Heroes del Silencio

I've been waking up late even though I've been going to bed real early, you know, like 2am, 3am. Early.
Been doing a lot of SC2 the past few days, getting into Exodus was really cool, hopefully something awesome comes of it. We're playing a team today that, from what I understand, is pretty high ranking. Basically what that means is that we shouldn't feel to bad when we lose, lol.
THERE BE CLOUDS IN THESE HERE SKIES!
The weather makes it feel like it's gonna be one of those days, a lazy day in December. It's been raining off and on for the past few days which makes me want to listen to not-the-happiest music.
I downloaded the Heores del Silencio discography again, so it, along with Jar of Flies and Dirt, has been on constant spin. I actually had no HdS on this computer, weird realization to me, seeing as I have ridiculous amounts of their stuff spread throughout different computers and hard drives :/

If you speak Spanish, and even if you don't, and have never listened to them or are interested in really getting into them, I'd suggest starting with El Mar no Cesa.
Not just because it's their first album, but because it gives a clear picture of the sound they have and develop throughout their career....OK, lets be real, their sound doesn't change too much through out their albums. All they do, really, is get more rock influences and, musically, stray from what I think made them so appealing to begin with.
Their sound and appeal has three parts to it. The guitar, the voice, the lyrics and I guess we could add the phrasing Bunbury uses. Enrique Bunbury is the singer and Juan Valdivia is the guitarist.

Originally Valdivia used a lot of picking, a lot of minor based picking at that. This set them apart from others in the Rock en Español scene of their time. The didn't fall into, what I call, the Cure mold, though they had elements of it, no one would ever confuse them with Caifanes. They also weren't the tropical sounding group, Mana. Or the Electropoppy group, Los Prisioneros.
They weren't bluntly dark either, their association with being a "sad band" comes from Bunbury's lyrics and the way he sang them. They're deep, symbolic and accompanied so well by the music. Because of this, they leave room for interpretation but don't become bland or 'too' deep. Which is what I think happens to a lot of high caliber musicians through out their years, the Weakerthans suffer from this and Leonard Cohen went through a phase of this. Hell, Facundo Cabral made a career of it lol.
Bunbury's voice is what really developed through out their time together, listening to their early stuff then listening to their later material would give an impression of the confidence and maturity he gained throughout those years.

I'd say one could summarize their entire catalog in two parts. Let's call them the Good and the Off, the Good is the dark, melancholy stuff; a lot of picked intros and verses, with strummed choruses and usually with some kind of break (La Chispa Adecuada, Hace Tiempo, Oracion, Sirena Varada, La Carta, etc...). The Off would be the straight rock tracks, typical, generic 90s rock. Not the cool stuff everyone talks about, this is the generic stuff that, to this day, still plagues mainstream radio. Oh yeah, lets not forget the 4/4 timings found on every track or the drumming so boring at times, that it'd make Ringo and Phil Rudd shake their heads.
Some of these songs are, Nuestros Nombres, Rueda, Fortuna!, Los Placeres De La Pobreza, Tumbas de Sal and, hell, we can throw Iberia Sumergida in there as well. I love some of their "Off" stuff, in fact a lot of those lyrics are some of my favorites. Avalancha being a good example, but let's be real; the music isn't the greatest accompaniment to the lyrics in those cases. And overall it shows that they didn't progress too much musically. The little progress they did make is immensely overshadowed by Bunbury's vocal and lyrical development.

ok. rant over.
lol.
check out El Mar no Cesa.
http://www.mediafire.com/?3y2kamdnjii

I'd forgotten about this, I'm going to start using it I think

In the off-chance someone takes interest in my interests, lol, this is here.

I'm presently listening to Jar of Flies for the first time, this first track Rotten Apple really seems to set a mood and precedent for the rest of the album, it's dark, tight, atmospheric and moves at a pace that is sludgy enough that it adds to the sad qualities of the overall track, but doesn't get boring. A quick look at the track listing reveals some of my favorite AIC songs reside here, Nutshell, No Excuses, Don't Follow. From this alone I'm going to venture a guess that this is one of the darkest albums I've come across in a while.
Of the seven songs on it, I'm familiar with four, love one of the new ones and am listening to Whale & Wasp now...Cantrell is definitely a master songwriter, no denying it after this. I mean, I already knew it but this instrumental track proves it.
Ok now I'm on the last track, Swing on This.
Huh...ok there it is, lol. So it starts off almost like a mock-blues kind of thing; walking bassline, 7th chords and a swingin beat. Sounds like something that'd be at home in a Muddy or Wolf set.
Then it hits, the chorus is straight AIC. Dark, dissonant, off-putting.

I'm in love with this album.
If I had to rate it I'd give it an 9/10, definitely worth listening to if you haven't before and aren't too familiar with their music. Really paints a picture of how their music moves and feels.
I'd still prescribe Dirt of it, though, just because it paints a fuller picture of who and how they are, I think.
Then again, I've only listened to their Unplugged, Dirt and now this. Facelift is next.