The muses of La Musa: Arlo Parks

Half way between indie R&B and soft rock, the compositions of the extremely young London singer Arlo Parks talk about the everyday life of a new broken and sad generation. Her subjects, inspired by her friends and her own problems and hopes, are delicate and melancholic pieces with a great emotional load. Parks comes to Barcelona to present her first EP, Super Sad Generation, with which she has won the unanimous recognition of critics in the United Kingdom. Her not-even-20 years give even more value to this artist, who has been compared with artists such as Portishead and Syd Barrett. Next 20th of September at BAM Festival.

The muses of La Musa: Cléa Vincent

Having come from the amateur music scene in Paris and cut her teeth in open mic nights, Cléa Vincent feels indebted to the French variety act tradition. But it was a 21st-century tool, YouTube, that launched her career, after a multinational that had shown interest in her melodic synth pop went back on its word: first it was the video clip of “Retiens mon désir”, from her first EP Non mais oui (2014), and above all , that of Château perdu, from her 2016 debut LP, where she proved to be a captivating LoFi and DIY pop diva. She’ll be coming to Barcelona with her latest EP, Tropi-Cléa (2017), where he puts her voice and piano at the service of samba and other tropical rhythms.

Favourite Gig: Mercury Rev

Back in 1998, after a turbulent start, with changes to the band and success that had never came, threatening their survival, the North Americans Mercury Rev released their magnum opus, Deserter’s songs. A beautiful album halfway between orchestral pop and a grandiose dream pop, built on melodies as simple as nursery songs, which turned the tide of their fortune and this year celebrates its 20th anniversary (2018). As this is an iconic album, in an era of retromania and nostalgia, we’ve had more recent opportunities to hear them live in all their splendour. So, to celebrate the album’s anniversary, the group are proposing to revive it now in a more intimate and acoustic format, with the whispering and scratching they were born with. Tonight in concert at BAM Festival.

Introducing…Bruno Pernadas

The cover of Those Who Throw Objects at the Crocodiles Will Be Asked to Retrieve Them (2016), the second album by Lisbon-born Bruno Pernadas (Julie & The Carjackers, Real Combo Lisbon, When We Left Paris), with an image that reminds us of a cocktail at the end of the Fifties or start of the Sixties, surrealistically invaded by half a dozen lovebirds, might give us an idea of the sound this jazz graduate uses in his solo project. He crafts an exquisite pop between The High Flames and Stereolab, leading to Baroque pop and the easy listening of the Sixties, but with a tropical touch. It’s as if Harpers Bizarre or The Free Design had heard Mulatu Astatke’s Ethio-jazz or the hypnotic music melodies of Mali, and had allowed themselves to be seduced by the repetitions of Steve Reich’s minimalism. Saturday night in concert at BAM Festival.

Local Bands: Tiger Menja Zebra

They’re not here to make friends, or to make you feel better, or to console you, as the title of “Hipster Genocide” makes clear, the track that opens “Anarquia i mal de cap”, their third album and the final album of the “Trilogy of the Self-Destruction of the Human Being”, by “Tiger Menja Zebra“. Sowing electric winds and collecting electronic storms from “Com començar una guerra” (2012), rising from the ashes of the heroes of the postrock of Granollers, “Camping”, the noise of “Tiger Menja Zebra” is relentless in this new album, which is presented with an extended formation of four members, with two drummers and two bassists that cushion the electronics, voices and screams. “Worn-out servilism, disappointment, anger that leads to disorder, no return”.

You can be with them or against them, but if you decide to be with them, don’t expect a pat on the back.

Local Bands: Bad Gyal

Quan l’interès pel trap, l’últim fenomen ‘mainstream’ hip-hop, ha posat l’ús de la paraula ‘bitch’ (puta) al centre de la diana, Bad Gyal s’apropia dels codis sexistes del rap i el dancehall, la música jamaicana de club que tant li interessa –el seu nom artístic és un préstec del patuès de Jamaica via aquesta cultura musical–, i els empra en un discurs poderós.

Aquesta nit la noia de Vilassar serà a l’escenari petit del Moll de la Fusta a partir de les 9 del vespre en el BAM Festival.

Ville à Dômat #150: La Petite Mort

Intentem que cada programa sigui pels vostres òrgans tan plaent com ho és una “petite mort”. Per això mateix us seduirem amb el més nou de Justice, The Growlers, Glass Animals. Hot Hot Heat, The Jayhawks, The Courteeners o How To Dress Well, A més, us descobrirem a noves bandes com Palace, Boxed In, Her, Tall Ships o Softer Still entre d’altres. Divus Julius Bonasera entrevistarà a la gent del segell musical Sintetics i creadors d’un kit de taps per concerts. Tota la info sobre el BAM Festival que se celebrarà aquesta setmana amb motiu de les festes de la Mercè. També entrevistarem a la banda porto-riquenya ÌFÉ.  Per fi, torna La Musa que ens presentrà el més nou de M.I.A. i repassarà l’agenda de concerts i cultural de Barcelona. Us informarem dels propers festivals: MIRA Festival, AMFest i RBMA Weekender Barcelona.

Per acabar, celebrarem el 50è aniversari d’ Star Trek

Dilluns 18.45h 100.5FM

Ville à Dômat: La Petite Mort