Baby Scream “Castell de Pop”

A new album by BABY SCREAM (Juan Pablo Mazzola) to end this year softly. Opener “Castaway” has a bit of an acoustic SMASHING PUMPKINS vibe. You’ll hear many piano parts on this album in songs like “Kill Your Idols” or “Explosions” and beautiful BEATLES-like vocal harmonies in “Back Home (feat. Ky Anto)” or in “Spirits”. If you like it more intimate and even quieter than quiet then “Chillin'” will be the one for you and if want to get a bit more adventurous then listen to “The Hurt and The Weak” and its electronica beat. The songs sometimes sound fragile in an Elliott Smith way (“Here”) and it sometimes feels like Juan is playing just right next to you (“Castell de Pop.”) Stripped down and beautiful, you’ll get seduced. /Laurent C.

Facebook page

Baby Scream “Sad Balloons”

BABY SCREAM is back with a collection of old demos, covers and songs that were never used. Opener “Britney Has Left The Building” is a kickass powerpop song with vocals reminding a bit of DINOSAUR JR., a song that was released on a Swedish compilation in 2016. “Cheap Perfume” is an acoustic demo with a very soothing atmosphere while “Fuck This!” is a crazy grunge song with NIRVANA guitars. Speaking of NIRVANA, you’ll also find an interesting cover of “I Hate Myself and I Want To Die.” The cover of Gene Simmons‘ “See You Tonite” has been reworked as a psychedelic pop song and it works really well while the new version of “Mars” displays more BOWIE and BEATLES influences and “Underworld” has a bit of a T.REX/Nikki Sudden vibe. “Plastic Jesus” is a folk song that Paul Newman sang in “Cold Hand Luke and it has been given a cool RAMONES treatment. Finally, “Guts” closes the album in a beautiful way, mixing superb pop and electronic elements. If you haven’t heard BABY SCREAM before, this compilation record will work well as a first encounter. /Laurent C.

Facebook page

Baby Scream “Just Covers”

Juan Pablo Mazzola offers us a new album but you’ll only hear covers this time. He had the great idea to cover C.C. Deville’s powerpop solo project SAMANTHA 7 with opening song “I Wanna Be Famous” that really fits BABY SCREAM just like a glove. After that, you’ll hear a modern “AIR-ed” version of 10CC’s “I’m Not In Love” and a soft pop version of The PSYCHEDELIC FURS‘ “Love My Way.” CULTURE CLUB‘s “Karma Chameleon” has been revamped as a 60s pop song and SEPULTURA‘s “Roots Bloody Roots” has turned into electronica/dreampop! In comparison, “Secret Agent Man” (JOHNNY RIVERS), “Tell It Like It Is” (AARON NEVILLE) and “Warm Fuzzy Feeling” (FASTBALL) all sound quite close to the original versions. “Stay Forever, My Love” (ORVILLE STOEBER) sounds a bit psychedelic and CINDY LAUPER‘s “Time After Time” sounds amazing as an acoustic song. Well, this album shows us again that a good song is a good song, even if you play it in a complete different style. /Laurent C.

Facebook page

Baby Scream “Things U Can Say To A Stranger” EP

Argentina’s BABY SCREAM is back with a 5 song EP with strong 60s influences mixed to 90s alternative rock. “Aching Life” starts in a slow way full of melancholy, just before “Fake It Till You make It”, a quite aerial grungy pop song that will hypnotize you. “Roundabouts” starts a bit like an OASIS song, but then gets quieter with sunny sweet voice melodies while “Live While You Can” mixes 60s pop to vocals reminding me a bit of DINOSAUR JR. The last song, “Somebody Kill Me Now” brings a bit of glam to this new EP and brilliantly puts an end to it. /Laurent C.

Facebook page

Baby Scream “Life’s a Trap”

Juan Pablo Mazzola continues his musical journey as BABY SCREAM, this time showing us his softer side with acoustic songs, sometimes not so far from MARC BOLAN /NIKKI SUDDEN (“Midnight Snack”,”We Can’t Go Back To 17″,”The Ballad Of Music Biz”.) These songs will tell you stories (“Life’s Better When U’re High”, or “Climbing Down” and its MORRISSEY/late 90s MANIC STREET PREACHERS feel), sometimes in a dreamy way, just like in the late 60s/70s.
“Wish You Were a Beer” is not a cover of the CYCLE SLUTS FROM HELL classic, but a bit of an experimental pop song that will stay in your head after listening to it, and “The Road Bends” has a cool kind of groove, reminding a bit of early LENNY KRAVITZ stuff.
If you need to listen to something quieter this winter, then just try this album!/Laurent C.

Facebook page

Baby Scream “Fan, Fan, Fan”/”The Worst Of…”

BabyScreamFanFanFanBABY SCREAM (Juan Pablo Mazzola) is back with two (!) albums, “Fan, Fan, Fan” and “The Worst Of…”
90s tainted power pop and 60s/70s rock are still the man’s main influences. You’ll find 12 new songs in “Fan, Fan, Fan”, lots of sweet melodies (“Back To Douche”, “Just For A While”), some sunny tracks with disillusionned lyrics (“Loner”, “Captain Hook”, “The Girl Next Door”), touch of cabaret rock (“Cheap Perfume”, “Blue In Berlin”), and some BOWIE-esque ballads (“A Human Being On Mars”, “Haters Will Hate.”)
“The Worst Of…” is a 27 song CD (22 originals and 5 covers), definitely too much for someone like me who enjoys the vinyl format for records, but well, these were taken out of 200 songs!… Stand out songs include “As Long As It Hurts (I’m Fine)” and “Shooting Stars”, two songs with a DINOSAUR JR feel as well as “In A Picture” and its big SUEDE influence.
The covers include the ones BABY SCREAM recorded for an Argentinian record label that released some TV shows/cartoons/movies based compilations, and I have to admit that the “Friends” theme actually fits BABY SCREAM very well!
Fans of The JAYHAWKS, Americana and The BEATLES will enjoy this new albums for sure./Laurent C.

Facebook page

Baby Scream “Greatest Failures”

BBSGFArgentina’s Juan Pablo Mazzola (aka BABY SCREAM) already recorded quite a few albums and EPs, maybe that’s why he decided to introduce his music through this “best of compilation” record, and while it starts on a NICK CAVE-ish note with “Slut”, most songs on here are actually full of power pop melodies and BEATLES influences. BOWIE is also never far away in songs like “Mars”, “Jekyll & Hide”, or “The Riots”, and you’ll even find a bit of MARC BOLAN‘s spirit in Juan’s vocals (“Ojos Orientales”.)
Sad, quiet songs like “Away” or “Ups & Downs” get along with 90s indie pop (Every Day (I Die a Little Bit)), 70s glam (“Exile”) and laid-back bluesy ballads (“Morning Light”, “Aching Eyes”, “Hit & Run”), but all these various influences manage to perfectly mix together.
Maybe not the first record to put on at your next summer party, but “Greatest Failures” is your chance to get to know more about BABY SCREAM!/Laurent C.

Facebook page