CARABALLO "Caraballo" LP

We have seen this before. It happened with Morrissey. It happened with Carlos Berlanga. And of course, it happened with John Lennon. Inspired minds within collective groups seek out their own paths, apart from the environment that helped them grow as artists and creators. Carlos CARABALLO uses introspection and personality where there was partying and celebration in his COLECTIVO DA SILVA. And he lays it out in an absolutely marvelous debut album, mapping out the history of pop, a treatise for atypical post-millennials, a tête à tête with his listeners. And, of course, for a project like this, he used his own name.

But let’s take a closer look, to explain what we mean. For example, since we mentioned Lennon, wasn’t there something of his BEATLES in that “Nube Negra” that opens the album and closes the storm? “Déjame Vivir” is a synthesis of the album: bedroom pop, digi-core, a bit of lounge, hyperpop and a huge, unexpected hit as big and surprising as a roller coaster. “Atrás En El Tiempo” is the soft middle, the proof that there are no tricks: it’s him, these are his melodies, his stories, his timeless choruses – it’s pop. “No Me Importa” has the perfect touch of funk, just the right breath of soul, the programming that decorates the rooms of our solitude, the chorus that makes North American R&B groups sigh. “Vacío” is folk, it’s Sufjan Stevens, it is a declaration of all of this coming straight from the heart. “Tu Puñal” is a shockingly perfect pop hit: “Nadie llega al corazón / Es de piedra” (Nobody touches the heart / It is made of stone), with textures like M83, evocation like Bon Iver, and the spirit of LA CASA AZUL. Solid as a rock. “Ratatouille” is a song that you want to listen to all night long, searching out the places where they’ll play it, with the perfect vocal harmonies by rata.deinternet. “Todo Está Cambiando”, is silken excitement – it caresses you, nocturnal and intimate. “Hey Moon” and “Pastillas Para Dormir” close the album, showing us that Carlos knows how to play with sounds, that there is a place in pop for experimenting with sound, that you can go from London to the tropics without using teletransportation, that CARABALLO is the best trip possible. Produced by Aaron Rux and CARABALLO, mixed and mastered by Carlos Díaz (in the “Cortijo Santa María de la Vega” in Granada), with the collaboration of his COLECTIVO DA SILVA bandmate, Pablo Ele. Fernández on some of the songs and that fantasy of album cover by rata.deinternet, we hope you enjoy it, because you will never be able to visit so many universes in so little time and have so much fun doing so.

Biography CARABALLO

The side of Carlos Caraballo we see within COLECTIVO DA SILVA exalts that part of the music that is for parties and celebration, a boy band from Granada full of freshness and fun. CARABALLO is his personal project, full of introspection and uncertainty. That’s why this is something much more open, that plays with hyper-pop, techno-pop, psychedelia and R&B, with lyrics full of edge and overflowing with emotion. Puzzles of sound with pristine melodies and playful arrangements, defined from the most brutal honesty.

His first single for Elefant Records, “Déjame Vivir” is solid proof of this, with something of the intimacy of Babi and DEPRESIÓN SONORA, with sounds that challenge you like HIDROGENESSE and rebe, with the lyric inspiration and heartbreak of LA CASA AZUL and 9ckles. With a profoundly generational look at the world we live in. Simple, with naive touches sometimes, but sincere and open. A world of anxiety, diverse, complex, but which Carlos takes on from his own consciousness, with all that goes along with that.

In 2023 his debut album on Elefant Records will be out. A record that, unlike his other project where he is part of a group of seven people, this one is constructed on his own, in that space where unlimited freedom and creativity play calmly together. A marvelous album that will be a total surprise.