El Canto Del Loco

Just a fairly random post, this one… I check the UK iTunes Music Store pretty much daily to see if they’ve added any new ECDL material (and I’ve left feedback asking for *all* albums, including the entire ‘En Directo’ series, plus the En Directo videos and all promo videos – why not also leave feedback asking for similar; let’s see if we can get a load better representation of the band up there! – You should find an option labelled “Provide iTunes Feedback” under the main “iTunes” dropdown menu in your iTunes menu bar…) and I happened to click on the ‘Top Songs’ link for the band, and this is what you get…

(*Click to enlarge…)

Perhaps unsurprisingly Peter Pan occupies the top spot (this rating is for the song download, not the video as far as I’m aware) and Eres Tonto comes in at number 2 and also at number 16 (via the single). Beyond that it’s a fairly solid list of all the popular tracks you might expect, with the albums Personas and Zapatillas particularly well represented, and with only one live track (from iTunes only ‘En Directo’ album – Sala Caracol) in the entire top 30.

There isn’t a huge amount of ECDL material on the (UK) iTunes Music Store at present. Given that Sony-BMG is behind the band it would be nice to think that this would not be too hard to change and that we might see some more albums, singles and videos being added.
Nonetheless it’s probably worth running through what’s available at the moment and making a couple of recommendations for anybody starting a collection or exploring the band’s output.

So what’s there? Well curiously it’s almost all the albums, although there’s a crucial omission in that A Contracorriente isn’t there. And whilst the other studio albums – El Canto Del Loco, Estados De Animo, Zapatillas, and Personas – are there, there’s also a couple of peculiar choices in the availability of one (and only one) of the live “En Directo” series (En Directo – Sala Caracol 22-11-02) and also the single of Eres Tonto (basically only that one song though – no other tracks).
On the bright side, all the album choices (and Eres Tonto) are available as “iTunes Plus” – Apple’s high quality, DRM-free format. And there’s also our iMix for those of you who want to dip your toes in the water.

The jewel in the crown? Well for me it has to be the video for Peter Pan – a beautiful piece of work for a beautiful song; all in big, clean, widescreen glory. It looks superb fullscreen on an iPhone, believe me.

That’s really about it at the moment – It would, without question, be great to have more material on there (especially some of the bands other promo videos – and why not the live sets from the “En Directo” DVDs too for example?). We’ll obviously share any news of new arrivals in the iTMS as and when they happen here on ElCantoDelLoco.co.uk.

For English fans of a Spanish band, it’s often difficult to enjoy the music on every level as the question of translation of lyrics gets in the way. As with English bands, there is always going to be a degree of colloquial wording and grammar, of abstract concepts, and probably some slang too. So a straightforward translation is always pretty unlikely.
We’ve tracked down some translations however (thanks to the website Ooltra) which don’t seem bad at all and help convey a lot of meaning, which will hopefully enable you (and us) get more out of the songs.
First up is Volvera from the album Zapatillas. More will be posted over the coming weeks. Enjoy…

Lyric translation by Ooltra.net
If you reckon you can offer improvements then do please get in touch.

If you’re something of a newcomer to the world of El Canto Del Loco, then you may want to get a good general idea of their sound and style before going out and buying all of their albums.
To try and address this I pulled together an iMix (effectively a “playlist” that you can buy through the iTunes Music Store) and have put it online at iTMS.
It’s 15 tracks drawn from Personas, Zapatillas, and Estados de Animo (ie: the albums available on iTMS), and it clocks in at a mere £11.85. There’s a nice mix of styles, from the ballady Ya Nada Volvera A Ser Como Antes and the punky Zapatillas through to the more outright rock/anthemic Volvera and Sera.
I hope you’ll find it a good introduction if you’re dipping your toes in the water.
And don’t forget to rate it…
Click here to jump to “An ECDL iMix” in iTunes…

Hailing from Madrid in Spain, El Canto Del Loco was started as a project by two acting students who shared a passion for Spanish power pop / rock. Daniel Martin Garcia (aka Dani Martin) and Ivan Alejandro Ganchegui were soon joined by guitarist David Otero, drummer Alejandro Velazquez Insua (Jandro), and bassist Jose Maria Ruiz Cesares (aka Chema Ruiz).
After recording a demo and asigning with BMG-Ariola, El Canto Del Loco recorded a self-titled album produced by Alejo Stivel, featuring the band’s first hit “Pequiñita”, and a cover of Camilo Sesto’s “Vivir Asi Es Morir de Amor”.

The band’s second album A Contracorriente (2002) was produced by Nigel Walker (who also produced La Oreja de Van Gogh among others) and sold over 85,000 copies, reaching number 10 on the Spanish charts.
After this album Ganchegui departed the band, leaving a four man line-up.
Their third album, Estados de Animo, also produced by Nigel Walker, was released in 2003 and hit number 4 in the charts after selling more than 100,000 copies and going platinum.
En Directo Sala Bikini, a recording of a live set in Barcelona, was released at the beginning of 2004.

The next year El Canto Del Loco released their fourth studio album, Zapatillas, featuring the title track as a single. This effort cemented the band’s reputation; it reached the top of the chats after selling over 100,000 copies in the first week of its release. With this album the band joined Hombres G for a tour around Spain.
After the release of two more live sets, Directo Sala Caracol and Directo Sala Oasis - and a combo box set of 3 CDs and 3 DVDs of all the Directo albums – Pequeños Grandes Directos, their fifth studio album, Personas, was released in April 2008 amidst great expectations and to huge critical acclaim and commercial success, becoming Spain’s top selling album of the year.

Jandro left the band in the summer and the remaining three – Dani, David & Chema – released an extended special edition box, De Personas A Personas towards the end of the year, featuring several extra tracks and a DVD of bonus material centring on the release, promotion and touring of Personas.