Historic move

Today I feel exceptionally proud of my government and of my citizenship. With today's new vote in the lower chamber of Parliament, Spain has just become the third country in the world, after Belgium and the Netherlands, to legalize same-sex marriage. Canada will follow in July, as soon as the Senate there confirms Tuesday's vote in the lower chamber. As the Spanish prime minister said today in his address to Parliament during the debate before the vote, "After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality."

Read the story as reported by the New York Times, El País or the BBC.

The National

The Brooklyn-by-way-of-Cincinatti rock quintet The National have just published Alligator, their third, and so far best, album. In their move to Beggars' Banquet they have not lost, but rather improved, their formula: powerful and immediate 80's-influenced guitar rock songs, packed with raw emotion, epic violins and beautifully obscure lyrics, yet subdued by the overwhelming, majestic baritone vocals of lead singer Matt Berninger. Check out the video for the album's first single, 'Abel.'

Róisín Murphy

Greetings from the Old world! I am on vacation, which means I have been busy catching up with several interesting European releases from the last couple of months, which I intend to blog about.

The chameleonic Irish singer from the disbanded British dance pop duo Moloko is back with her debut album Ruby Blue (released in Europe last week), which compiles the tracks from her three recent EPs. With the invaluable help of Matthew Herbert, who produced and co-wrote all these odd, vanguard electronic pop songs, the album sounds more experimental and showcases Róisín's unique, sensual voice better than any Moloko release. With its fresh, unpredictable melodies developing over rich electronic backgrounds that range from jazz to house, Ruby Blue constitutes one of the most pleasant surprises of the year so far. The (relatively) catchy 'If We're in Love' is its first single.

X & Y

As everyone probably knows by now, today is the official release date of Coldplay's new album (in the US, that is. Elsewhere, it came out yesterday). I didn't blog about first single 'Speed of Sound,' because I thought it sounds very much like 'Clocks,' only with a hint of Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' in the build-up to the chorus. The same feeling of déjà-vu (or rather déjà-écouté) presides over the entire record X & Y --which, combined with the fact that there is no immediate anthem in the shape of 'The Scientist' or 'Yellow,' can leave the listener slightly underwhelmed and serves as a reminder of how unrealistically high the expectations for this album were.
It is fair to say, however, that the instrumentation, arrangements and production are superb, that Chris Martin's vocals are as good as ever, and that the songwriting, if unoriginal, is still very good. Overall, it is a safe move for Coldplay, who have produced a collection of mid-tempo stadium ballads that will not surprise or alienate anyone and will easily sell another dozen million copies worldwide. No bold move, no rush of blood to the head, just a handful of pleasant, safe crowd-pleasers masterfully performed. Take a listen to my pick for album highlights: the simple, tender, U2-sounding 'A Message' and (a clip of) the more upbeat 'White Shadows.' (You keep expecting the chorus to break into an old Midnight Oil song, though...)

Basement Jaxx

English house/techno duo Basement Jaxx have recently published their outstanding Singles compilation spanning ten years of funky club anthems, brassy disco wonders and alternative dance experiments with anything from reggae to bossa, flamenco or samba. Although the album is not yet out in the US, the second and final new song in this collection is being released as a single in Europe next week. 'U Don't Know Me' features the excellent vocals of Lisa Kekaula (who had already worked with the Jaxx in 'Good Luck') and it's got a brilliant, hillarious video with a Queen Elizabeth look-a-like on a wild night out in London. (Needless to say, the promo has already been banned by MTV and will not be shown anywhere on daytime British tv). Check it out here.

Four Tet

This week saw the US release of Kieran Hebden's fourth album Everything Ecstatic. After the beautiful, often sad and introspective Rounds (one of my favorite albums of 2003 --remember 'She Moves She'?), this time the British electronica genius is in a much more energetic and experimental mood. Random noise bursts, quirky beats and a willingness to push boundaries in his work makes Everything Ecstatic his least cohesive yet most challenging record to date. Check out his current single 'Smile Around the Face.'

Tachenko

This indie pop quintet from Zaragoza released their debut album Nieves y rescates last Spring, and by the end of the year it was ranked among the very best Spanish releases of 2004 by most critics. The band, which features two former members of mid-90s indie favorites El Niño Gusano, has recently published an EP featuring some new songs along with one of the highlights of that album, a luminous song with a delicious melody, pleasant vocal harmonies and a beautiful xylophone line, called 'Amable.'