Pop-Punk in the spanish capital

Pop-Punk is one of the most popular punk sub-genres in Spain. Madrid also has its share in the pop-punk scene of the Iberian Peninsula. Two madrilean groups, El Caso de la Habana and Viernes 13, and a basque one, Nasti de Plasti, played at Gruta 77 their interpretation of the genre popularized by The Queers and Screeching Weasel. The opening act was the power trio, Nasti de Plasti, from Bilbao who played a fast pop-punk similar to Lillingtons with catchy hooks and melodies, they also played "Do you wanna dance" (The Ramones version of the Bobby Freeman classic).


Then came the infamous pop-punkers from the outskirts of Madrid (Móstoles), El Caso de la Habana, formed in the early 90's, who were presenting their new ep, "Six Punk Rock Songs". They played a very tight and catchy 77' punk rock ala Ramones with fast punk songs here and there. They played "Nunca Volveré a Nueva York", "Di que me quieres", "Sal mi vida", among others. Their vocalist/bassist, Mariano, sounds a lot like Joey Ramone and they end their set with three Ramones' tunes: "Do you remember Rock n Roll Radio?" and versions in spanish of "California Sun" and "Do you wanna dance"; they said goodbye as the Ramones also did in their concerts when a friend came on stage with a monster mask and a sign with the words, "Gabba Gabba Hey", as they sang the same words from the final of the Ramones classic, "Pinhead".


The last group of the night was Viernes 13, a female fronted pop-punk outfit who also were presenting their new album, "Rockaway Hits". The crowd was a lot less when they played and that affected their performance. They played songs like "Mi novio es un hombre lobo", "Pizza y pelis de terror", "California", among others. As the other previous groups they played some covers too like Green Day's "Jesus of Suburbia" and Groovie Ghoulies' "Till death do us party". In general the show was fun but not the greatest.

Pictures by M.Cabrera.

Hablando en Plata Squad new album!

The andalusian hip hop legends, Hablando en Plata Squad, are back with new album called "Libertad/Hambre" in stores on March 3, 2009, according to their label Boa Records. The group's three mc's, belguim-born Capaz Fernandez, Sicario and mc/producer Rayka, and DJ/Producer Mr. Narko recorded the doble-album (32 tracks) at Malaga's classic producer, Big Hozone, Showtime Studios. The productions are from Big Hozone, Rayka and Mr. Narko and the featurings are from international R.A The Rugged Man, young reggae singer Shabu One Shant, the groups usual collaborator Elphomega and Lisandra.

The first single and videoclip will be "El castigo de los débiles" and the tracklist is as follows:


1.- Pago Por Visión (Flesh)
2.- Te Voy A Hundir
3.- Violencia En La Música feat R.A The Rugged Man
4.- Criminales
05. Forbidden
5.- Slasher
6.- Ya Estan Aquí
7.- Ojos De Dios
8.- Nada Que Perder
9.- Vida Rápida
10.- Plenilunio
11.- Antes Del Alba
12.- El Castigo De Los Débiles
13.- Nos Fotean
14.- Afunkalypse Now
15.- Mienten Por Dinero
16.- Ratas
17.- Colt 42
18.- Jugar Con Fuego
19.- Cómo Decir Que No feat Lisandra
20.- H.A.M.B.R.E.
21.- Educación
22.- Ven A Mi
23.- Whatcha Mouth feat Shabu One Shant
24.- Monstruos Del Fin Del Mundo
25.- Números
26.- Mmmm Oh
27.- La Muerte De La Mañana
28.- El Blues De Los Mas Buscados Hoy Feat Elphomega
29.- Lluvia Negra
30.- El Hablar De La Calle
31.- Inocencia
32.- (Track Oculto) Tengo Muchos Vicios

Dalí, Buñuel and García Lorca

Little Ashes is a new independent film about the early years of three of the most important spanish artists of the 20th century, aragonese film-maker Luis Buñuel, catalan painter Salvador Dalí and andalusian poet Federico García Lorca.

Punk no Brasil

Brazil, the land of feijoada, caipirinha, g-strings, best soccer players ever and 6x world champion bodyboarder Guilherme Tamega, is one of the first Latin American countries to have punk rock music back in the late 70's. It started with bands like Colera, Ratos de Porao, Lixomania, Lobotomia, just to name a few. Here's a documentary called "Botinada: A Origem do Punk no Brasil", that documents its origins, the early bands and the entire early history of the punk scene in this portugese-speaking country of the Americas.

As the 90's approached, The Blind Pigs (now called Porcos Cegos) emerged with their kick-ass blend of melodic hardcore/punk, first with the label, Grita!, and then on their own Sweet Fury Records. This band put Brazil in the punk rock map with their classic "Sao Paulo Chaos". Around the late 90's, we interview lead singer, Henrike, for our previous printed fanzine and he told us in one of the questions about a couple of local brazilian bands. I did not get into any, until now. One of them is a rad skate punk band called Gritando HC, they have only one album out with their original line-up called "Ande de skate e destrua". Their lead singer died in 2001 but they left this incredible piece of recordings. Enjoy!

