRA Y DE LA TIERRA AL CIELO.

De la brillante trompeta salieron llamas doradas que bailaban al son de la descarga de energía vibrante mientras el saxo, soplado con delicadeza, inundaba el auditorio con sus sonidos cálidos y  graves, como si el músico besará a una bella mujer pálida con cabellos de miel. Una pareja que en el ocaso de una tarde otoñal discute por ver quién lleva razón, quien suena más a “razón” haciéndose oír entre sonidos metálicos y cristalinos, llenos de fuerza en un diálogo interminable de fraseos y respuestas que van conformando un bosquejo crepuscular de armonía. El contrabajista era un tío enorme con una gran sonrisa y que no paraba de moverse y sonreír mientras pulsaba fuertemente con sus enormes dedos las gruesas cuerdas de su instrumento, llevando el pulso constante donde se construían los pilares de la música que estaban interpretando. Sonreía completamente satisfecho de sí mismo mientras veía las notas pasar sin seguir ningún pentagrama, era una música que no lo necesitaba y que salía directamente del corazón y de las entrañas, removiendo emociones profundas en el público. Durante la ceremonia los músicos no podían parar de moverse en el escenario poseídos por una efímera sensación de libertad plena, se agitan, se revuelven y tratan de tomar aire mientras continúa el espectáculo ritual, la magia etérea que nos envolvía a todos y que tan difícil era de describir con palabras.

Y el baterista actuaba como un preciso reloj marcando el ritmo pausado de la melodía, cerrando los ojos y dejando caer levemente la cabeza hacía un lado mientras se concentraba e intentaba escuchar atentamente algo que nadie parecía oír. Sus manos parecían tener vida propia ya que cada una marcaba ritmos completamente distintos, daba golpecitos ligeros sobre los platillos que repicaban sin parar mientras que con la otra mano golpeaba la caja terminando en un sonido seco. Iba dibujando unos imprecisos contornos y límites donde campaban con libertad una multitud de colores, flores y peces, que fluían del dúo de trompeta y saxo. Desde un extremo del escenario llega una cascada de notas limpias del piano mientras el pianista, que emulaba a Ray Charles con unas fantásticas gafas de sol, movía con gran velocidad sus manos, que jugaban al gato y al ratón cuando sus dedos acariciaban las teclas. Movía el pie derecho para marcar el ritmo a la par que seguían los acordes al dejar caer ambas manos con fuerza cansadas ya de tanta persecución.  Sonaba “Jazz me Blues” seguida de “I ain't got nobody” como si fueran viejas conocidas que creía nunca haber escuchado pero que tenían una aroma profundamente familiar.

  Es imposible no recordar el intento en esta música de que de repente se parase el tiempo, de ser lo único que importaba y romper barreras buscando otra cosa, llegar a otro lado oculto, una música que intenta transportarnos durante un bello instante del cielo a la tierra y de la tierra al cielo. Al final daba completamente igual las discusiones interminables que tenía el Club de la Serpiente en Rayuela: que fuera “bee bop” o “raggtime”, de Nueva York o de Nueva Orleans, “cool” o “hot”, negro o blanco, Charlie Parker o Louis Amnstrong, parecía que siempre había que elegir entre dos polos opuestos. Simplemente era música que surgía de la improvisación, de lo irrepetible, de lo momentáneo o de lo íntimamente creativo sin necesidad de palabras tristes que separen en cajones solitarios y perfectamente ordenados. Una música que flotaba en el aire durante un escaso tiempo y se desvanecía en la memoria de quienes estábamos, y tenía algo de tristeza ese descubrimiento de que era algo que no había pasado antes y que seguramente no volvería a suceder. El público se dejaba llevar por esa música que contenía colores cálidos, peces dorados y flores de almíbar; cerraban los ojos mientras soñaban como niños grandes mientras sus zapatos cobraban vida propia al seguir el ritmo contagioso al cuál no había quien se resistiera. Los menos miraban sentados con actitud distraída, aburridos, deseosos de volver a leer el periódico en la seguridad de su hogar y ver mañana las crónicas de cualificados críticos sobre la opinión que merecía el concierto. Gente muy seria, gente con corbata y gente muy gris que le molestaba la inconsciencia de los cronopios, su entusiasmo desbocado, su despreocupación por arañar esa libertad ingenua y disfrutando de estar ahí en ese  momento preciso. Y me imaginaba al gran maestro Cortázar con una media sonrisa irónica, como un grandísimo cronopio rodeado de tantos famas conformistas y esperanzas que no entendían nada de lo que pasaba y que no podían más que mirar perplejos y algo indignados a su alrededor. Cortázar escuchaba el silencio con mucha atención, lo que no podía escucharse buscando la contramelodía, contraluz, contratrombón, contrapunto contra y recontra, cada día contra cada cosa que los demás aceptan con fuerza de ley y nunca se cuestionan nada de esto. Los últimos acordes van muriendo mientras se rompe el hechizo y la realidad brilla con todo su cruel resplandor, nadie dijo que la vida de un cronopio fuera sencilla y que fuera algo apto para que lo intenten todos.

