Minutos Musicales: Hari And Aino

Estimados,
os presento a uno de esos grupos que dará mucho que hablar el año que viene: Hari And Aino.

Grupo sueco con una corta trayectoria a sus espaldas: 1 disco (que hoy os presentamos) y 1 EP, aunque en breve sacarán otro EP.
Su música hace que nos embriaguemos hasta límites insospechados... pop melódico con sencillas y conmovedoras melodías. Twee pop en estado puro y que hoy nos deleita.

"Despite the name, Hari and Aino is not a duo but a quintet from Stockholm, Sweden. The band started out in late 2006 and released the EP "Your heartache and mine" on Cloudberry Records in july 2007. The debut album "Hari and Aino" was released on march 15th 2008 on Plastilina Records. Hari and Aino is releasing the single "A considerate kind of home" at the end of 2008, also on Cloudberry Records. Work has already strarted on a second album which is yet not scheduled for a release, but the spring of 2009 will see the band doing live shows all over Europe. Hari and Ainos sound is often descibed as a very melodic pop with vocals lending inspiration from bands such as Blondie and The Long Blondes, but with janglier guitars.

Written about the album "Hari and Aino"
Indie MP3 wrote:
"From opener Gold, which really should be a single, to singer Andrea doing her best Debbie Harry impressions on I Will Leave or Second Song there is not one weak track here, not one filler nor one dull moment...If lush female vocals and jangling guitars are your thing then this beautiful little album is for you. If not give it a try anyway and put an indie pop smile on your face!"

Indiepages wrote:
"I remember being rather fond of this band's Cloudberry EP earlier this year, but I wasn't prepared for how good their debut full-length would be!... Plastilina has released a number of great records in the last couple years, but this might just be the brightest gem in their catalog!"

British indie blog "Too much apple pie" wrote:
"There are ten tracks in all and I haven't found a weak one yet! I get the feeling that this is one of those albums that I'll never get tired of and love more and more as time passes, which is exciting as I already love it quite a lot! If you like jangling guitars, sweet female lead vocals and direct lyrics (quite frankly, who wouldn't?!), Hari and Aino might be right up your alley."

Pop blog "Pop 'n Cherries" wrote:
"Imagine "The Camera loves me" from The Would-be-goods crossed with Blondie's "Parallel Lines" and you'll get a near-to-clear picture of the band's wide proficiency, from sophisticated guitar-pop to cerebral disco. This is exacty the way we wished The Long Blondes would sound like on a full album..."

French blog Absolut Noise wrote:
"Hari and Airo make pop music which can cheer up the most depressed manic depressive. Fresher, nicer, sweeter than anything you heard before : it is obvious that Gold is an absolute hit."

Hari and Aino are:
Andrea Dahlkild (Vocals)
Gunnar Jacobsson (Drums, Guitars, Mandolin)
Kristoffer Rengfors (Bass, Guitars)
Robert Klaesson (Guitars, Bass, Drums)
Pontus Leander (Keyboards, Glockenspiel, Melodica)"

Grupo: Hari And Aino
Disco: Hari And Aino
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.myspace.com/hariandaino
Canciones destacadas: Seasons, Second Song, Finland y Your Heartache And Mine

Minutos Musicales: This Is Ivy League

Estimados,
hoy estamos, sin duda alguna, delante de uno de los mejores discos de este año 2008.

This Is Ivy League es un grupo con una lenta pero reposada carrera musical. Tienen un EP ("London Bridges") y acaban de publicar su primer disco selftitled. Su biografía según relata su myspace es la siguiente:

"Alex and Ryland met in 1997 in High School. Both were avid guitar players and both played in local bands with varying degrees of accolade. Alex got Ryland a job waiting tables at "Mr. Deli's Jewish Delicatessan," in Boca Raton, Florida. A few years later, Alex went off to pursue a degree in the culinary arts while Ryland procured his BFA in Acting. The two lost touch for seven years. Ivy League formed in August of 2005 when Ryland discovered that his old friend Alex was not only still playing music but living just ten minutes away from him in Brooklyn, NY. The duo quickly began writing songs together."

Y esto es lo que dice mi amigo Gustavo, del blog Take The Pills.

"Here is another wonderful indie pop release from this year. This Is Ivy League is based in Brooklyn and is formed by Alex and Ryland, the duo play amazing psychedelic pop songs with lovely well crafted jangly guitars wich reminds a lot of Blueboy. The album has some folk influences too, especially from Simon & Garfunkel. You have to hear this, so don't miss it!"

También os dejo la crítica de este disco de la web 'la karniceria':
"Pocos discos hoy en día ofrecen un repertorio con la calidad del disco que nos ocupa. Se trata del debut de Alex Suárez y Ryland Blackinton, dos amigos, que bajo el nombre de This Is Ivy League no tienen reparos en reunir lo mejor de unos y lo más efectivo de otros para convertirlo en una excelente colección de canciones con identidad propia. De este modo, su disco homónimo suena sencillamente a pop del clásico, con melodías bonitas y estribillos pluscuamperfectos que harán las delicias de todos aquellos que oyentes que aún disfruten escuchando power-pop o sonidos acústicos similares a aquellos de los que tanto provecho sacaron pioneros como Simon & Garfunkel.

