Friday, March 14   8:20 p.m.
Habana Annex   (708 E 6th St)

There is a death and a resurrection in Coque Yturriaga’s career, Emak Bakia member and ex guitarist for Migala, followed now by num9. In summer 2005, the group that changed the parameters of indie folk music in Spain decided to shut up shop and separate after eight years together. So after giving their last concert in Benicassim that year, Migala died. Full stop. What now? The abyss? Or maybe not.
num9 is the courteous branching off from Migala and Emak Bakia. Much more poppy than Migala whilst preserving some guitars from its tenebrous period, sometimes as strange as Emak Bahia but much more danceable. With one eye on the dance floor and the other on a more light hearted pop, there’s echoes of Four Tet, Hefner, New Order’s “Technique” and the Pet Shop Boys’ “Introspective”.
And the result? Ten tracks of pop slipped in between rhythm and intoxicating dance. Created with a freshness and an immediacy unheard of in the panorama of independent music in Spain, it successfully goes way beyond this categorisation, accompanied with samples, melodies, bass drums, cajas, noises, clicks and cuts, catchy basses and dreamy guitars and arrives at a unique place which only has comparison way beyond Spanish borders.