   Alvaro.

[adrofh]

Papers

There is nothing more beautiful than a blank paper. It may offer an overwhelming number of possibilities to create everything: a song, a book, a picture... When I thought this yesterday while I was composing a song, I went crazy for it. It is amazing how the most famous artists created their masterpieces from a simple piece of paper.

From the ancient artists such as Mozart or Tchaikovsky to the artists of our days like Alex Turner or Noel Gallagher, all of their masterpieces began with a sheet of paper which is not different from a paper that we can find in our homes. Imagine the paper in where “The Marriage of Figaro” or “Live Forever” was written. It’s incredible how important the paper could be if you think about it. Every creation begins with an idea in our minds that needs to be materialized in a paper before the inspiration has left us. The easiest way to capture that idea is this paper which is useful to remind us how our masterpiece should be. That would be great, despite the fact we use several papers developing the work of art that only exists in our minds, by now. Probably, the mystery behind the eyes of Mona Lisa was not captured in the first piece of paper that Leonardo Da Vinci found in his study. In the same way as Noel Gallagher was not sure in the complex structure of “Around the world”. The idea needs time to grow in the mind of the artists and when I say time, I mean months or even years trying to find a better way to do the best with that song, that picture, or that novel. I must admit I was desperate many times while I was composing a song wasting and wasting thousand of papers in order to do the best song I have ever composed. This is part of the process. This is part of creation of every single work of art.

Looking at in another way, it doesn’t really matter if you are an artist or not. A sheet of paper is also important to you. It could be an opportunity if you are signing a contract with a company or it would be an investment if you are studying for an exam or even it would be a pleasant time if you are enjoying a good book at home. It is true to say that there are more formats when you want to read than a book nowadays. Lately, it is usually to see people reading their favourite books on e-books, Ipads or any other electronic format while you are taking the bus or the sub'. It is interesting how the modern formats bring us the possibility to have several books to read where and when you want. However, there are people who resist to these electronic systems because they really like the touch of the pages of their books when they are enjoying their reading. That is the reason why people prefer the classic format in comparison with the modern ones. Personally, I think the modern formats are more important than people could think they are. During my everyday life, when people tell me they refuse the electronic systems when they want to read a book, I always warn them that it is good to have this kind of opinion for whatever reasons but I remind them the electronic format does not imply the death of thousand of trees.

To return to the main point and finalize my first essay as a columnist of this blog, I must say that every work of art is a summary of good ideas written in the paper of an artist thanks to the inspiration. Nonetheless, there is no song, book or picture that deserves the death of a tree. 

Cheers,

Rafa

[adrofh]

Fy away, fly away. When Wednesday nights at home rock.

Hey hey hey fellas! I'm entering my favorite time of the day, night, to write. And is there any better subject of writing than the music of my friend Fy (from his real name Adrián Del Olmo) and his live streaming show of tonight? Well I gotta say, lately I've been living sweet moments discovering in Madrid new groups, rather close to me and producing a very good music, and one of them is Fy. 

I met the guy on June, 26th (dedication to my friend Blanca, I know I bother her with my fucking dates) at the birthday party of a friend, and Blanca introduced me to him, assuring me that “you will love him“. And indeed, we talked a lot, sang a lot, and danced a lot. Separately. You can feel immediately the guy has a talent for performing arts. Leader of his group Glazecrab, he also tours with a group of singers who version classics of today and of yesterday, Kings Of Pop Queens Of Soul. Some months ago, Adrian started a solo project under that name, Fy, with songs like “White Lies (II)“ and “Keep Me Awake“ between my favorites. Fy has a very particular and interesting sound with touches of pop, blue-eyed soul, reggae and alternative rocks as surf rock (see cover of Jason Mraz's “I'm Yours“), which in my opinion sounds even greater in this acoustic streaming show he offered us for “Noise Off Festival“ (I hope the link will work)

Fy performing with Glazecrab in October.

