Twin, the latest revelation of organic pop
They are the great unknowns of the music scene: people who live behind the stage lights, doing promotion, booking, press, production... essential for this circus to work. And among this species, there are still those who manage to combine work and the desire to go out and play. Ana López is one of these people. When her workday ends, helping people like Ferran Palau, Ana Andreu or Joan Colomo, she sets up a midi keyboard to rehearse with her band, Her Little Donkey, or start the solo project that concerns us today: Twin.
López's new reference is one of the surprises of the season, a bet on spatial and enveloping pop. Her first work, titled Benasque (Hidden, 2021), like the beautiful Huesca town, consists of four elegant songs, crafted with great care and navigating between light and shadow. For now, it is only a first attempt that transmits dreamlike journeys, but in the long term, this looks great.
This is how Barcelona's music is lived
It sounds like a cliché, but an exhibition is usually not just an exhibition. And even less so if it is about the work of Xavier Mercadé, very probably the great concert photographer of Barcelona in the last 30 years. The exhibition Rockviu, at the Palau Robert, serves as a tribute to musical photojournalism and a way of understanding live music. But it is, above all, the recognition of a person who has dedicated his life to documenting everything that happened, musically speaking, in the city: whether they were big, medium or small concerts.
He has always been there and, although there are no other numbers to prove it, there is no doubt that he is the person who has seen the most concerts in Barcelona: about 14,000 according to his calculations. The exhibition, which has institutional support, consists of 300 photographs compiled in the publication of the identical number of the magazine of which he is co-founder: Enderrock. If you visit it, you will find music legends in their stops in Barcelona (David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Beyonce), but also, and perhaps this is his great achievement, a large number of local myths: from Manel to El Último de la fila. The exhibition can be visited until August 29.
A tremendous Catalan rap combo
Perhaps he likes being a secret known by a privileged few, but the time has come to recognize his many merits: Rodrigo Laviña is the godfather of rap sung in Catalan, and that's that. He began to show signs of this with the seminal reggae and dancehall band, Pirat's Sound Sistema, and exploded with At Versaris. They were the first rap group in a local language to be considered one of the most interesting on the national scene.
For several reasons, and without having a particularly defined line, At Versaris stood out with two albums full of lucidity and a charming underground aroma. The duo, completed by Pau Llonch, ended up dissolving a decade ago, but Rodrigo has continued to delve into new and old music. Part of this work is on his new album, signed as Extraño Weys, his name adopted after the end of At Versaris. In Rodrigo Laviña y su Combo (Say it Loud Records, 2021) there is a rich amalgam of Mediterranean tradition and local pop culture that pairs with the classic Detroit sound. Add Laviña's innate flow to get the perfect formula.
The concert series at La Monumental
Although the first recitals have already taken place, La Monumental's program continues to treat us to some of Barcelona's most recommended live shows. A large part of the lineup is concentrated during June and July, featuring luxury national guests. Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated will take place on June 5, when the essential The Gramophones All-Stars, heroes of local soul and ska, will take the stage, presenting an appetizing new ten-inch record: Love Letter.
Inspired by the legacy of The Skatalites, it is a limited edition EP that treats us to four new songs plus a cover of the legendary Jamaican combo, Old Rocking chair. The concert by the Girona-based band is not the only appealing one in the series; there's plenty to go around: Nuria Graham, who also presents new songs (June 4), Mishima (June 12), Pau Vallvé (June 19), Javiera Mena (July 3), or the Barcelona premiere of new material from one of the scene's most prolific musicians, El Petit de Cal Eril, who will perform on July 17.
Punk that reads
Sant Jordi is already history, but the custom of not stopping consuming musical books is not. This time about two references from the Neo Person publishing house: Haz lo que quieras (Do what you want), the history of Bad Religion, and Asuntos peligrosos, by Wayne Kramer, founder of the classic Detroit protopunk band, MC5. Both are biographies of essential groups to understand popular music of the last half century and have the virtue of showing, in an uninhibited and direct way, what it means to have a relatively successful band. In the case of Bad Religion, they are synonymous with commitment to the community, a certain punk ethic, and the construction of a scene, the Californian hardcore scene, which began with them.
One of the great virtues of Haz lo que quieras (Do what you want) is showing how they have managed their brilliant legacy of a movement that holds them up as an example of constancy, quality, and even business vision. Wayne Kramer is quite the opposite, a mirror of how to ruin a career through excesses and bad decisions. His is an honest biography full of surreal episodes that give an idea of why MC5 did not end up being what they could have been: the greatest rock band in the world. Two trajectories separated in time, space, and a certain life philosophy (construction vs. destruction), but united by the same pattern: the immortal passion for popular music and a certain redemption for the mistakes of youth.