Could be the scorching weather or else it could be something they put into paella, but the Spanish can scare you like no one else. And while I never willingly watch horror films (I guess the last ten minutes of The Blair Witch Project did it to me back in the day), I did have to endure a Spanish piece called "Behind" a couple of years ago during the Manhattan Short Film Festival. It was a thing of nightmares, and no words of warning from the lovely presenter could quite prepare me for what I saw.
Guadalupe Plata soundtrack horror. They play sinister rockabilly and they sound like Quentin Tarantino from hell.
Now prior to the May rerelease of this album (original Spanish LP was out back in November 2018) I had never heard of this band. Which is a shame as this is their fifth album (they are all self-titled, but my edition goes by the name of Three Demons) and I absolutely love what they do. Short blasts of beautifully crafted horrorbilly occasionally diluted by a freaky acoustic waltz with ominous hissing ("Oigo voces") or a pretty instrumental with a guitar line wiggling like some cool snake ("Paloma negra").
Elsewhere, it's your classic rockabilly with a dark edge - made all the more darker by the unsettling Spanish vocals that create a mood well encapsulated by the cover picture. Full moon, dead trees, three red demons, musical instruments scattered on the cold ground. Brilliant stuff, and very brief, too, with ten out of twelve songs clocking in under three minutes. "No te vayas" is the heaviest. "Lobo aullador" is frankly unnerving. "Duermo con serpientes" is a classic. Recommended.
