Cantera: Mar Pujol, Victorias, EZEZEZ and five more emerging artists with newly released albums and songs

The second instalment of New emerging releases from Cantera brings together eight projects that have released music between 25 September and 21 October, from the Lluçanès to Sevilla and from Bilbao to València. There are three freshly released albums, three more announced for November and two guitar bands with venue dates. The first instalment, featuring Mazu, The Son of Wood and CABA, is still available for anyone who wants to extend the list.

Three freshly released albums with November launch gigs: Mar Pujol, Declive and Lluki Valverde

All three released a full album in October and all three are taking it to a club or concert hall in the first two weeks of November. Each comes from a different scene: Catalan-language singer-songwriter music, Valencian post-punk and Barcelona rumba.

Mar Pujol returns with Sílvia Pérez Cruz and Rita Payés as guests

Mar Pujol is a singer-songwriter from the Lluçanès who writes in Catalan and accompanies herself on guitar. Her second album, ‘D'aquesta aigua no en beuré’, came out on 16 October on Hidden Track Records: ten songs and just over half an hour, recorded, produced and mixed by Jordi Matas.

The credits are the first thing that stands out: Sílvia Pérez Cruz sings on ‘He vist l'amor’, Rita Payés on ‘No diguis mai’ and Carmen Aciar on ‘Ullsclucs’. The title, a proverb warning about what you will never do, hints at the album’s theme: certainties that come apart. It follows ‘Cançons de Rebost’ (2024), the debut that, according to her label, won the Enderrock critics’ award for best singer-songwriter album.

Live: she launches the album on Friday 6 November at 20:00 in the Sala de Cambra of the Auditori de Girona, with Bruna González on cello and vocals. Tickets cost €15 from the Auditori’s box office. She then travels to Reykjavik: she is on this year’s Iceland Airwaves line-up. To listen: the video for ‘Mitja Vida’ on YouTube or the album on Bandcamp.

Declive make their full-length debut with dream pop guitars

Declive are a band from València formed in 2022 by five musicians aged between 21 and 24, according to their own bio. ‘El final de Occidente’, their first LP, came out on 16 October with eleven songs produced by Truman Fernández, following an EP closer to post-punk, ‘Nuestro abrazo’ (2025).

Among their influences, the band cite The Chameleons, Slowdive and Fontaines D.C., but also Triángulo de Amor Bizarro and La Plata: British post-punk and shoegaze alongside Spanish guitar indie. The single ‘Alguien juega a mirarnos’ mixes Spanish and Valencian in the same lyric, and in Valencia Plaza the band present the album as an invitation to think about change.

Live: they share the bill with Perfecto Miserable on Friday 6 November at Loco Club in València (doors at 20:30, show at 21:00), as part of the Circuit A-Banda series. Tickets on the venue’s online sales are listed as sold out. To listen: the video for ‘Alguien juega a mirarnos’ or the album on Deezer.

Lluki Valverde sings of Barcelona in the small hours

Lluki Valverde released ‘A la catalana’, his first LP, on 2 October on Primavera Labels. His label describes it as an album with a rumba-inflected, Laietan sound, with Gato Pérez, Pau Riba and Sisa as reference points, and the city seeps into the songs: there is one called ‘El Carmel’, another called ‘El 248 del carrer Navas’ and another, ‘No vull tornar sol a casa’, which opens with the lights of the Paral·lel switched off.

The titles switch between upper and lower case with no apparent rule, a small visual signature of the project. The credits for ‘L'Ambaixada dels sentiments’ list three musicians from his live band, on guitar, bass and drums, plus keyboards and flute.

Live: he launches the album with his band, as Lluki Valverde i els Ambaixadors de la Bona Onda, on Thursday 12 November at sala Upload in Barcelona, with doors at 20:00. Tickets cost €13.23 on Dice and the gig is over-18s only. To listen: ‘L'Ambaixada dels sentiments’ on YouTube or the album on Bandcamp.

Three albums arriving in November: AFFRA, EZEZEZ and JADE4

In these three cases the new release is an advance single, but the album already has a date. They are three very different propositions: AFFRA’s flamenco-rooted folk, EZEZEZ’s post-punk and JADE4’s pop with dense guitars.

AFFRA sings about care ahead of her first album

AFFRA, born in 2001, released ‘Cuídame’ on 9 October, the second and final single from ‘Al trenzar mis penas’, her first album, which comes out on 6 November on the Say It Loud label. Before her solo project, as MondoSonoro reports, she was part of the duo SOROCHE and worked as a backing singer for Queralt Lahoz.

The video brings the title’s idea to the screen: the credits introduce the friends who appear in it as ‘caring friends’. The first single, ‘Canto’, came out in September.

Live: the Barcelona album launch on 28 November has already sold out, according to MondoSonoro. That leaves the date on Thursday 10 December at 21:00 at the Casal L'Aliança in Mataró, as part of the Músiques Tranquil·les series, with tickets at €12 on Code Ticket. To listen: the video for ‘Cuídame’ on YouTube.

