Né: Carlangas, Xavi y Jarri
Raíces: Santiago de Compostela, Galicia
Sounds Like…clean, shaven, yet unapologetic garage rock.
You should listen to Novedades Carminha because… they’ll remind you of yourself as a mischievous teenage boy trying to hit on every girl available.
We all remember that punkish group of friends from our school days. Always breaking stuff, listening to loud music on their headphones, getting in trouble with authority, and all of those other stereotypical facts. Years later, those guys are still in the same punk band—whose concerts you attended a few times—but suddenly they’re done damaging musical equipment just for the hell of it. They probably bathe more than four times a week, and they’ve surely held meetings with the corporate tycoons they swore to destroy. But the best part of all this is that they still won’t compromise their juvenile soul.
Novedades Carminha’s trajectory may fit into some details of the fictional paragraph above. Their latest production comes after a three-year silence following an album named Jódete y Baila. Their reputation is built on flaming songs such as “F.O.L.L.A.R.,” “No uso condón,” “Ensalada de hostias,” and stories about a thrift shop full of beige lingerie. One can assume that all kinds of bodily fluids served as inspiration for these pieces.
Juventud Infinita LP still revolves around sex, partying, and shenanigans, but with the inevitable maturity that comes with age and better sound mixing quality. Their garage sound is still on point, but a little more melodious than before. What sets Novedades Carminha apart from other noise rock bands is their ability to crack jokes in almost every line of their songs. In “Antigua pero moderna” they dare to mock up a hipster Spanish girl and reveal her weird crush on Julio Iglesias, the “truth or dare” approach on “Juventud Infinita:” if we don’t f*ck, I’ll jump into a river…or the elegant love declaration about morreo (making out) found on “Capricho de Santiago.” Even though there are many localisms, we’re able to grasp the essence of it through each one of their 10 songs.
Punk music has the capacity to defy adulthood and modern values. The guys from Novedades Carminha succeed at reminding us we’re still the same light-hearted fools who just wanna watch the world burn.