Manel

Saying the name Manel is speaking about Barcelona’s most important music phenomenon of the last decade. After becoming the first pop act ever to reach the #1 of the Official Spanish Charts singing in Catalan with 10 milles per veure una bona armadura (2011), the band did it again two more times: in 2013 with the release of their third album Atletes, baixin de l’escenari (2013) and then, last april, with their fourth, Jo competeixo (2016). Now they are the one and only artist in the history to do so (three consecutive albums entering the Top of the Spanish Charts singing in Catalan). It’s just another broken boundary for a band that keep impressing the audience with their live show: on their present  tour, they have offered more than thirty gigs throughout the Iberian Peninsula starting at Primavera Sound (Barcelona & Port), and appeared in well-known known festivals such as MadCool (Madrid), Festival de les Arts (València) or Granada Sound (Granada).

 With an unusual maturity being so young, Guillem Gisbert (guitar and lead singer), Roger Padilla (guitar), Martí Maymó (bass) and Arnau Vallvé (drums) put together in 2008 a debut, Els Milllors Professors Europeus (2008) - Platinum with more than 40.000 units sold- which was said to be the perfect crossing of Catalan folk (Sisa, Serrat, Pau Riba) and indie-folk’s avant-garde (Beirut, Herman Düne). Talent and freshness: the two most common concepts associated to this band, which by word of mouth started a tour that launched at the Primavera Club (Barcelona), had its first points of inflection at The Great Escape (Brighton-UK), Womad (Canarias- Spain) and Bafim (Buenos Aires- Argentina) and ended with two unforgettable concerts at the Palau de la Música Catalana and a mini-tour around the United Kingdom (Manchester, Glasgow and London).

Happy but exhausted in March 2010 Manel withdrew themselves from  the stage to write, compose, record, produce and edit what a year later would  be the album which answered all questions: 10 milles per veure una bona armadura (2011). El País de las Tentaciones, El Periódico de Catalunya and I Tunes Rewind Spain’s best album of 2011, their second coming sold morethan

50.000 units, won a carousel of awards -which include the Critics Eye Award to Modern Music given by Spanish National Radio Station (Premio Ojo Crítico- RNE),Time Out’s award to Best Band of the Year- and introduced them to new audiences all around Spain and Latin America (DF’s Vive Latino).

One year after their last fully packed show at Berlin’s Lido, the fantastic four proved to be much more than the favorite band of FC Barcelona’s former football team coach, Pep Guardiola. And with a new electric sound less folkie and more pop, Atletes, baixin de l’escenari (2013) bring them to the most important festivals around Spain. A sold-out gig at London’s Scala, 5 dates of a Swiss-German mini-tour and their debut in New York (on a fully packed Santo’s Party House) were the highlights of a tour that ended in September 2104 in front of 60.000 people on their native Barcelona (Festes de La Mercè).

Unlike their three previous releases, which were recorded in the strictest privacy, Jo competeixo was their first experience with a producer, Jake Aron, a New Yorker best known for this work with Grizzly Bear and Chairlift, among others. With his help, Guillem, Roger, Martí and Arnau recorded it in two sessions af different studios between November and December 2015: the first was at Dreamland and the second at Dr Wu’s, Jake’s place in Brooklyn. The result is 11 songs mastered at Sterling Sound by Chris Gehringer (Rhianna, Drake, Nas, Wu-Tang Clan), that redefine their sound with electronic touches, a quiet but notable revolution in sound premiered live at last Primavera Sound and celebrated by media and an enthusiastic audience around festivals (Vida, Sonorama, Arenal), theatres (two wonderful sold out nights at Teatre Tivoli) and rock venues like Madrid’s Joy Eslava.  Jo Competeixo reminds in the Spanish Charts 26 weeks after and evidences that Manel, in case anyone doubted, aren’t tired of making history.