He starts with “In Your Eyes“, shy at the beginning and growing in the chorus, reaching a very attractive dup voice-guitar. “What If“ confirmed me the boy controls perfectly his voice, reaching impossible acute in some parts. “Keep Me Awake“ sounds really great in the album version, with very catchy and relaxing arrangements. This acoustic version sounds more primitive but maintains this relaxing and beach-y spirit, even if we don't have these wave sounds at the beginning (shhuu shuuu)!

The next three ones are a trilogy, and he warns us that it's been quite difficult to adapt them acoustically. But I gotta say, that version of “Dark Fire I“ is just amazing, really intense and beautiful. The song, which sounds more sober and quiet in the studio version, seems to get on fire, actually, to come truly alive here. After a sip of water comes a shorter version of“White Lies (II)“, which electronic melody of the beginning is really cool, as also is the main guitar melody, played in this acoustic version pretty well, a shame it was that short! The voice in “Kaizen (III)“ varies a lot from the album version to the acoustic. The echo in the studio version creates a beautiful effect of distance and an ambient of nostalgia, while in the acoustic version we feel closer to Fy, he is inviting us to sing with him. 

Fy in a solo show in late September.

He only has half of an hour, but he attacks now the three first songs he composed. “Sophie“, mon amour, is wonderful, but I think the short time left our friend had made him play it a bit too fast, nothing serious; “Sky's The Limit“ enjoys a tempered and pleasant rhythm for the ears, it makes me float, feel really light; and “I'm Never Gonna Let You Go“ follows the line of the show, ending this cool travel to an easier and more quiet place.

This fantastic travel comes to his end with a version of “Poursuit Of Happiness“, time to make some fun! He subtly screams “fuck that“ with his hand,  rightly stops playing guitar during the refrain to play with his virtual crowd and finally thank all of us behind our screens for watching his video.

Well Fy, amigo, got a lot to say. In any case, if there's something I want to highlight, it's on one side the confirmation that the chico knows how to entertain. Even in front of a damn screen, he's been able to interact with us, to regal us and make us laugh, as he had the crowd with him. This, for me, is a really important natural virtue. Then, musically speaking - yeah, don't forget that, he's nice, he's cool and everything but he could really suck at that - Fy proved, by changing for a same song the atmosphere and the meaning of this one, being “Kaizen (III)“ the best illustration in my case, he really understands Music, and knows what to do with it and for it. I frankly believe when you have this facility and ability to create, recreate and reinterpret, you really were born to bring something.

The show

Fy's Facebook page

Link

Cheers,

Adro.

[adrofh]

This low-cost bass is a Harley Benton I bought about a year and a half ago. To make it original I recovered it with Rolling Stone magazine paper. I used glue-varnish in order to protect the paper.

Best of all, got the impression it sounds better!

Cheers!

Adro

[adrofh]

The Monkeys in an Arctic Madrid night.

I am taking the subway in this cold November evening and I think, as always with bands, about the first time I heard and listened to Arctic Monkeys. Yeah. It was in early 2oo6. As I was lousy in maths and my teacher was guitarist, at the end of classes the only numbers we used to talk about were referred to music, music and...oh yes, music. It's when came to me the first reference to Arctic Monkeys, name that inspired me funny and impossible images like a white monkey sharing a dinner with a polar bear, bananas and fishes at the menu. My teacher had sucked a joint before class , but he was right. “They're young, but you'll see, they'll go really high“. And indeed, here they are today, pretty high, for their fourth gig in Madrid in six years, presenting their fifth album, “AM“, an album easier to digest than its two predecessors, “Hambug“ and “Suck It And See“.

I had known for a while about the show of the Monkeys in Madrid, but at that time I didn't know where I would be today and, more important, the show of the Monkeys we had attended in 2o1o, presenting the controversial “Humbug“, was disappointing. But after listening to “AM“, and then watching some lives of this past summer, I started to strongly feel like going. Also, we've been hearing a lot about the four young guys they picked up in Cavan to do the first part of their European tour. They're named The Strypes, and they sound really good in their first LP, “Snapshot“.

Almost sold-out, we bought tickets on resale for the original price. One year after The Black Keys, I was again on the queue for a show at the Palacio de los Deportes, fucked up by the cold but with the same pre-show enthusiasm. We are quite far from the stage, where a small “The Strypes“ barely hides a big and conceptual “AM“. 