Revolver by Guy Ritchie

Revolver is Guy Ritchie's last movie before his latest one, Rocknrolla. It has not been widely released or distributed anywhere (besides the UK). Starring are Jason Statham (also appears in Ritchie's: Snatch and Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels), Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore (of Soprano's fame) and Andre Benjamin (from hip hop group, Outkast). It is written and directed by Madonna's ex-husband and the screenplay adapted by Luc Besson (La Femme Nikita).

The story is about Jake Green (Statham), a man who is released from prison after 7 years, and in a span of two years begins winning a lot of money gambling. Casino owner, Mr. D (Liotta) invites him for a game, when he loses and gets insulted wants to kill Green. Zack (Pastore) and Avi (Benjamin) are loan sharks who are willing to protect Green from Mr. D in exchange for all his money.

Ritchie presents his most thought-provoking film to date. The major theme in the movie is the human ego. Both leading roles are people who have giant egos, Green is a consistent winner at gambling and Mr. D is a powerful casino owner with a lot connections in the underworld. As the story evolves we get to know that Green is not that perfect of a gambler and Mr. D is not as powerful as he thinks he is. The thesis of this film is that our enemies don't exist and they are only an imaginary creation of our ego. Our ego is what makes us take decisions of whether to continue living in peace or expose ourselves to the dangers of life. At the end of the film, Ritchie uses testimonies from several experts (M.D.'s, P.H.D.'s and scientists) in the field to support his thesis.

Regarding the style of the film, is a well-developed script. His trademark elements are there: visually great looking with fast editing, great music, a narrator who in this case serves for knowing what the minds thought and use of rare camera shots for flashbacks, dreams and dialogues between characters. He adds the use of animation for the sake of a more entertaining storytelling. Also the actors are a mix between brits and americans with Statham being the usual suspect from previous Ritchie flicks. The film is well-written and directed, it has that witty british humor we all love and at the end it leaves us thinking about Freud, egos and human imagination; What else can you ask for?. 9/10 stars!

Xhelazz invades Madrid City

Xhelazz presented in the spanish capital his latest album called "El Soñador Elegido". The venue, Sala Heineken, was tight packed. El Sr. Rojo from Madrid (also in Doble V's Rap Solo label) was the opening act for the show. He is an ok mc, not catchy and neither has a good stage presence. The highlight was the song "Amarga Bilis" with Kase-O. He also sang various songs featuring Aaron from Hermanos Herméticos and other madrilean mc's. His act, almost an hour long, became boring after a while.

Then came the main act, Zaragoza's own, Xhelazz. The stage presence is one of the best between all of Spain's hip hop acts. His interaction with the crowd was pretty good as he was stoked by seeing the place full and every soul there sing-alonging his songs. He played "Hijos del orgasmo", "Solo son vidas", "La soledad comienza", "Confesionario de papel", just to name a few. In the song "Alas Rotas", he throwed to the crowd some copies of Khalil Gibran's book of the same name. Also he sang his verses acapella in "Estamos Rayados" and "Algo más que recuerdos" (both songs are originally recorded featuring sevillian hip hopper Tote King). He played "Son cosas del Rap" from his previous group Cloaka Company and sang a song with his old bandmate, Fran Fuethefirst. The highlight of the evening was definitely when Kase-O and Lírico from Violadores del Verso came up to the stage to sang the hit "Solo importa el rap" with Xhelazz; the crowd went crazy as Kase rapped perfectly his verses. At the end, Xhelazz, Fran Fuethefirst, Lírico and Aaron freestyled some rhymes for the crowd. Two thumbs up, for this great hip hop show.

King Shot: the new film by Jodorowsky

Alejandro Jodorowsky's new film after 20 years, King Shot, is being produced by another great writer/director David Lynch. Starring are Nick Nolte, Asia Argento and Marilyn Manson.

Milk by Gus Van Sant

Milk is the new feature film of acclaimed american director, Gus Van Sant. It tells the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected to the public office in the state of California, concretely to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Sean Penn portrays Milk as one of the best performances of his career (he has been nominated to the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards). Also starring are Josh Brolin as Dan White, Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones, James Franco as Scott Smith and Diego Luna as Jack Lira.

Van Sant is a great director visually and this movie proves it once again. The storytelling is creative and innovative by mixing it with real footage from the 70's, unconventional camera shots or simply by not telling the story in a lineal boring way. Also Penn's performance gives a very emotional picture of the gay struggle in the 70's against the conservative right wing. Even if you are not a gay yourself, you can identify with what that group of men and women made in favor of the concept of tolerance. Franco's performance was good after his hilarious portrait of a pothead in "Pineapple Express", Brolin, as a great actor himself, makes the perfect anti-thesis of Milk, youngster Hirsch (previously directed by Penn in 07's classic "Into the Wild") makes the job as the young gay activist and Luna's performance was not that good because he was type-casted as the token latino guy who dies, not having that much speaking time. Anyhow, the movie is great and my highlights are Penn's performance who was marvelous, Van Sant never goes wrong directing because he is one of the great american storytellers and the theme is well-developed in a entertaining, visually atractive and moving way. 9 out of 10 stars.