The best 50 albums of 2007 according to RockZone staff has been published in issue #33:
1. BIFFY CLYRO “Puzzle”
2. GALLOWS “Orchestra of Wolves”
3. NINE INCH NAILS “Year Zero”
4. AGAINST ME! “New Wave”
5. MACHINE HEAD “The Blackening”
6. THRICE “The Alchemy Index Vol I & II”
7. DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN “Ire Works”
8. ARCADE FIRE “Neon Bible”
9. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE “Era Vulgaris”
10. AS I LAY DYING “An Ocean Between Us”

The rest in alphabetical order:
- !!! “Myth Takes”
- ANGELS & AIRWAVES “I-Empire”
- ARCH ENEMY “Rise of the Tyrant”
- AVENGED SEVENFOLD “Avenged Sevenfold”
- BAD RELIGION “New Maps of Hell”
- BLOC PARTY “A Weekend in the City”
- BRANT BJORK & THE BROS “Somera Sól”
- BRIGHT EYES “Cassadaga”
- BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN “Magic”
- CHIMAIRA “Resurrection”
- CHIODOS “Bone Palace Ballet”
- COHEED & CAMBRIA “Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV, Vol. 2: No World for Tomorrow”
- THE DONNAS “Bitchin’”
- DOWN “III: Over the Thunder”
- ENTER SHIKARI “Take to the Skies”
- EVERY TIME I DIE “The Big Dirty”
- FAIR TO MIDLAND “Fables from a Mayfly”
- FALL OUT BOY “Infinity on High”
- HERMANO “…into the Exam Room”
- HIGH ON FIRE “Death is This Communion”
- IRON & WINE “The Shepherd’s Dog”
- JIMMY EAT WORLD “Chase This Light”
- KINGS OF LEON “Because of the Times”
- LIFETIME “Lifetime”
- LINKIN PARK “Minutes to Midnight”
- MINISTRY “The Last Sucker”
- MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK “Even If It Kills Me”
- NEUROSIS “Given to the Rising”
- PELICAN “City of Echoes”
- PJ HARVEY “White Chalk”
- POISON THE WELL “Versions”
- RADIOHEAD “In Rainbows”
- SAM ROBERTS “Chemical City”
- THE SHINS “Wincing the Night Away”
- TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS “Living the Living”
- 3 INCHES OF BLOOD “Fire Up the Blades”
- TURBONEGRO “Retox”
- TWO GALLANTS “Two Gallants”
- THE WHITE STRIPES “Icky Thump”
- WILCO “Sky Blue Sky”


And the best Spanish albums:
1. NOTHINK “Spotlights”
2. MONKEY HOLE “Termites Don’t Respect the House of God”
3. NUNNERY “Wall of Clouds”
4. LISABÖ “Ezlekuak”
5. WARCHETYPE “Goat Goddess Supremacy”
6. GREEN MANALISHI “Unknown Forces”
7. ANOTHER KIND OF DEATH “Sleepless Every Night”
8. THE CAPACES “The Restless Breed”
9. DEAD MEANS NOTHING “Puzzle”
10. SKIZOO “Incerteza”

And the rest in alphabetical order:
- ÁNGELUS APÁTRIDA “Give’ Em War”
- DÍA DE FURIA “Corea”
- ELECKTRA “Sin mirar atrás”
- THE FREEWHEELIN’ TORNADOS “Acapulco Gold”
- HEDTRIP “Roma”
- IT’S NOT NOT “Bound for the Shine”
- JET LAG “Forever”
- LAVODRAMA “It’s Close, That’s What Matters”
- LOVE OF LESBIAN “Cuentos chinos para niños del Japón”
- MADEE “L’Antarctica”
- ORTHODOX “Amanecer en Puerta Oscura”
- RIP KC “Spingüolf”
- SKUNK D.F. “Esencia”
- VIAJE A 800 “Estampida de trombones”

It seems that a Spanish band singing in Spanish has little chance to appear in Rock Zone list.



