Bla

Belén Chanes: vocals and lyrics.
Luis G. Morais: instruments and programming

1999-2008

L-KAN is born towards the end of 1999, as a project that took shape after a few people, the group’s members among them, took on the project of composing the music for the theater adaptation of the movie “Clerks”. One of those compositions, “Hoy No Me Tocaba Venir”, sung at the time by Verónica of METEOSAT, is a significant hit, and this recognition marks the definitive consolidation of the group, formed by Belén, Olav, Maru and Luis. They begin to appear on the radio and in magazines; they record a raw session for Diario Pop; they win a demo contest run by the fanzine YOYO and release, at the end of the year 2000, their first album, “Cosas Que Miden Poco” on the Federación de Universos Pop label. The year 2001 is a year of concerts, covering the Spanish map (including The Contempopránea and Lemon Pop festivals), even bringing them to play in Germany, where their super-fun and carefree techno-pop is all the rage. In 2002 an attractive project appears that results in the split-disc “Qué Mutada”, on which EL AVIADOR DRO and LA MONJA ENANA also participate, and in a new tour. They wind up signing with Subterfuge, who release “Superenserio” in 2003, re-release their first album in 2004, and later “Discazo” (2004), the EP “Aburrido” (2005), and “Somos Otra Cosa” (2007). Their last two albums are also released in Mexico by Molécula Records and Noise Kontrol, and their songs appear on numerous Spanish, Mexican, French and Peruvian compilations. Demand for concerts increases; they become one of the most loved and admired groups on Madrid’s pop scene (in fact, Belén and Luis are great activists of nights in the capitol, in charge of the clubs Ochoymedio and Elástico), and take their music to distant cities like Mexico City, Monterrey, Tijuana, Los Angeles and Berlin.

Also, Luis is a well-known DJ, Luiliminili (resident DJ in Ochoymedio and Elástico as well as frequent guest in other indie clubs like Fever, Razzmatazz, Obbio...). He is also a professional photographer, responsible for promo sessions for groups like LA BIEN QUERIDA, LA CASA AZUL, COOPER, PAULINE EN LA PLAYA, NOSOTRÄSH, CORAZON…

For her part, Belén combines all of this with her work as an actress, professional dubber, and journalist. You have seen her in series such as “Hospital Central and “Hermanos Y Detectives”, you’ve heard her voice in “Zipi y Zape” and “Las Tres Mellizas”, and read her columns in the now defunct newspaper Metro, in which she wrote amusing social chronicles about the music world, acting and modernity.

2009

June 29th, Belén and Luis put five songs on Myspace from a new parallel project to L-KAN that they call BLA: “La Mejor Enfermedad”, “Siempre Hay Una Más”, “Te Espío Y Te Archivo”, “La Casa de Las Chicas” and “La Lluvia, El Viento, Los Contratiempos”. The compositions have a different air than what they do in their other group, a bit more melancholic, with incredible arrangements and a greater opening to other, bordering styles. And of course with that unique on-target aim in the melodies that has always been celebrated about them. By the beginning of the summer they already have 10 finished songs, with Gabriel Marijuan (the drummer for L-KAN) on drums in the studio, and just a month and a half later Elefant Records gets in touch with them and decides to sign them. As they themselves explain, “in BLA we talk about love, about the good and the regular, about the small inconveniences that can destroy you in the day to day, how to go back to places you no longer feel at home in, about failure and the blind stubbornness to get over it, about those moments of euphoria in which nothing else matters. BLA could be a pleasant head cold, a quarantine in order to spend some time alone, a piece of gum you saved and chewed again later. BLA could be a Hawaiian group, an indie pop group in the most Swedish sense of the word, a group of robbers of sounds from the 60s…” Their album is already announced to be released in 2010, and as you can see from the songs on Myspace, it’s going to be an authentic hit.

2010

In March BLA release their first album "La mejor enfermedad", an album that finds its two composers with much clearer ideas, with a new proposal in their hands, and with a highly uncommon ability with arrangements and melodies. From the fantasy of “Cómo Seremos” to the irreverence of “Los Ex-novios”, from the delicacy of “Yo Soy Como Portugal” to the introspection of “Mira Lo Que Se Oye Cuando Estamos Callados”. From the totally obvious reference to the dance floor in “Siempre Hay Una Más” to the perfectionist pop of “La Canción Que Nunca Llegó a Serlo”. Luis and Belén have brought us something refreshing, original, new, and above all fun, assimilating their inheritance of those who are most representative of Spanish-sung pop: LOS FRESONES REBELDES, ASTRUD, FAMILY, CARLOS BERLANGA, CHICO Y CHICA and more. Everyone will be talking about BLA and their great sickness.

2013
 

19/06/2013

 BLA: Release their second album “La Falta Básica”