Digamos que uno tiene medio partido ganado cuando es capaz de incluir temazos como “Love is impossible” o “London Bridges” en su primer disco. Temas como “The Richest kids”, “Celebration” o “Don’t waste your love on me” nos hacen darnos cuenta de toda la influencia que actualmente Belle & Sebastian ejercen en numerosos grupos ingleses. Los momentos más tranquilos o más acústicos comandados por “An introduction”, como “A summer chill”, “Modern world”, “Til the day”…, se acercan descaradamente a la calidez de la música de bandas como Kings of Convenience. Por último, conviene no perderse ese delicioso homenaje que hacen a la bossa en “Viola”."

Grupo: This Is Ivy League
Título: This Is Ivy League
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.thisisivyleague.net/ y http://www.myspace.com/ivyleagueonline
Canciones destacadas: A Summer Chill, Celebration, Don´t Waste Your Love On Me, London Bridges, Love Is Impossible y The Richest Kids

Minutos Musicales: Fleet Foxes

Estimados,
el disco que hoy os presento me tiene totalmente embelesado: Fleet Floxes
Desde que esta mañana comencé a escucharlo no me lo he podido quitar como banda sonora.

Ellos mismos se definen de la siguiente manera:

"We're a group of five from Seattle that sing for the fun of it and are into all kinds of music. We'd call this stuff baroque harmonic pop jams. Our names are Skye, Robin, Nicholas, Casey, and Christian. We'll make some mistakes along the way but we hope you enjoy our little family business. "

Os dejo un post del blog 'Flaming Milk' (http://flamingmilk.blogspot.com/) que me ha parecido interesante al respecto de este grupo y este disco.

"El martes pasado fue el lanzamiento de Sun Giant, EP del quinteto de Seattle Fleet Foxes y a los pocos días invadió la escena con una velocidad sin precedentes. Los blogs no paraban de hablar de ellos, así como tampoco sitios como Stereogum. Incluso los ultra-exigentes críticos de Pitchfork le dieron un alto 8.7 de calificación colocándolos en su sección de Best New Music. De la noche a la mañana, Fleet Foxes estaba en boca de todos.

Imaginen la sorpresa este fin de semana cuando empezaron los rumores de que su álbum debut, Ragged Wood, programado para el 3 de junio, ya había leakeado. De pronto la banda que nadie conocía (en serio nadie, los detalles de la banda son vagos; wikipedia afirma que existe un EP antes que Sun Giant, allmusic.com afirma lo contrario; hay debate en varias paginas sobre el título del disco ¿Ragged Wood u homónimo? Y bueno, nadie tiene idea si esa en verdad es la portada) empezó a sonar en iPods alrededor del mundo.

Y con justa razón, Ragged Wood continúa la promesa del EP: un sonido increíble y partricular que resulta una mezcla entre rock clásico, musica de iglesia y folk. La voz etérea del vocalista Robin Pecknold les recordará inmediatamente a Band of Horses, mientras que los arreglos folky probocarán recuerdos de My Morning Jacket. Pero la verdad es que el disco, de corazón, es puro breeze-pop, con un barniz sesentero que invita de inmediato a las comparaciones con The Mamas and the Papas o Simon & Garfunkel; y por supuesto a Brian Wilson y los Beach Boys.

El disco confirma el talento de la banda, que se encuentra a un grado de convertirse en uno de los grandes descubrimientos del 2008 a lado de Vampire Weekend. No dejen de darle una oportunidad (y de bajar de algún otro lado el EP también)."

"Fleet Foxes is a five-piece Seattle based band signed to the labels Sub Pop and Bella Union. The quintet describe their music as "baroque harmonic pop jams." On February 29, 2008, they received 8.7 out of 10 in a review by Pitchfork Media for their Sun Giant EP. Fleet Foxes began their spring tour with fellow Northwest band Blitzen Trapper on February 28, 2008."

Grupo: Fleet Floxes
Disco: Ragged Wood
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes
Canciones destacadas: Meadowlark, White Winter Hymnal, He Doesn´t Know Why, Oliver James, Your Protector y Tiger Mountain Peasant Song

Minutos Musicales: Irene

Estimados,
a este grupo ya lo debéis tener en vuestra lista de favoritos porque ya ha aparecido en varias ocasiones en Minutos Musicales: Irene.

Siguen realizando canciones de pop fáciles de digerir... llenas de sonidos alegres que contagian y que te sacan directo a la pista de baile. En este disco añaden algunas composiciones más lentas pero asombrosamente bellas ('Last forever') e incluso se atreven a cantar en frances....



"Irene grew into a full scale band quite spontaneously in 2005. The members are all friends from the local pub in Göteborg, Sweden. Some songs that Tobias Isaksson (aka Bobby) had written just couldn't wait to be performed live. The people that did the first show had so much fun that they wanted to stick around. By the autumn of 2005 Irene was an octet with semi-permanent members. Shortly after that the record label Labrador signed the band.

A critically acclaimed debut album called Apple Bay was released in 2006. It was an upbeat, super-short, 24 minute tribute to the 60's sound with most instruments recorded live. Apple Bay has been licensed in The USA, Australia, Thailand and Taiwan and distributed via Labrador's associates in countries all over the world.

In the spring 2007 tours of England, France, Spain and Germany made Irene aspire to take their music to a new level. The result was an almost perfectly executed, timeless pop trip of 27 minutes titled Long Gone Since Last Summer. Although the album is due in Sweden less than one year after the debut it displays a band with brand new qualities.

The members of Irene remain beach crooners, lounge punks and next door nice guys. "



Grupo: Irene
Disco: Long Gone Since Last Summer
Año: 2007
Web oficial: http://www.myspace.com/ireneswe y http://www.irene.nu/
Canciones destacadas: By Your Side, Last Forever, Looking For Love, Out Of Tune, Seaside y Some Kind Of Love