Beyond the BCB 130 - Madrugada

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WG Kaspar
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Beyond the BCB 130 - Madrugada

Postby WG Kaspar » 14 May 2015, 20:07

I'm not gonna bother you with the historical details of the band as I don't know much about it or even care to be honest. What I do know is the music and it is wonderful too. I have always been quite drawn to more esoteric, melancholic sounds, I always found the drama involved very intriguing and the tension that usually lies within the songs very exciting and moving. I did not discover Madrugada when they released their exceptional debut and my favourite album of theirs in 1999. It was a huge hit in Greece but at the time I was studying in England where it failed to make a splash and they passed me by. But in 2003 they released the 3rd album Grit and it again became an instant hit in Greece. Luckily this time around I was there and hanging out with the right people who sorted me out with their earlier stuff. This below was my introduction and I never looked back.



Did I mention they were from Norway? Well they are which maybe explains all the melancholy. But the things that struck me the most was the exceptionally expressive singer and the fact that actually rocked out but with a certain elegance that most contemporary bands were lacking. Perhaps Mark Lanegan is the closest I can think of but to be honest nothing that I've heard from him comes close to the quality of these guys. Anyway coming back to 2003 after expressing an interest in knowing about them my best friend gave me their first album and it was a revelation. If I've known them only from one rockin' tune during the course of a whole album their complete pallette was revealed and it was astonishing to me. Great emotional depth, melancholy, a unique singer and the guitars. Boy were the guitars fuckin' great. It all sounded a world apart from the prevalent sounds of my 1999 which was a diet of Muse, Chemical Brothers, Death In Vegas and whatever was popular back then. The following 2 I think demonstrate best what they're all about for me.





In 2001 their 2nd album The Nightly Disease was more of the same but darker still and even though it contains some cracking I never became too enarmored by it although I play it quite a bit. This however became a firm favorite.


Again I have to go back to the their 3rd album Grit which they speeded up their sound a bit without losing any of the emotional power that characterized their sound so far and it would pretty hard anyway when they possess a singer of the quality of Sivert Høyem.





They released 2 more albums both maintaining a very high quality of material and never deviating from their unique style but they never managed to become anything more than a mere footnote among rock fans. Undeservedly so. During the recording of their last album their guitar player passed away. They went on and released it anyway and it had no right to be as good as it was. I'll always rue the chance of not going to see them when they played in Greece year after year. A great great band that I miss very much.

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Walk In My Shadow
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Re: Beyond the BCB 130 - Madrugada

Postby Walk In My Shadow » 16 May 2015, 22:09

Ah! Found it!


There's not even one reply and this for a band as fantastic as they are (were). That's a real shame but once again it shows the chauvinism of the Brits.

Similar bands (but not similar in style) have undergone this same lot. Midnight Choir for one or the Baskery.

But back to your report, Theo. I couldn't have said it much better.Madrugada is one of those doom music bands that totally get away with it.

Black Mambo was and still is my favorite song of theirs.
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jimboo
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Re: Beyond the BCB 130 - Madrugada

Postby jimboo » 10 Jan 2018, 19:14

Well , really! I raved about this lot fucking years ago , nice to see some of you finally catch up , tut.
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Re: Beyond the BCB 130 - Madrugada

Postby Walk In My Shadow » 11 Jan 2018, 13:03

jimboo wrote:Well , really! I raved about this lot fucking years ago , nice to see some of you finally catch up , tut.



Tbh, Theo's post was from 3 years ago.


He was right about them being stars in Greece.


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And his other solo albums aren't bad either.
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Darkness_Fish
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Re: Beyond the BCB 130 - Madrugada

Postby Darkness_Fish » 11 Jan 2018, 13:29

Hmm, they remind me of the kind of band who I'd buy albums by, but rarely get excited by. Appliance, or Circlesquare, that kind of thing, where you end up with a few albums but never really know why.
Like fast-moving clouds casting shadows against a hillside, the melody-loop shuddered with a sense of the sublime, the awful unknowable majesty of the world.


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