"La música es sinónimo de libertad, de tocar lo que quieras y como quieras, siempre que sea bueno y tenga pasión. Que la música sea el alimento del amor."
"Music is synonym of freedom, of playing what you want and how you want, as long as it's good and made with passion. Let music be love's food."
Kurt Cobain (1967-1994)

lunes, 4 de febrero de 2013

Protest songs (Chocadelia Internacional - El fin está cerca)

CLX
"El sueño de la razón produce vidas infelices cuyo único objetivo es trabajar, trabajar y trabajar hasta jubilarse ¿y entonces? Entonces va y te mueres."

Chocadelia Internacional, El fin está cerca, indignados
EL FIN ESTÁ CERCA
Chocadelia Internacional
El fin está cerca
Autoeditado
2012

(ENGLISH AHEAD) Ya sabía yo que no podría estar mucho tiempo sin sacar el dichoso tema político. Lo bueno es que esta vez no tengo que decir nada, ya lo dice todo la banda que hoy nos visita. Desde una postura "anartista" y a ritmo de acordes "funcanrólicos" Chocadelia Internacional diseccionan la situación con el bisturí de la ironía y la rima cáustica para anunciarnos el fin de un sueño. Igual no está tan cerca como parece, pero el mero hecho de cantarlo ya hace que cada vez se vea menos lejos. "Lo dicen los periódicos", "el aire está raro"; ¿no lo oléis vosotros también? Es el hedor de las cloacas del sistema, dentro de nada las ratas empezarán a huir por las alcantarillas... Escúchese con atención y después no os perdáis el resto del álbum, que está exactamente al mismo nivel (reseña del álbum El fin está cerca y entrevista con Chocadelia Internacional en rockinspain.es)




I knew I wouldn't be long until I brought up the damn political issue again. The good thing is that this time I have to say nothing, as the band visiting us today says it all. Chocadelia Internacional dissect the situation with the ironic scalpel of their caustic rhyme to announce the end of a dream from an "anartist" position and providing "funk'n'rollin" rhythm and chords. The dream may not be as close as it seems, but the mere fact of singing to it makes it look less and less far. "The newspapers say so", "the air is funny"; can't you smell it you too? It's the stench of the sewer system from which the rats will soon begin to flee... Listen carefully and then do not miss the rest of the album, which holds exactly the same level (read the El fin está cerca album review in Spanish and an interview with Chocadelia Internacional on rockinspain.es). Here's the translation of the lyrics for you to enjoy this fierce philosophy.

Sometimes I think that maybe people are not as stupid as it seems.
Maybe (and I mean maybe) people get what they deserve.
Nobody is forced, no one tells us what to do,
We are where we are because that's where we want to be.

We want to be free of the need to be free.
People are so dependent on the present
That we forget that today can be the past of a better future.
We live beyond our possibilities and below our needs ...
Is there anybody in there MacFly?
And out there ... Is there anyone?

The newspapers say so, I feel it in my bones.
My nerves are broken and that is symptomatic
That the end is near.
Unmistakable signs, the air is funny,
I have all the symptoms, my world is over.
The end is near.

Shoot me down now that I'm so happy:
I have a family like the Ingalls, a villa like the one in Desperate Housewives
And stupid kids like in Physics and Chemistry*.
People laugh through laugh track,
We say that all is well because you gotta to be optimistic in order not to be cruel.

We came out of a dictatorship to enter a mall ...
For God's sake! Is that the psychic basis common to all mankind?
The sleep of reason produces unhappy lives whose only goal is to work, work and work until retirement and then?
Then you die.

(Chorus)

Never saying no.
Never stopping in time.
Never being assertive at the right time.
The End is near.

*popular Spanish teenage TV-series

Enlaces/Links:
Chocadelia Internacional's website
Chocadelia Internacional on Bandcamp, Facebook

domingo, 3 de febrero de 2013

Fantasías animadas de ayer y hoy (Al Berkowitz - Magical Cynical)

CLIX
"The more that we try is the more that we find we can't get inside"

Al Berkowitz, Magical Cynical, A Long Hereafter, Nothing Beyond, Temple Records, Taliban Records, Green UFOS
MAGICAL CYNICAL
Al Berkowitz
A Long Hereafter / Nothing Beyond
Temple Records / Taliban Records / Green UFOs
2012

(ENGLISH AHEAD) Como tantas otras veces, un domingo en el que leer los periódicos es poco más que un ejercicio de masoquismo y un atentado contra la propia salud mental, busco un poco de relax en la música y esta vez la encuentro en una banda bien singular. Al Berkowitz son como dibujantes de cómics que usan sus instrumentos para crear viñetas con toda la gama de colores, cuentan historias sencillas a veces, complejas en muchas ocasiones, pero siempre personales y misteriosas, y la mayor parte de las veces, intrigantes. Os remito a mi reseña del disco en Rockinandblogin.com, pero ahora toca escuchar este tema a ritmo de vals que suena tan delicado y transparente (¡Ay, transparencia, cuánto te añoramos!). Espero que os produzca las mismas sensaciones placenteras que a mí.



As many times before, reading newspapers on a Sunday is little more than an exercise in masochism and an attack on one's mental health, so I find in music a little relaxation and this time I do by listening to a rather unique band. Al Berkowitz behave like cartoonists using their tools to create vignettes with a full range of colours, sometimes they are simple stories, other times complex, but they are always personal and mysterious, and most of the times, intriguing. You can read my review of the album on Rockinandblogin.com, but now let's listen to this little waltz that sounds so delicate and transparent (Oh, transparency, we miss you so much!). Hope it feels as touching to you as it does to me.



Enlaces/Links:
Al Berkowitz's official site: www.alberkowitz.com
Al Berkowitz on Myspace, Bandcamp, Facebook