As soon as the drums kick in on Crudo y Crema, the opening track of Margarita's second album Explota El Cuerpo [2010], I'm taken back to the first summer I spent in Valencia. In fact, the whole album reminds me of driving along the carretera del Saler with the windows down, past the Albufera, towards the sweltering beaches south of the city. Margarita's brand of eccentric indie-punk-pop is much more pleasing to the ear than what that road -part of the infamous Ruta del Bakalao- is known for. As you can tell, that album pretty much soundtracked the summer of 2011, so I had high hopes for … [Read more...]