Let's pay a visit to Greece. There are not many English-speaking Greek bands touring around the world. Astyplaz is one of them. Formed in 2003, they released their second album in 2008, named Bi and containing this little piece of melancholy: I Can See You Fade. Sweet, very sweet, this track. I can't help listening to it, repeteadly in a loop, paying attention to the profound lyrics, being absorbed by its soft rhythm. Relaxing music for our senses.
Let us return to the cold. This time we travel to Iceland to meet the most popular electronic band in that country (apart from Björk, of course): Gus Gus. Formed in 1995, they began their career with really experimental and dark wave sounds, although they have never forgotten the importance of a good tune. "Believe" is one of their best songs. Here we find a darker and more obsessive live performance of that track, slightly different from the original one.
Time to visit an exotic country. India isn't bad, is it? The country of curry, sacred cows, vivid colours and exotic dances, offers also a peculiar music style: bhangra. Originally from the Punjab region -located in the border between Pakistan and India- it was later developed in Britain by Punjabi (also spelled Panjabi) inmigrants. Rajinder Singh Rai, better known as Panjabi MC, is a British Indian musician very fond of combining bhangra with hip hop. The result, great songs as this Mundian To Bach Ke, performed by a Punjabi artist, Labh Janjua, and later remixed by Panjabi MC with the unmistakable Knight Rider's theme. A worldwide phenomenon by then, played everywhere. I still clearly recall listening to this song in the streets of Istanbul, while in a short trip, and shortly after, again (and again) back in Spain.
Back to Europe, we land now in Austria. Ping Ping are Hubert Mauracher and Loretta Who, a duo whose first album was released two years ago. The delicate sound of their songs, along with the warm voice of Loretta, is a joy to our ears and our minds, but this song highlights the powerful final crescendo.
We travel back -after our relatively recent Iranian adventure- to a Middle East country. Kuwait, this time. The promising Kuwaiti artist Zahed Sultan released his debut album, Hi Fear Lo Love, early last year. It included tracks sung in English and Arabic. I have chosen this Walking Away, a delicate pearl in line with the previous Mexican song. Sentimental, melancholic sounds with tender female voice to make us think about something... or someone.
Mexico is our next destination. There we find Belanova, a band from the city of Guadalajara led by their vocalist Denisse Guerrero and formed in year 2000. With five studio albums released, my favorite song is on the first one, called Cocktail. A techno pop gem that dazzled me ten years ago and which I still enjoy.
We move to Switzerland, keeping the space trend of the previous song. Fresh Color started as a punk band in the late 70's, evolving into new wave sounds in the early 80's and later on into italodisco, in which they created colourful songs with fresh sounds, keeping faithful to their band name. Sing With Me Tonight combines a space atmosphere with uplifting lyrics and chorus, making the song rich enough to be transported to another, and very pleasant, acoustic dimension.
In Russia we find Ruslan Bozhok, the head of Synth Dimension and one of the leading recyclers of spacesynth sound of the 80´s in his country. This instrumental song is a good example of this composer's ability to create great synthpop gems, the genre of his dreaming soul, as he points out in his website. Are you ready for space exploration?
We flight to Australia, a huge country crowded with good rock bands. There are also great Australian synthpop bands, however. Let's meet the syblins Jaymes and Tegan and their recently created band Voltaire Twins. They practice a soft, tender electropop, with rich electronic tunes. In this wise remix by a Portuguese DJ, Moullinex, the song's texture is continously changing and enriching, finally reaching an enjoyable electronic climax.
We travel this time to Portugal, very close to our home country. One of the most successful and international bands from that country is The Gift, which even today sells lots of albums and tours worldwide. I, like many others, discovered them in 2004 with their album “AM / FM”, released eight years ago. There, we could find their great hit single Music, but I have chosen another song from that album more in the line of this blog. Enjoy it.