Horizonte Eléctrico 2 - 10 Flamenco Rock Classics

As I said in my previous post, Horizonte Eléctrico - 10 Great contemporary Spanish bands that should be better known outside Spain, Spain is the home of the guitar. The Spanish have a tradition of guitar playing that goes back centuries. Flamenco music features some of the great virtuosos in guitar history. This tradition has been drawn on, consciously or unconsciously, in Spanish Rock for decades.

For a music steeped in tradition flamenco seems to adapt easily and I have tried to make this 10 track selection as varied as possible. It features the Beatles inspired pop / rock of Los Brincos, the hugely influential Raimundo and Rafael Amador who, in the bands Veneno and Pata Negra, were the first to convincingly merge flamenco with rock and blues in the 70s and 80s, the astonishing voice of El Luis, the 1970s new flamenco of Lole and Manuel, prog-rock from Triana, the 80s rock of El Ultimo de la Fila, the psychedelic space rock of Los Planetas and the highly successful flamenco jazz / soul of Grammy nominated Concha Buika.

In no particular order here are 10 examples of some great flamenco rock and gitano soul.





Raimundo and Rafael Amador
Virtuoso flamenco blues brothers. Raimundo and Rafael Amador were enormously influential in that they were the first to successfully merge traditional flamenco with blues and rock. Both are from Seville, and after playing with flamenco legends Paco de Lucia and El Camaron in the 70s, they formed a band called Veneno with fellow Sevillano Kiko Veneno (see below). Their own band Pata Negra had a lot of success in the 80s (also see below). Raimundo recorded with BB King in the 90s and guested with BB on tour. This clip is from the 80s.

EL luis - Yo Le Pregunto Al Viento
What a voice. Luis Barrull is from Galicia and is a great example of Gitano Soul. After releasing two albums, El Luis in 1976 and Solo in 1978, he ended up in prison for drug trafficking. His career never really recovered. The first album is a classic. A massive wall of sound with manic drumming and a voice that sounds like a cross between Johnny Cash and Solomon Burke.

Los Brincos - Flamenco
Flamenco garage rock from 1964. Los Brincos were one of the most successful and influential Spanish bands of the 1960s and are deserving of their own post. Coming soon.

Veneno - Indiopole
Kiko Veneno formed the group Veneno in 1975 with brothers Rafael and Raimundo Amador. Their eponymous first album, released in 1977 was not a great commercial success at the time but is now considered one of the great classic Spanish rock albums. It was the first album to successfully integrate flamenco with rock and blues. Listened to now it comes over as a kind of flamenco punk rock. Lyrics inspired by Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and Frank Zappa set to music which sounds like a version of flamenco played by Captain Beefheart's Magic Band or even the Incredible String Band. It's kind of unique. This track is an instrumental and the Amador brothers mix some lightning fast blues and rock runs into the trad flamenco riffs. The revolution starts here.

Pata Negra - Ratitas Divinas
Raimundo and Rafael Amador's post Veneno band, Pata Negra. They recorded several albums throughout the 80s and early 90s which the brothers defined musically as "blueslería". Outstanding are the electric "Blues de la Frontera" (1987), and the mini acoustic LP "Guitarras callejeras" from which this song is taken.  Heavy riffing plus some wonderful rapid fire soloing.

El Último de la Fila - El Loco de la Calle
El Último de la Fila (Manolo García and Quimi Portet) from Barcelona, were one of the most succesful Spanish rock bands of the 80s and 90s.This was the opening track on their third LP "Nuevas Mezclas" (1987).

Triana - Abre La Puerta
Flamenco prog rock from Seville. Triana recorded 3 very influential albums in the mid to late 70s. This track is the opener of their first album El Patio (1975).

Lole y Manuel - Todo es de Color
Dolores Montoya Rodríguez "Lole" from Seville and Manuel Molina Jiménez from Ceuta were a duo and part of the first generation of artists to try and broaden flamenco's appeal towards a more general and younger audience in the 1970s. Their song "Tu Mirá"  from their second album Pasaje del agua (1976) was included on the soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 2. "Todo es de Color" is from their first album Nuevo Dia (1975). Very atmospheric and probably the least rock and purest flamenco track in this post

Concha Buika - No Habrá Nadie En El Mundo
Another fantastic voice. Concha Buika is from Mallorca though her family is originally from Equatorial Guinea. Not so much rock, more of a mix of flamenco with soul and jazz. This track is from the album Niña de Fuego which was nominated for the 2008 Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

And finally...
From "Una ópera egipcia", the most recent (2010) album by Granada's Los Planetas. Flamenco rock meets space rock and finds God?
Los Planetas - La Pastora Divina

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Horizonte Eléctrico - 10 Great contemporary Spanish bands that should be better known outside Spain

My Scoop.it page dedicated to Spanish Rock. Click below.

