Il Abanico hail from Colombia but call Boston home these days racking a number of shows on the East Coast.
Guitarist Nicolás Losada and singer Juliana Landero have taken a modern shoegaze approach and soaked it in influences from other Massachusetts bands such as Dinosaur Jnr and the Pixies.
What is exciting about Il Abanico is they have a tendency to “fuck up” their classic pop melodies throwing in unexpected chord patterns and unusual melodies into the mix. With a slight nod to the eclecticism of their South American roots the results are wonderfully jangly guitar lines laid down for Juliana‘s vocals to soar.
My adoration for the Pixies, and in particular their ‘Doolittle’ album, is well documented on this site. Round about this time last year I was fortunate enough to catch the legendary band play Brixton Academy for a series of sold out 20th anniversary shows for that album.
Frank Black and co. are determined to continue the celebrations and are offering a free 4 track live EP.
If you missed those shows here is a chance to share in a bit of the magic.
Every person I showed this video to said it was the story of their life. Yesterday’s reference to The Breeders made me spin ‘Last Splash‘ again and this song is a perfect match.
This is the classic “underdog” inclusion to my top albums. Despite not having the same financial backing that other artists on this list had few releases in 2009 could match Yoni Gordon and the Goods for sheer passion. ‘Turning Chaos Into A Career‘ works as an album because it many dynamics yet maintains an an endearing socially conscious lyrical theme.
Back in November I labelled ‘Turning Chaos Into A Career‘ as ‘a rough diamond in amongst 2009 more prominent releases’. It is deservedly included in the Cougar Microbes top albums.
TRACK:
Yoni Gordon and the Goods – Dead But Not Forgotten
I had managed to avoid making any reference to the festive period up until this moment…. but when Cougar Microbes favourites Yoni Gordon and the Goods sent me their charity single I knew I would have to break that rule.
Yoni and co. are putting our a Christmas single this week. The A-side is a a cover of the Pogues classic “Fairytale of New York” which features Mr Franz Nicolay (of The Hold Steady fame) and special guest vocalist Emilyn Brodsky. The other song is a full band reworking of the 2005 track ‘On All Night‘
The band are asking for a five dollar donation to Feeding Americafor downloading the songs. Feeding America is a charity that partners with local foodbanks throughout the country in order to help out million of Americans that are going without food this season.
Get it here, Pass on the message and happy holidays from the Cougar team.
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