If you google “The Strypes“, you will find pics of four young guys who seem to be taken from the fifties or the sixties. Maybe lacking of variety, it was a good gig full of rhythm, rabid guitars, intense drums and long harmonicas. It's hard to believe those guys are just starting, their control of the space and their looseness on stage are just amazing, their maturity really impressed me. Ross Farrelly, the singer, has a strong, confident and attractive voice and makes only one with his harmonica. Josh McClorey is the guitarist and if you tape his name on Images, don't worry, your unconscious didn't order you to tape “Justin Bieber“, it's just that he really looked like him at some time. Now he is more like a younger and prettier Gem Archer. And I have to mention Pete O'Hanlon, the bassist, who I have to thank to for bringing me, by means of his incredible mane, a copy of the young Mick Taylor of The Rolling Stones. Even if I found their gig too homogeneous and repetitive, it was a bit more of an hour of speed blues and pub rock that showed four guys who can presume of having a fucking good taste, technic and stage presence. 

About 45 minutes later, the Monkeys took the stage to start with that powerful guitar riff of “Do I Wanna Know“, which opens “AM“ too. A sober song that draws in some way the process of maturity of the boys from Sheffield. Alex Turner is not anymore that shy guy with stage fright, he now looks like a rock singer of the fifties, he knows he is the leader of the band, and he knows perfectly how to manage it. Talking in Spanish to the crowd, he performs some songs without playing guitar and will show very classy dance moves and stances. Follows the intense “Brianstorm“, opener of their second and really good LP, “Favourite Worst Nightmare“, to warm up the crowd. “Dancing Shoes“ is the time machine to that time when the Monkeys were post teens who told us how were the nights in Sheffield. “Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair“ is taken from “Suck It And See“, the beginning of the recover after “Hambug“, and is an austere structure with a refrain that invite the people there to test their voice. The next minutes will be a round-trip, with significant stopovers like “Teddy Picker“; a perfect extract of “AM“ consisting of “One For The Road“, “Arabella“ and “I Want It All“; “Cornerstone“; the dancy “I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor“ and “Fluorescent Adolescent“; or the soft “I Wanna Be Yours“, which is just above the bis. The end of the show is “AM“ tinged with “Snap Out Of It“ and “R U Mine?“, that well testifies the late trend of  Turner to compose about girls, to whom he dedicated like five songs tonight. Between these two titles was a beautiful, but less catchy, semi-acoustic version of “Mardy Bum“, another sign of the maturity this band is getting. 

Some people say, with five albums behind them, they could have played many more songs. It is true that I missed some songs I love like “A Certain Romance“, “505“, “Mad Sounds“ or “When The Sun Goes Down“, but they played 21 tracks tonight, which is giant like it or not. Is it maybe justly because of that five albums behind them that the set lists become harder and harder to establish? Some people miss those frenetic and throbbing sounds of their early years, but they are evolving and I think, after the doubts left with “Hambug“ and “Suck It And See“, this last album is a proof that they can evolve well, and we need evolution. 

The Arctic Monkeys aren't teenagers anymore.

Cheers! 

Adro.

[adrofh]

Is there some star that nobody sees falling down?

 To read while you listen:

Sunday Morning, Hurricane, Hey Jude, Decades, Radio Ga Ga, Sympathy For The Devil…

Some times you stay at home in a quiet evening in your favorite sofa listening to your favorite albums, and you will have a bunch of powerful images crossing your mind. Then you open a frozen tin of beer and imagine all your idols who are covering your room. A strange sensation invades your body when you feel like you know those guys very well, as if you have lived with them and shared a lot of experiences. It was a rainy day of autumn and you saw through the window how the brown leafs started to fall. The beer warmed you and helped you to relax while your thoughts started to flow. It’s incredible how music can wake up all these feelings, how She can transport you to an other different time and space.

  The Beatles take you to strawberry fields, tasting its sweet flavor and learning that “living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see”. Don’t worry, you can stay in your own bubble when you need more time to resolve your troubles. John Lennon surprised us with some acid humor and energetic songs like “Back In The URSS”, joking about the supposed “paradise” for progressive people of the Soviet Union and West Europe. But he may also show us his sweetest face in “Girl” and how to make someone fall in love. Harrison composed wonderful songs like “Here Comes The Sun”, transporting us into a spring day with singing birds, or making us cry  with his instrument in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Music is emotion and emotion is music.

