Junip, José González' iterant full-band project, will release the new EP "Rope & summit" in May and are now offering the title track as a free download: http://www.junip.net/
/ will be handling things at home, will take care of them in the US. There will also be a new full-length coming later this year.
I'm From BarcelonaI'm From Barcelona's approach to songwriting reminds me, for whatever reason, of Wes Anderson's films: the modernization of older tropes and themes; the narrative and occasionally cinematic style of the songs; the playful nature one can adopt while exploring the significance one attaches to the world, and that is attached to the observer; and it never hurts that tracks such as "Andy" and "Music killed me" could easily find their way onto an Anderson soundtrack (and would feel dreadfully out of place in an effort like "Juno"). References to the "Cosby Show", complete with background television noise, evoke comparisons to Montt Mardié and Jens Lekman, though I'm From Barcelona's interest in the past is not the main focus of the album and serves to compliment their excursions into fuller twee compositions. One can hear elements of Shout Out Louds, and of Scandinavian indie pop in general -- glockenspiels, 60s-style backing vocals and backing instrumentation, but the success of "Who killed Harry Houdini?" is embodied in I'm From Barcelona's ability to stir up remembrances of one band or genre of music and then continue onwards through varied avenues towards the band's original goal. "Rufus", the album's closing composition, wonderfully exemplifies my ideas: stumbling into David Bowie territory, complete with spacey backing vocals and fabulously manipulated lead guitars, only to break back down into the paths carved out by the record's earlier tracks. "Who killed Harry Houdini?" is far more difficult to sufficiently describe than it is to enjoy and eventually fall for.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
José GonzálezMy first listen through "Veneer", I was floored by José González's skill and songwriting abilities... and then much of the glimmer and spark of the music bled out with repeated listening, leaving only a few stragglers still heralding this Swedish talent, and one of those was a cover song. With "In our nature", González crafts every song with the care he took with "Crosses" and his lavish reconstruction of The Knife's "Heartbeats". The delivery is nearly identical to that of "Veneer": lo-fi production, the 'a man and his guitar' approach that garnered so many comparisons to the dearly departed Nick Drake... but, José González has subtly adapted his sound. His stronger songwriting is accompanied by a few overdubbed vocal sections and I'm convinced there's a synth towards the end of "Cycling trivialities" (my favorite track and a powerful closer to this exceptional record). Overall, José González has more than redeemed himself in my eyes - "In our nature" is exceptional and is already at risk of being overplayed as the days grow shorter and cooler, and life slows down in preparation for autumn.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Four CDs makes for quite an intimidating listen and I'm just having trouble getting past how awesome disc one is. This is Pan Sonic at their most melodic and beat-heavy. It's brutal, distorted and ugly and I love it. I'll probably get to the rest of the set eventually, I just don't feel very compelled to do so yet.
- Avi Roig
