Spain has a bit of a self-centered and inbred kind of music scene. Most of the well-known bands of these days began singing in English but in the end, they changed to Spanish for sales and popularity reasons, and other bands changes their languages for practicality issues (they didn’t have any perspective of playing abroad, so why bother?). But, the same way singing in Spanish was, some years ago, something strange that even made a band looked like pariahs, now it’s the other way round: singing in English doesn’t seem to guarantee a loyal following in a freak country as Spain. But some up-and-coming bands still have faith in this form of expression with very good results.
The Sidecar venue in Barcelona is one of the classic clubs where people like A Place to Bury Strangers (QRO spotlight on), Retribution Gospel Choir, or Chris and Carla have offered some very good and closer gigs. And it’s also chosen by people like Klaudia or Anika Sade, two very promising bands of Barcelona who played there on Friday, April 1st.
Support band Klaudia played a tight and direct set of indie rock. In the words of their drummer, Pau ZZ, "By now, our music can be easily 
identified. People will hear hints of Franz Ferdinand (QRO album review), Placebo, Sonic Youth (QRO live review), and other indie bands, mixed with dramatic and electric bursts and some drum beats that get us close to drum and bass. We’re currently trying to orientate our songs to the live performance." And what was seen at Sidecar was that: solid, straight, electric and shiny songs that invite either to dance or jump, like "Oveja" and "New Land", or epic and dense tunes like "The City’s Sleeping", chosen to close their set and where they aim at Editors (QRO album review) or The Boxer Rebellion (QRO live review). Their debut record Mother Phoenix will be released in early May. Playing in such a specific way, and being as steady and clear in what they play, they could go far if they keep evolving.
Anika Sade is a band formed in 2006 by Argentine musicians who live in Barcelona. It’s still a young combo but they already have plenty of experience, having won several contests and having played in some of the most important festivals of Spain (BAM, Demoscópicas) with a repertoire based on the electro pop of the early ‘80s with influences like Tears for Fears, Echobelly, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, The Cure and a modern indie approach taken from Editors or 
Grafton Primary. With a very tight rhythm unit, a minimal guitar and the uninhibited use of self-made electronic samplers to help them achieve a richer sound, the Argentines tailored a set based on their first record, the EP Last Night Was Automatic (which everybody can download for free through their website) with their hit "Name That Face" as one of the highlights; some songs of their next EP, due to be released in early May; and a brilliant cover of Bronski Beat’s "Small Town Boy". The gig finished with the rocky "Paranoid Regress", instead of the usual, pleasant and timeless "Watch Out" that was played at the very beginning. Anika Sade keep on walking on firm ground, mixing dance music, a shadowy atmosphere and an uncomplicated approach to the music that it is working in their favour. They sound like no other band in Spain and though a foreigner will identify some of their influences, sure it is too that it’s obvious that the band has enough personality.
And that’s, probably, the point of the beginning of the text: singing in whatever languages is of relative importance. What counts is the personality of the band. And these two young bands have plenty of that and, at any moment, are able to offer a gig of the same quality of whatever acclaimed veteran musicians.