Paul, the good boy, has some quiet, harmonic and melancholic songs like “Hey Jude”, with his memorable rising chorus, or “ Blackbird”. But he’s been able to surprise us with a rollercoaster of electric rhythm which is “Helter Skelter”, this is not a song for grandparents as John accused Paul once The Beatles were dissolved.

Bob Dylan once said that he never felt like he understood the American poetry until he read Jack Kerouac, but now the poetry owe so much to Bob Dylan. He created characters of the deepest America in his songs, with  their motivations, passions and fears. His guitar taught us about the bravery of changing the world, denouncing like a “Hurricane“ all that doesn´t work properly. Fighting against racial discrimination, fighting against the war and the worst face of American imperialism. Or it could be a nearly man talking about his feelings, crazy for a girl, a lost woman or the fury that he feels when relationship got ruined like in “Idiot Wind”. It could be a revolutionary young man, a quiet farmer of the south, an old blues-man or a vanguard artist. Bob Dylan is a lot of Bob Dylans.

  Eric Clapton is the father that we never had, showing us what is rock and roll and a clean riff of electrifying blues. “I would have remembered you if I saw you in heaven“, like you sang to your lost child. And Bowie could act like a big brother reminding us that “we can be heroes, just for one day”, just as these guys are or were. Decorating our rooms with posters and albums, they will be the guiding light of future generations, walking through the unknowhn trails. A hero isn’t someone who kills, it’s someone who prefers to be killed and serve as a good example for a good cause. It’s more than a simply decent guy, it’s someone who doesn´t get wrong just in the moment that it’s important not getting wrong.

Te voice of Jim Morrison was seductive and his deep verses about love and death sound very strong. I imagine him driving faster in a unfinished road through the desert, with the sun shining on the top, and howling full of freedom. The life can be very short and intense, like a classic Greek drama. Jim spent his last days in Paris trying to know if the rain had the cadence of Verlaine there. 

Jimmy Hendrix has songs that send you in a city at night, with its clubs and people having a beer inside. And then you remember after some shots of tequila you were having sex in a dirty bathroom with an unknown. This is real music played with his teeth, finishing on flames. Autodidact, his soul was fire like an incandescent volcano (and sometimes his guitar) loaded of acids, he could give the tranquility and peace forgotten in the suffering of the wars. Maybe Jimmy was a zen saint who knew very well all the teching of Buddha althougth he didn’t know nothing about Buddhism.

  America, why your music shops are full of tears?

Introducing Your Satanic Majesties is really not necessary. They conducted a revolution against the goody-goody traditional English society with subversive lyrics about sex, wild parties and all the essence of Rock and Roll. “Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name“, they sing in “Sympathy For The Devil“. The Rolling Stones was the band that better resisted the years, growing old like the best wine.

Janis Joplin sings with a ripped voice full of energy and melancholy, with fierce and passion. Robert Plant seems like a Scandinavian god grasping a hammer of his powerful voice, like the thunder. Led Zeppelin had the epic of legends of far away lands. Johnny Cash makes us realize that there is always someone staying worse than you and endures all the troubles without falling down. And this is told by a guy who knows pretty well how is life in jail.

Joy Division sounds like a dark and heavy cloud covering the sky in an industrial and decadent city like the Manchester of the early eighties. On stage, Ian Curtis seemed to be as a broken electric toy between strong convulsions. It’s a very strange feeling but it’s about us some broken parts we all have inside. And The Who always knew how to have fun during their concerts, destroying all their instruments between laughs. And we can’t forget Freddie, Freddie Mercury, warming the ambient with his passion and giving birth to the opera rock, a complex style in a futurist world and hilarious video clips, just watch “I Want To Break Free”.

Like a bad joke, Lou Reed decided to leave us in a really sunny “Sunday Morning“ of October. Ironically, just a perfect day. But all these stories about the underground New York, transsexuals, drugs and street poetry remain in their albums through the years. Your words were sharpped as the sound of your guitar accords. I think I’ve just missed you now, Lou.

  All of them will be songs, chords, silent, guitars and light. As I could read about the electronic music of the early nineties in Manchester and Paris, these guys may have stayed in the vanguard of the music at one point, innovating new sounds and styles, but they ended up being classics and mass idols. They created schools of new generations of musicians.  After all we are the discs we have listened, the film that we have watched and the books that we have read.

Cheers,

Alvaro.

