Spotlight – 20: Hello Cuca

You know already, of course. At least, I expect you know already. I mean, you must know already. Don’t you? Whatever. Even if you do know already, you might not be prepared for the following video, which rocks so fucking hard it’s raising blisters on my fingers as I type.

(Taken from Plan B #45)
Hello Cuca wouldn’t have existed without Riot Grrrl – a quick glance at their top friends on their MySpace page shows their allegiances: Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill), Ana de Silva and Gina Birch (The Raincoats), New Bloods, Wet Dog, Erase Errata… indeed, this Spanish girl-pop trio came across Riot Grrrl by reading about it in zines, and were sometimes disappointed when they finally heard the music because their imaginations had led them further. That’s the best kind of DIY – where you’ve been inspired by someone’s attitude, but not slavishly followed the sound.

This new 33-track collection of spirited garage stomps and fiery punk polemic – covering 12 years, and presented in reverse order so you get the newest and best first – is superb, June Brides lifts, Go-Betweens steals, Sleater-Kinney swipes… everything. The instrumental ‘Lady Yo’ reminds me of how fun Babes In Toyland could be, the more honed moments from the 2006 album Hello Cuca/Incrucificables are like a dream version of The Fabulous Stains performed by early Go-Go’s, ‘Oh, Luba’ kicks garage ass in a way rarely heard since Ann-Margret in 1961, there are obvious touches of Buzzcocks and Kleenex…

Ah, fuck it all. I’m making this sound like it’s a rigorous amalgam of its components and it’s so not: indeed Hello Cuca most often sound like no one so much as themselves, or (as Plan B‘s Lauren Strain puts it), “An unhinged housewarming party of percussion like tiddly spiders in tap shoes”. I need to quit referencing music. Projection and memory play tricks, and all I know with any certainty is that Hello Cuca (the first 15 songs here, for sure) sound pure inspiration, pure fun.
(Everett True, The True Report)

The same person who tipped me off to the above video also tipped me off about the solo work of Lidia Damunt, which is also fine indeed. Go check it out.

by Everett True

My name is Everett True. I am a music critic. This is what I do. I criticise music. The clue is in my job description – music critic. I do not consider myself a journalist, as I do not research or report hard news. I do not consider myself a commentator as I believe that everyone should be a participant. I criticise people and in return I am not surprised if other people criticise me. It is part of the whole deal of being in the public arena. I am Everett True. Believe in me and I have power like a God. Quit believing in me and I no longer exist.