And the list of RockHard, a new Spanish publication about hard rock (well, you don’t need to be a genius to guess that).
The best albums of 2007 according to staff has been published in issue #11:
1. MACHINE HEAD “The Blackening”
2. MUNICIPAL WASTE “The Art of Partying”
3. DIMMU BORGIR “In Sorte Diaboli”
4. 3 INCHES OF BLOOD “Fire Up the Blades”
5. ARCH ENEMY “Rise of the Tyrant”
6. AS I LAY DYING “An Ocean Between Us”
7. PRIMORDIAL “To the Nameless Death”
8. DOWN “III: Over the Thunder”
9. AVENGED SEVENFOLD “Avenged Sevenfold”
10. MAYHEM “Ordo Ad Chao”

The rest in alphabetical order:
- ANNIHILATOR “Metal”
- CHIMAIRA “Resurrection”
- DARK TRANQUILLITY “Fiction”
- DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN “Ire Works”
- THE DONNAS “Bitchin’”
- DREAM THEATER “Systematic Chaos”
- GAMMA RAY “Land of the Free II”
- HANOI ROCKS “Street Poetry”
- HATESPHERE “Serpent Smiles and Killer Eyes”
- LIMBONIC ART “Legacy of Evil”
- MASTERPLAN “Mk II”
- MEGADETH “United Abominations”
- MINISTRY “The Last Sucker”
- NIGHTINGALE “White Darkness”
- NIGHTWISH “Dark Passion Play”
- OBITUARY “Xecutioner’s Return”
- PAIN OF SALVATION “Scarsick”
- RICHIE KOTZEN “Return of the Mother Head’s Family Reunion”
- SERENITY “Words Untold & Dreams Unlived”
- SIEGES EVEN “Paramount”
- SHADOWS FALL “Threads of Life”
- SOILWORK “Sworn to a Great Divide”
- SONATA ARCTICA “Unia”
- SWALLOW THE SUN “Hope”
- SYMPHONY X “Paradise Lost”
- THE SORROW “Blessed from a Blackened Sky”
- THRESHOLD “Dead Reckoning”
- TURISAS “The Varagian Way”
- TYPE 0 NEGATIVE “Dead Again”
- WATAIN “Sworn to the Dark”


And the best Spanish albums:
1. ÁNGELUS APATRIDA “Give’ Em War”
2. SKIZOO “Incerteza”
3. HARD SPIRIT “Walk the Wind”
4. MONKEY HOLE “Termites Don’t Respect the House of God”
5. MOTOCICLÓN “Himnos de extrarradio”

And the rest in alphabetical order:
- ALTO VOLTO “Alto Volto”
- AUTUMNAL “Grey Universe”
- AZRAEL “Libre”
- BREED 77 “Un encuentro”
- DEAD MEANS NOTHING “Puzzle”
- DÍA DE FURIA “Corea”
- FOSCOR “The Smile of the Sad Ones”
- JORGE SALÁN “Chronicles of an Evolution”
- KOMA “Sakeo”
- ORTHODOX “Amanecer en Puerta Oscura”
- SKUNK D.F. “Esencia”
- SMOKERS “Still Giving”
- SOUND OF SILENCE “La casa de los lamentos”
- STRAVAGANZA “Réquiem”
- WARCHETYPE “Goat Goddess Supremacy”

Thanks Honorio!

Given the large amount of Spanish music press, why is it that Spanish music don't reach outside Spain?

I'm not sure but I think that music magazines from for example Sweden are a source for Pitchfork et al to discover new music. But they don't seem to pick up Spanish music at all.

Well, Henrik, I really can’t explain it. The usual explanation of the language as a barrier didn’t prevent the wide success of the “latin” thing (I mean, Ricky Martin, Shakira, Enrique Iglesias and other crappy artists). There’s (and there was historically) a varied and quite nice musical scene in Spain, apart of the ethnic styles (flamenco of course) we have pop, rock, electronica and indie like any other European country. There’s of course unimaginative artists only following foreign trends but we have artists with a notable personality on its own. But you’re right, Henrik, the impact of Spanish music outside Spain (and South America maybe) is minimal. Well…

Honorio, I know you mentioned you were going to do a Spanish language music overview at some point. Since you're our local scholar for Spanish language pop, I was wondering when you were planning on doing that or at the very least if you have some personal favs to suggest from the past year or two.

