ECDL Merchandise Store Goes International

El Canto Del Loco's website has just overhauled its Merchandising section; which up until now has been Spain only.
But now it's got a plush new interface, takes international orders and offers easy payment including the omnipresent Paypal. The actual merchandise lines currently up there at time of publishing are a bit limited - there's some sizes missing on certain products for instance - and sadly things like the button badges that were available on the old site have gone - but there's a really nice selection to choose from, and with plenty of different looks in t-shirts and hoodies etc, plus other items such as USB sticks, keychains, lanyards etc.
Great work by the site owners and merchandisers - and if you want to go and buy some El Canto Del Loco merchandise then click here to go straight to the store...

A Contracorriente Returns To UK iTunes Music Store

This is just a quick news update to tell you that A Contracorriente has suddenly reappeared in the UK iTunes Music Store, though as a "partial album".
This was the band's second release - it's a really nice piece of work and, as well as the brilliant bouncy title song, also contains excellent tracks like Son Sueños.
The track that's missing here is Puede Ser (featuring Amaia Montero). I suppose my best guess would have to be that the album's removal had something to do with excluding this track (which was part of the album on iTunes originally). Good to have the album back though, and in my opinion the best version of Puede Ser is the one with only Dani on vocals anyway, which can be found on the Ineditas CD which forms part of the Arriba El Telón boxset.
Here's the link to A Contracorriente in the iTunes Music Store.

De Personas A Personas - A Personal Review

I suppose the main question here is if you already own Personas, is it worth buying De Personas A Personas?
The answer depends very much on how big a fan you are. Released in early December 2008, De Personas A Personas is a special limited edition “box” that expands on the content and in many ways references the delivery and history of Personas itself as well as adding bonus material.

For a start, as well as the original 13 tracks on Personas; De Personas A Personas delivers an extra 6, including the bouncy “Quiero Ser”, the punky “H.D.P.”, a 2008 version of "Foto en Blanco y Negro" and - perhaps best of all - David Otero’s terrific "Madrid".
Then there’s the self-referential stuff on an accompanying DVD; central to which is the 15 minute film De Cerca which follows ECDL through 2008 from the release and promotion of the album, to the concerts and signings, and the departure of Jandro. It has some excellent live footage, showing off the band’s innovative and spectacular lightshow really well. There’s also a short film on the nudey photoshoot by Rubén Martín and another shortie on the band’s friends and families; somewhat poignant following the death of Dani’s sister.
Beyond that you also get a set of three alternative promos for Eres Tonto, the promo for Peter Pan, and a little ‘making of Peter Pan video’ clip too.

The packaging is pretty much impeccable: all bound up in a thick card booklet of about 30x30cm, with many pages of band and technical notes, artworks based on the photoshoot and further photographic variations and compositions from it too. There’s also a nifty little blank diary inside for the owner to use, though I imagine most of these are destined to remain intact.

All in all a beautiful piece of work, lovingly produced with some great fan goodies in it - and at anywhere between €35 and €40 usually on eBay, very good value indeed.
As far as I’m concerned it’s a definite hit, and in no way a superfluous addition to Personas itself... Excellent.

Download - High Resolution "La Pelicula" Poster

I've put online a really nice big high resolution image of the cinema poster for the documentary film "La Pelicula" which ran in Spanish cinemas in the new year.
We'll aim to bring you any news of its DVD release and availability as and when we can, but for now if you fancy a 3250x4643 pixel JPEG image of the poster, then point your browser at the ZIP file download here... Enjoy :-)