Primavera Sound 2018 was again a really effective showcase of talent and new music, but also of the problems of what happens when a festival this important gets really big, with more that 215,000 attendees. But let’s focus on the music, better, Monday-to-Saturday, May 28th-to-June 2nd, in Barcelona, Spain:
At the Parc del Fòrum, Starcrawler, Spiritualized, Wolf Parade, and Belle and Sebastian were all from good to brilliant, depending on the account. But following the tendency we stayed in the city, specifically at the Barts Theatre and Ballroom for a session of Italian rock and pop.
Guano Padano, protégés of Joey Barnes from Calexico, offered an instrumental set of different takes on what could be music for an imaginary spaghetti western soundtrack. In specific moments, the music seemed to lose a bit of focus, but when the whole band was pulling in the same direction, they were irresistible.
Any Other are an Italian quartet with American influences like Built to Spill. Theirs are very well crafted songs on their own, but put on a set list they really lack fluency, the main thing they have to work on for the future.