It's such a pain for me to find actual good music in Spanish living in the States, but it's about the best way to keep my language skills from completely eroding.

I've been to Los Planetas' site yesterday and listened to 4 or 5 songs from their last album.
I found that really good, and original. The idea of doing Camarron's "Leyenda del tiempo" in reverse (from a rock point of view) is very onteresting.
Maybe it's because I'm not from Spain or Andalucia (although I have some family there) but I didn't really hear the flamenco influence in their music. Maybe it is in the way the songs are shaped ?

Nicolas: yes, they have used the flamenco song-structures and lyrics-style (based in popular poetry) but musically it’s its trademark brand of indie-rock, that’s why it really doesn’t sound like flamenco.

Slush: you’re right, I’m not only preparing that overview but even I’ve got a Top 500 albums list categorized by years and Top 250 songs list. I was trying to do a complete web-page inspired (well, completely copied) on the Henrik one, that I will call “Spanish Acclaimed Music” or “Acclaimed Spanish Music”. The problem is that I got no time enough and not enough computer programs handling. And I’m afraid to launch it incompletely and moreover not being able of updating properly. But I expect I can finally make it during 2008. Yes, Henrik, finally I revealed the secret.

One little preview. The Top 5 albums for the last 10 years:

2007:
1. LOS PLANETAS “La leyenda del espacio”
2. LISABÖ “Ezlekuak”
3. TRIÁNGULO DE AMOR BIZARRO “Triángulo de Amor Bizarro”
4. HIDROGENESSE “Animalitos”
5. MALA RODRÍGUEZ “Malamarismo”

2006:
1. BUNBURY & VEGAS “El tiempo de las cerezas”
2. STANDSTILL “Vivalaguerra”
3. ANTÒNIA FONT “Batiscafo Katiuscas”
4. SR. CHINARRO “El mundo según”
5. GRUPO DE EXPERTOS SOLYNIEVE “Alegato meridional”

2005:
1. SR. CHINARRO “El fuego amigo”
2. SÓLO LOS SOLO “Todo el mundo lo sabe”
3. LOVE OF LESBIAN “Maniobras de escapismo”
4. NACHO VEGAS “Desaparezca aquí”
5. MERCROMINA “Desde la montaña más alta del mundo”

2004:
1. JOSELE SANTIAGO “Las golondrinas etcétera”
2. ASTRUD “Performance”
3. TOTE KING “Música para enfermos”
4. LOS PLANETAS “Contra la ley de la gravedad”
5. ATOM RHUMBA “Backbone ritmo”

2003:
1. NACHO VEGAS “Cajas de música difíciles de parar”
2. LA BUENA VIDA “Álbum”
3. REFREE “Nones”
4. 12TWELVE “Speritismo”
5. MALA RODRÍGUEZ “Alevosía”

2002:
1. LOS PLANETAS “Encuentros con entidades”
2. NOSOTRÄSH “Popemas”
3. BUNBURY “Flamingos”
4. MUS “El Naval”
5. BEEF “La Bohème”

2001:
1. CHUCHO “Los diarios del petróleo”
2. ASTRUD “Gran fuerza”
3. LA BUENA VIDA “Hallelujah”
4. BALAGO “erm”
5. NACHO VEGAS “Actos inexplicables”

2000:
1. MALA RODRÍGUEZ “Lujo ibérico”
2. ANARI “Habiak”
3. LISABÖ “Ezarian”
4. LOS PLANETAS “Unidad de desplazamiento”
5. 7 NOTAS 7 COLORES “La Mami Internacional”

1999:
1. ANDRÉS CALAMARO “Honestidad brutal”
2. FANGORIA “Una temporada en el infierno”
3. FERMÍN MUGURUZA “Brigadistak Sound System”
4. CHUCHO “Tejido de felicidad”
5. JOAQUÍN SABINA “19 días y 500 noches”

1998:
1. LOS PLANETAS “Una semana en el motor de un autobús”
2. CPV “Grandes planes”
3. EL NIÑO GUSANO “El escarabajo más grande del mundo”
4. BUSTAMANTE “Entusiastas”
5. SÓLO LOS SOLO “Retorno al principio”

You just made my day, week, and month (maybe year?). Thanks.

