Sones, the Strange Ones

Published on thebomberjacket.com

Good local music can be hard to come across in Barcelona unless you know where to look. The city is a little bit fragmented as there’s a bigger draw to drunken discotheques, heavy metal bars or jazz and flamenco. “Indie rock” bands can be hard to find, because there aren’t too many of them and there are even fewer places to go see them play. There are only a handful of places where bands can get gigs or afford to get gigs, as most venues are reserved for acts passing through on an international tour. Luckily, there are a few independent labels that are helping to cultivate a music community, like Sones.

The record label and management company released records from a bunch of bands THE BOMBER JACKET has covered in previous issues, including Mujeres, Manos de Topo and Za!. As for international artists, they even released Dirty Beaches’ Badlands, an excellent dank and dusty, lo-fi, cinematic album from last year. They’ve also helped book and promote acts likeWavves, Bill Callahan, Dan Deacon and more. Sones even has a partnership with Minimúsica, which is an organization backed by the government that is dedicated to making the live music experience available for kids. A lot of Sones artists play these kinds of shows, tailoring their sets to a younger audience.

Listen to a Sones sampler below:

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Manos de Topo and the Verge of Tears

Photo by Las Collecionistas

published on thebomberjacket.com

The bipolar warbling vocals of Manos de Topo are somewhere between sounding like they are full of tears and like they fell out of the mouth of singer Son Miguel Ángel Blanca after he stubbed his toe. Yet the group manages to make it joyous with a well honed pop sensibility, bright colors, games and a bunch of jokes.

The group is from Barcelona, Spain and has just released their third album Escapar con el Anticyclone!  or "Escape with the Anticyclone!" Calling it a “collection of pocket operas,” the band said it was their most concentrated effort so far. The album is summed up nicely by the simple colors and shapes on the cover, as the group said that they were trying to “minimize the components to find only the essential feeling.” Before the album’s release, they group worked with illustrator Ana Sender on a board game for a musical exhibition at the Funcació Joan Miró. They said the themes from the game inspired a lot of their lyrics and it’s just one example of the playful nature in the music.

Another notable thing about the musicians is that a few of them also studied filmmaking.  Although they only made their first video on their own, their cinematic sensibilities continue to give them clever ideas and keep them involved during production. They have quite a few well made and hilarious videos like "Tus Siete Diferencias" ("Your Seven Differences") and "Es Feo" ("It's Ugly").

Watch the video for "Tus Siete Diferencias" below:

The Bomber Jacket: Manos de Topo means “Mole Hands” right? But what does Mole Hands mean?

A mole is a tender, wild and lonely animal, just like us. A mole’s hands is the metaphor of our hearts.

Watch the video for "Es Feo" below:

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