[adrofh]

“If I told you things I did before told you how I used to be, would you go along with someone like me?“

Great lyrics to end one of those evenings of musical and dreamy escapes. I am now listening to “Young Folks“ of Peter, Bjorn and John, featuring Victoria Be, and I realized it’s been an escape full of colors and psychedelia.

It started with Kiss, and the fascination I developed for these amazing makeups, specially the one of Eric Carr. “I Was Made For Loving You“ is a  hymn to rock, night and sex; and gets so damn powerful live, a real dose of adrenaline. 

It then followed, I don’t remember how, with the fan video of “Kids“ by MGMT. I wanna presume it is due to the makeup of the two young people featuring the video. It’s been like a wave of memories coming back directly from 2oo8 and those nights at Shoko Club, now closed. This melody is so catchy it could be part of the jungian archetype of the raver…

The young people appearing in “Kids“ bring me to “Electric Feel“, where they appear again in this kind of modern and futuristic hippie community. The song, of hypnotic and tribal rhythm, matches perfectly with this atmosphere. 

And it’s in their first hit single and homemade video, “Time To Pretend“, where we can appreciate how that hippie and primitive spirit, mixed to flashy and messy resources, is a distinguishing mark of MGMT, saviors of the “mass“ psychedelic pop. 

I finally end my musical evasion between colors and fantasy with “Young Folks“, a damn great work by the swedish guys who drew their song, literally, by means of a cartoon video portraying a scene mixing sixties and nowadays. Just great.

Cheers,

Adro.

[adrofh]

Amy Winehouse. I wanna talk about Amy Winehouse. I don't really listen to her that often, but the few times I do, man... that is a voyage! 

I spent the week-end at my home of the Bask Country, French side, and it's usually in those occasions, when I drive my old Peugeot 406 that only has a cd reproducer which works once every ten tries, when I regale my ears with “Back To Black“.

“Rehab“ is a prelude of what unfortunately happened, the prelude of a tragic and premature dead. Let's remind Amy joined Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones and many others at the famous “27 Club“, those legends who died at the age of 27. The beginning of “You Know I'm No Good“ is just perfect, the drums and the bass are pure ecstasy. It's insane how the bass, the drums, the winds and the voice, so independent between them, manage to create this harmony. It's, with “Back To Black“, part of the pain of Amy Winehouse in this album. “Me And Mr.Jones“...well, what can I say? Probably my favorite song of the album. It really transmits a nostalgia, a beautiful nostalgia, “for a world I haven't known“ (as Gael García Bernal would say in “The Motorcycle Diaries“). It is true that we must have listened to this song a hundred times with my good amigos Joey and Alvarito this summer in the car, portraying us in a fabulous R&B or Soul atmospheres, like sitting in a ballroom in the fifties, drinking, smoking and watching that black women stirring our hearts. “Back To Black“ is, as I said, one of the darkest songs we've got here, staggering but so wonderful. The text, written in a bar in Camden Town in four hours after a break-up, matches perfectly with her deep contralto voice, causing goose-flesh. 

Amy Winehouse brought us back vestiges of the best Black music, but she left too soon.

Cheers,

Adro.

[adrofh]

Last Saturday it was Barcelona vs. Real Madrid, but also Qatar Airways vs. Fly Emirates.

The football field for the two strongest teams has also become the battlefront for two of the strongest airlines. 

The airlines “clásico“.

[adrofh]

Well, that's it. He left. 

After a liver transplant in May, the body of Lou Reed went off. It is a weird feeling when this kind of people leave, you absolutely don't know them, but you have the feeling that you do, and actually you do somehow.

Even if I already liked his music, I developed a fascination for this character after reading about his close collaboration and relation with Andy Warhol, who produced the first album of The Velvet Underground, such a great album, and designed its famous banana cover. Contrary to cinema or art, Warhol may haven't done too much in music, but this is for sure a relic. And being Reed involved in this fascinating creative process and social phenomena, this only deepens my interest towards him.

Part of the sixties underground New York landscape and a star of the Factory, he is at the origin of the alternative New York rock and influenced bands from Television to The Strokes. Some called him a dumb-ass, some painted him as a survivor who was figuring out how to get ahead in a tough atmosphere, and reach his ambitions. I guess there is a bit of both...and more. Mystery makes it attractive too.

All this finally made titles like “Heroin“, “Walk On The Wild Side“ or “Sunday Morning“ be part of his wonderful legacy, a legacy that allowed us to know him somehow.

RIP Lou.

Cheers,

Adro.