El Canto Del Loco

Dani Martin’s solo album “Pequeño” has been released, and was immediately available on the UK iTunes Music Store yesterday.
It’s really nice to see such an instant follow-up outside of Dani’s home country, and not only that but also that the release included a special collection of five videos as well as the tracks themselves.

The videos that are on iTunes come with a special (physical) copy of the CD, which was released alongside the standard version. And although Amazon isn’t currently stocking either of these, you can already find them for sale on the Spanish eBay.

After the now familiar “16 Añitos” as the album opener, “Mira La Vida” emphasises that the rich rock combo sound is definitely going to be prevelant; a lush and powerful blend of chunky guitars, gutsy Hammond organ and big drums. And how well it suits Dani too… The songs sound so much his own, and bring to mind Jackson Browne more than El Canto Del Loco – and I mean that in a good way. A really good way.

Other songs like “Mi Lamenta” do have a ring of ECDL about them, but there’s never a time where you don’t feel like you’re genuinely listening to a proper solo project, something backed up by the addition of things like accordion and beefy brass sections.

And Dani also remind you with “El Cielo De Los Perros” that he’s very good with the volume down too; it’s a much subtler piece, with open spaces and a great balance of piano and strings and gentle percussion.

So, is it worth it? YEAH! Of course it is! Only £7.99 on the UK iTunes – and that includes the accompanying videos. Just click on the iTunes link here for all the info and download…

It’s high time for a couple of useful updates on the activities of band members Dani Martin and David Otero.

We’ve covered the release the “Castillo de Arena” single (and its excellent promo video) by David’s pet solo project El Pescao, along with keeping you in the loop on where to find Dani online via his official Facebook page and his official site/blog.
And since then the El Pescao album “Nada Lógico” has been released too (click here to jump to it in iTunes) – a great, lush album of beautiful songs and great arrangements mixing the top guitar work you’d expect with some surprisingly artful and complex electronics to build superb and catchy songs. Well worth shelling out for.

And now it’s Dani’s turn again; with him releasing the first single from his forthcoming album “Pequeño” along with a promo video – again, all available through iTunes for those of us more than a country or two away from a Spanish record shop.
The single is called “16 Añitos” – a solid rock ballad about growing up, not just in physical stature but in emotional maturity too. You can buy it on iTunes by clicking here.
Dani has also released a beautifully directed promo video for the song too with a counterpoint between himself now and a younger ‘him’. Again it’s available via iTunes and will look fab on your computer, your iPod , iPhone or iPad. Click here to buy and download.

The album itself – “Pequeño” – is released on October 26th, and will be accompanied by an extended tour that will go on into 2011.

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After a little bit of a hiatus there’s a couple of band updates to share with you.
First up is that the official El Canto Del Loco online shop is back online. This has been missing for a while, but now it’s back in a new format and with some new items to buy – men’s clothing, women’s clothing and other accessories and items too.
You can visit it by clicking here and of course it’s also linked from the band’s main website here.

Also you can currently view a video over at the band’s official website of a video recorded at the Teatro Metropolitan in Mexico City for “Contigo” with Natalia Lafourcade, who performed the song with them on their last album “Radio La Colifata presents El Canto Del Loco.” Whilst the sound is far from perfect, it’s nonetheless a nice and interesting piece of video for any fan.

Don’t forget to keep up with the news on Dani Martin’s solo project – there’s an official page on Facebook and there’s also a new official website where you can sign up for news updates.
And you can order different versions of David Otero’s album – his solo project/band monicker is El Pescao including an exclusive edition with many goodies and personally signed – at the official El Pescao website.
You can also buy the single “Castillo de Arena” on iTunes – and the video too.

And let’s not forget Chema of course! He’s recently turned up on Facebook in a daft Where’s Wally type photolog. Bless…

Although there’s no immediate news on the solo projects etc it does seem that Dani Martin is ensuring that there’s going to be something of an ongoing dialogue or level of coverage over his work.
He has set up an official Facebook page here – “Danimartin_oficial” and has also got a homepage built for some kind of blog here at danimartin.com.es… this site also has a Twitter channel which you can follow and of course interact with here. He has also got a video channel set up here on Youtube – although there are currently no clips on it.

It’s really nice to see artists use the web and its various outputs in this way and it’ll be interesting to see how things develop across the year and hopefully to continue to get Dani’s take on it all.

If you’re wondering why there’s not been much news on here of late, well it’s because basically there’s simply not been a great deal to report.
Probably the most important thing to share is that the band is effectively taking something of a sabbatical; which is fair enough given what’s been pretty much non-stop activity since the release of “Personas” – a number of extensive tours and the Radio la Colifata project as well as Por Mi y Por Todos Mis Compañeros.

Having said that, it’s not a period without activity as the band members are apparently filling their break with solo projects; something that should be very very interesting indeed.
We’ll try and fill you in on any news on this as we get it, and of course point you to all the release and download info once the albums are released.

For now, we just have to be a bit patient. Dammit!