Misery & Lies by BEEF

“Misery and Lies” is BEEF’s fifth album. They are one of the most creative, risky and uncompromisingly independent Spanish bands. They have managed to follow a very interesting and truly coherent career, while being completely apart from any current trend or craze.

BEEF are formed in 1993 in St Feliú de Llobregat (Barcelona) around David Rodríguez. David had already showed good skills with his previous band, BACH IS DEAD. Alongside with other bands like USURA, PENELOPE TRIP or EL REGALO DE SILVIA, BACH IS DEAD were one of the most important and earlier nineties independent bands in Spain. The four bands toured around the country in 1992.

After this tour BACH IS DEAD split and David decided to start from scratch under the name of BEEF. “Beef Songs”, the band’s first album, is released by La Fábrica Magnética in 1993.

Another indie label -Acuarela- releases BEEF’s second album in 1995: “Tongues”. This one would be exceptionally well received by press and media, due to its perfect blending of pop, kraut-rock, noise rock and experimental moods. The album was recorded in New York with the production of Kramer, eccentric American genius responsible of, among many other works, the crystal-like sound of GALAXIE 500’s masterpieces. On “Tongues” we can find BEEF’s classic line-up, which will remain almost the same for then on: David (guitar and vocals), Juanjo (guitar and vocals), Blas (drums) and Joanra (bass, the only one who is no longer in the band). Plus a list of assorted contributors, as BEEF’s line-up is as open and unpredictable as their music. “Tongues” would be reissued by Elefant in 1999, with the songs from previous single “Beef Sings” as bonus tracks.

Elefant has lodged the band’s career since 1996, when “Adult oriented rock” extended EP is released. Next year “Fi-qasr sheik al-dabant” album is out, and 1998 brings its follow-up, “España a las ocho”. All of them managed to appear in the press polls of best albums of the year.

BEEF are also usually in the bills of the best Spanish music festivals (FIB, BAM, Doctor Music). Despite the band’s hyperactivity, David always makes time for sideprojects like TELEFILME, a collaboration with Tito Pintado (ex-PENELOPE TRIP, ANTI) with two albums also in Elefant.

BEEF come back with their new album “Misery and Lies”, a new essay on how to make edgy guitar rock, looking for the ballance between top-drawer pop melodies and raging sonic attacks. In this new trip into the unknown BEEF were accompanied by a notorious partner: Wharton Tiers, sound engineer of most SONIC YOUTH masterpieces, and a name easy to find in some of the best American noise albums of the nineties, signed by DINOSAUR JR or PUSSY GALORE.

Wharton has managed to turn BEEF’s sound into something really threatening and strained: those guitars had seldom roared with such impressing strength. Neither the band’s melodic skills had been shown in such a transparent way. The first track, “My bitch friend”, put things clear in this sense. It’s followed by thirty seconds of white noise (“Nose”) to remind us where these guys come from. And then there’s a rock bomb called “Misery”, which catches the band in a real sonic rage. From that moment, the most shocking sound experiments (“Soap”, the long “El final de una carrera”, a song that melts in your ears little by little) alternate with excellent pop songs, maybe the most accesible ones the band’s written so far: don’t miss the superb closing track (“Highlights”) or the song that had already appeared in our “Verano del 99” compilation (“Cosmopolitan”).

As usual, this is combined with the peculiar sense of humour of the band, shown in titles as “Communism for beginners”. We can even listen to some singing in Spanish (“Voces extrañas”), something not done since “Comiendo berenjenas”, a track from BEEF’s 1993 debut album. Though this time lyrics and vocals come from Jesús, a friend that appeared on the studio that day, and wrote and sung his part on the spot!

Seven years later, the band is still making the most exciting, compelling rock sounds in the Spanish alternative scene. This time their songs come dressed in a truly high-quality, international sound, that will place them among the riskiest worldwide acts.