A Manu Chao song just came up in a playlist I’m listening to, and like many others, that’s a name I haven’t thought about in years.
I can’t even remember how I found out about him now, I just remember him sounding like no-one else out there, and having a few bangers that I thought were fantastic. I think this was the first one of his I heard
I remember my ex liking Bongo Bong a lot, but that was definitely at the “this is a bit much” end of his quirkiness for me at the time, but listening back I quite like it again.
Drowned In Sound favourite Robbie Williams even covered
I remember Travis Morrison from the Dismemberment Plan writing a gushing bit about how good a song Mentira was on his now-gone blog back in the day too
I liked the way his albums had this kind of sound like you were listening to a radio station with those skits separating and sometimes overlapping the songs.
He’s had a hand in making some great songs for others too, always with his sound so distinct.
Anyway, I just took a look at his wikipedia page and it seems that last year (as in 2024) he released his first album since 2008, Viva Tu.
I lost interest when La Radiolina came out in 2007 and it lacked so many of his most redemable elements. I saw him live in Brixton that same year and for some inexplicable reason, for most of the setlist, he’d start the song in its recognisable form and then transition it into some NOFX sounding turgid bullshit. Once or twice that’d be forgivable, but he did it with almost the entire setlist and it just sounded awful.
Listening to Viva Tu now and quite enjoying it actually.