Reviews

Algara Enamorados Del Control Total EP

There’s something about the cold, distant, echoing vocals, the primitive, synthetic drums, and catchy guitar lines that combine to make this a striking debut. It doesn’t sound like garden variety post-punk and I’m at a loss to think of a band that sounds like this. Take a song like “Potestad Para Hablar”—these are going to sound like bonkers comparisons but hear me out —it combines the cold, antiseptic distance of FELT with the catchy new wave guitar of the B-52’S and it totally works! Speaking of idiosyncratic combinations, the cover features a mix of militant posturing, an autobiography of Catalan anarcho-syndicalist Juan GarcÁ­a Oliver, analog photography equipment, and what looks like a flamenco record. Maybe it’s this mix of the raw and cold with the colorful and alive that makes their particular sound click. Anarcho-punk you can dance to, with a drum machine that sometimes sounds like a taser. These tunes were re-recorded with a live band on a subsequent cassette and I can’t tell which I like better so dig them both.