Honorio

Wonderful project ! I hope you will make it real, although I know how hard it is to find time (and especially long periods of isolated work) to start a blog or a personal site when you have a job and a family.
I'm also very interested. I have connections with Spain : my aunt lives in Sevilla and my sister's married to a Spanish man whose parents live not far from you, in the Valencia area. I was good in Spanish at highschool, but I'm ashamed to say I lost a lot. I still can read it but speaking and writing is another thing

I know some classic Spanish music (Camarron, Paco De Lucia, Paco Ibanez) but nada when it comes to Spanish pop/rock.
btw, I have a wonderful recording of Camarron singing with traditional Indian musicians, restoring the link between the country where Gipsies are said to come from and one of their most remote scatterlings, the Spanish Gitanos.
So if that site ever sees the light, I'll pay regular visits.

Thanks a lot, Slush. I’m glad to see your interest on Spanish music. Probably you have noticed that “Little Heart Attacks” is not in the Top 5 of 2004. Actually it’s #8 of 2004 and #197 of all-time. It was the album of the year for Mondo Sonoro and was featured on end of year lists of Rolling Stone and Muzikalia too but it didn’t appear on Rockdelux list at all (and I’ve weighted more the Rockdelux lists for historical reasons and for the largest numbers of critics voting). Maybe it position will rise with the end of decade lists, in which it surely will appear.

Merci beaucoup, Nicolas. It’s wonderful to see your interest, your knowledge of flamenco and your connections with Spain. Even you can read Spanish! Great! I haven’t heard of a complete album by Camarón with traditional Indian backing, but surely you’re talking about “Nana del caballo grande”, the sublime closer of Camarón magnum opus “La leyenda del tiempo” (my ever favourite Spanish album) with the singer backed by a sitar player in place of the usual Spanish guitar. As you perfectly pointed he made that move to emphasize the link of the Gitanos with its remote origins in India. Another great album who fuses flamenco with another of its main influences (Arabian music this time) is “Encuentros” recorded by El Lebrijano backed by Orquesta Andalusí de Tánger (Morocco). Try to download this, Nicolas, you won’t be disappointed.

You are right, Honorio, this song is "Nana del caballo grande". I didn't know it was part of "La Leyenda Del Tiempo". I really need to get this record and the other one you told me about.
It's on a compilation called "Road of the Gypsies", on a great German label called Network which issued a great collection of 2-disc compilations abour various themes (gipsy music but also Klezmer, traditional jewish music from Central europa, mystic muslim music, and a great one called Musica Negra in the Americas). I'm currently listening to another one from this label called Desert Blues (music from both sides of the Sahara, Arabian and Black African).

My brother got this “Road to the Gypsies” compilation and I listened to it a couple of times. Great album, including some songs from Goran Bregovic also. I remember some years ago both of us stunningly listening from this compilation “Nana del caballo grande” at maximum volume to test the audio equipment of the car I just bought then.
These were my comments for “La leyenda del tiempo” I send to Anthony for the poll (not posted since it doesn’t reach the Top 100):
“Camarón was simultaneously the last of the classic “cantaores” (flamenco singers) and the main innovator of this ancient style. Based in poems of Federico García Lorca, the sounds in this album interact with total naturalness and freedom the flamenco tradition with such diverse elements as jazz-rock (“La leyenda del tiempo”), Caribbean music (“Volando voy”) or Hindu music (“Nana del caballo grande”).”

I'm glad that Sunday Drivers got some acclaim in Spain. I discovered them completely by accident at some club in Granada one night and since then they've been a very personal favorite of mine since nobody back in the States has ever heard of them.

I will definitely be checking out Los Planetas if I can find some of their stuff here.

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