It’s been a minute since last I filed a music report from Madrid. I’d like to claim that it’s because I’ve been busy, but to be honest I’ve just been lazy and negligent, and for that I apologize. I still have a few albums waiting in my listening queue, but until I get around to them (soon! I swear!), here are a few miscellaneous bits of the Spanish music scene I’ve picked up by various means, most of which involving lots of cerveza and the wee hours of the night.

When the bars close in Madrid at around 3:30 everyone heads for the discos (after-hours bars or clubs, just in case the precious European terminology has thrown you for a loop). Nine times out of ten, a night at the disco includes a rousing sing/dance-along to the song “La Camisa Negra” (embedding disabled) by Juanes, the Colombian superstar of the Spanish language pop scene. This song was released in Europe in 2006 (and in Latin America before that even), but it’s still almost alarmingly ubiquitous and wildly popular. I don’t know anything about music theory, but there’s definitely something about this song that makes it addictive. It’s got just a hint of the Latin-pop drumbeat, and the wobbly guitar riff adds a nice edge to the sound. On top of that, the chorus has this triumphant building that’s fantastically conducive to sing-alongs. Apparently the song was appropriated by Italian neo-fascists, but Juanes denies it, and I have to admit that even if it the song was about Mussolini’s “paramilitary groups” I’d still love it.

If your tastes fall more towards twee than Latin pop…you’re sort of out of luck. I have a great album by a Spanish twee pop band called Jonipai (a homonym of honey pie), but they’ve been out of commission for several years, and there’s little to no trace of them on the Internet beyond their archived page on the Jabalina Music site (bands->all bands->Jonipai). You can listen to their songs “El Mar Dibujado” and ” Te prefería cansado” in the audio section but other than that you just have to settle for this somewhat awkwardly translated description to find out more:

This fivesome from Castellón, Spain, is made up of María (vocals, guitar, keyborads), Félix (bass), Juan (guitar), Miguel (drums) and Laura (keyboards). The group was born in 1998 on the Mediterranean coast, as the result of many afternoons full of rehearsals, pop songs, strolls across their beautiful city, cappuccinos in the shade, and bycicle rides.

How precious is that? And it definitely meshes with their music, which sounds something like dreaming of sleeping puppies during an afternoon nap. This is my other favorite part of the band bio:

As a result of this union, they recorded their second demo (’red demo’), which featured their first songs in Spanish. Another landmark in their career, and another bunch of gorgeous songs, more mature but at the same time tinged with a hedonistic view of life.

I think the phrase “more mature but at the same time tinged with a hedonistic view of life” pretty much sums up the Spanish experience.

Finally, if you’re like me, you’ve got an ear for kind of bland, but lovable mid-’90s snoozer pop (think “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Deep Blue Something), and are continually mystified by the Spanish accent. Luckily for us the successful Spanish pop-rock band Amaral has got just the ticket:

“Rosita”

This song is off their ‘98 self-titled debut and it’s completely ordinary in most every way, but for some reason I find it to be extremely compelling. It could be because it sounds somewhat like Lucinda Williams’ “Passionate Kisses,” which actually is a great song, but it’s probably just that lead singer Eva Amaral’s Spanish accent is particularly strong and I like it when she says “Hathia frio en la platha hoy” and “No te hathe falta llooooraaar” (that’s my somewhat phonetic spelling, obviously).

Next time: I actually go through the trouble of listening to an entire album and providing you with a much more extensive report. ¡Hombre! ¡Que trabajo!

Juanes [MySpace]
Jabalina Music [Official Site]
Amaral [MySpace]