 

Horizonte Eléctrico - 10 Great contemporary Spanish bands who should be better known outside Spain

Firstly, Spain is the home of the guitar. The Spanish have a tradition of guitar playing that goes back centuries. Flamenco music features some of the great virtuosos in guitar history. This tradition has been drawn on, consciously or unconsciously, in Spanish Rock for decades.

The second thing to say about contemporary Spanish Rock is that it is in a very healthy state. Bands like Los Brincos or Los Bravos had some international success in the 1960s however rock in Spain has especially flourished, along with the other arts, since the return to democracy in the 1970s. There has also been a very interesting indie scene since the early 90s.

I have already talked about one of Spain's finest and most original bands here Manta Ray. In this post I have just picked 10 contemporary bands whose records I have enjoyed over the last few years. There is a slightly psychedelic 60s influence to nearly all of them. That's about all they have in common. They are not representative of anything except my own taste. Although these bands may not sell millions or be very well known outside Spain there is some great rock and pop here. The Spanish, like the British in the 60s or the Germans in the 70s, have, by drawing upon their own culture, found a convincing and legitimate voice in a music that is largely American in origin and dominated by the English language.

So, in no particular order, here are 10 great contemporary Spanish bands that should be better known outside Spain...

Corizonas - Hey hey hey (The news today)
Superb 60s psychedelic jangly rock / pop  in the tradition of Love or the Byrds. And the only track here sung in English.The Corizonas are actually two bands - Madrid surf-rockers Los Coronas and Arizona Baby from Valladolid. After touring together they decided to team up and form a kind of supergroup. Hence the name Corizonas.

Cola Jet Set - El Amor Mejora
Love'll make it better. More classic 60s inspired pop. This time from Barcelona. It must be all that sun.

Facto Delafé y Las Flores Azules - Mar el poder del Mar 
Again from Barcelona. A cross between feelgood hip hop and indie pop. The poetry of everyday life.

Sidonie - El bosque
Lost in the woods. Dance influenced hard rock with a touch of psychedelia. Another Barcelona band.

Ivan Ferreiro - Turnedo
Iván Ferreiro is from Vigo, Galicia. Here he is with his brother, Amaro. Classic song. "¿Quien no tiene el valor para marcharse?" A kind of response to The Clash's Should I Stay or Should I Go lyric? Great voice too. Like a cross between Lennon and Liam Gallagher. Complete with refreshingly cheapo home made video.

Pereza - Lady Madrid
Pereza are Rubén Pozo Prats y José Miguel Conejo Torres from Madrid. Great song. Similar feel to the Rolling Stones on Goats Head Soup.

Nacho Vegas – Cómo Hacer Crack
Nacho Vegas is from Gijon, Asturias, and used to be in Manta Ray.
A great song-writer and story teller. His songs probably best portray contemporary Spain. According to last.fm (and a few other places) he "blends the polyhedric language of rock and the most stark lyricism into an intense whole. His lyrics are painful and celebratory, pathetic and grand, brutally lucid and of an intimate beauty; a desperate philosophy of survival shines with a wicked sense of humour and a longing for the divine".
Which is nice.
Who am I to argue with that?

La Habitación Roja - Un dia perfecto
Droning psychedelic pop which might owe a little to the Velvets' Waiting for the Man in its unrelenting percussive attack. Impressive live band too.

Los Planetas - La Playa
From Granada, more droning psychedelia from Los Planetas. And a vocal style which seems to have a kind of dislocated "recorded backwards" feel rather like on the Beatles' Rain. Can be quite intoxicating.

Los DelTonos - Horizonte Eléctrico
From Cantabria, Los DelTonos rock out. Definitely Stonesian in its swagger and riffage.

They also give us the title of this post. "El horizonte brilla eléctrico, y seguir ... mi futuro está allí". ("The horizon shines electric, keep going... the future is there".)

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More on my Scoop.it page dedicated to Spanish Rock. Click below.