EZEZEZ produce themselves and prepare ‘Burubero’

EZEZEZ are a four-piece from Bilbao formed in 2021, whose album and song titles are in Basque. ‘Eskeleto’, released on 7 October, is the second single, after ‘Zaunk’, from ‘Burubero’, which comes out on 27 November on Lume! and follows ‘Kabakriba’ (2025). Production, recording and mixing are by Eneko Ajangiz and Álvaro Olaetxea, the band’s guitarist and drummer.

It is a short song, two minutes and ten seconds long, with a video directed by Iyan Altube and starring a dancer. In September they played Truenorayo Fest in Valencia, and their schedule for the coming months includes dates abroad, such as M pour Montréal and Les Trans Musicales in Rennes, according to their label.

Live: their label has announced the album launch on 28 November in the cave of Zugarramurdi. The club tour on sale takes in Barcelona (La Nau, 8 January), Madrid (Copérnico, 15 January) and Bilbao (Kafe Antzokia, 28 January), with tickets from €16.83 on Entradas.com. ModoFestival may receive a commission if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you. To listen: ‘Eskeleto’ on YouTube.

JADE4 reference La Oreja de Van Gogh in a break-up song

JADE4 are a Galician trio based in Madrid, made up of Nuria (guitar and vocals), Lucía (bass and vocals) and Uzal (drums). ‘Desaparecer’, released on 25 September, is the first single from ‘Cicatrices’, their first album, which comes out on 27 November on the Rural label. It was recorded and produced by Carlos Hernández at El Castillo Alemán.

The lyrics deal with a relationship coming to an end and allow themselves a generational nod: they mention ‘20 de enero’ by La Oreja de Van Gogh as the song you end up listening to on repeat. Their previous release was the EP ‘Necesito cuatro minutos’ (2025).

Live: no venue gigs with tickets have been announced; MondoSonoro reports a showcase at Rural’s launch party on the day the album comes out. To listen: the video for ‘Desaparecer’ on YouTube.

Guitars with venue dates: Victorias and Montflorit

Two guitar bands with confirmed gigs: one wraps up a tour this week in Madrid and the other presents the first single from its second album in Barcelona.

Victorias wrap up their tour in Madrid after bringing in three guests

Victorias are a band from Sevilla. Their second album, ‘emocional’, came out in February 2025, and in April this year they released the three-track EP ‘el uno por el otro’. On 21 October they released ‘el uno feat el otro’, which revisits those three songs with guests: Ona Mafalda on ‘el uno por el otro’, Tu Otra Bonita on ‘hablemos’ and vangoura on ‘talento natural’.

Monkey Week presents them as a band that takes the Latin ballad tradition into punk territory and describes their singer, Ire Díez, as the great-nephew of composer Manuel Alejandro. The collaborations EP came out nine days before the end of the tour, so the Copérnico gig arrives with freshly released material.

Live: they wrap up the tour on Friday 30 October at 20:00 at sala Copérnico in Madrid, with tickets at €19.80 on Entradas.com. ModoFestival may receive a commission if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you. After that they are on the line-up of Monkey Week, from 19 to 21 November in El Puerto de Santa María. To listen: ‘hablemos’, with Tu Otra Bonita, on YouTube or ‘el uno feat el otro’ on Deezer.

Montflorit open their second album with ‘Caiguda lliure’

Montflorit are a trio from Cerdanyola del Vallès who take their name from one of the town’s neighbourhoods and sing in Catalan. ‘Caiguda lliure’, released on 6 October on Estudio Mazmorra, is the first single from their second album, ‘Només el que s'acaba és per sempre’, which does not yet have a release date. It was produced by Txosse Ruiz at Wheel Sound Studio.

According to Sala Vol, their first LP, ‘Encara hi ha tant per fer’ (2025), took them on tour to eleven cities in Japan, an unusual route for an emerging band that sings in Catalan. MondoSonoro describes the new song as alternative rock with touches of indie pop and punk.

Live: they play on Thursday 3 December at 19:45 at Sala Vol in Barcelona, with Fulfilleds, a band from Manresa. Advance tickets cost €8 on the venue’s website. To listen: the video for ‘Caiguda lliure’ or the song on Bandcamp.

To keep track of the stages where these artists might make the leap, the festival calendar lists the events coming up over the next few months. If you have a project that is starting to take off, you can write to us at hola@modofestival.com.

Sources: press materials from Hidden Track Records (Mar Pujol), the Auditori de Girona website and its ticket sales; Loco Club, Soundtix and Valencia Plaza (Declive); Primavera Labels, Bandcamp and Dice (Lluki Valverde); MondoSonoro, Territorio Music and Músiques Tranquil·les, and Code Ticket sales (AFFRA); Lume!, MondoSonoro, La Ganzúa and Entradas.com (EZEZEZ); DOD Magazine and MondoSonoro (JADE4); Monkey Week, Asociación de Promotores Musicales, La Ganzúa and Entradas.com (Victorias); Sala Vol, Bandcamp and MondoSonoro (Montflorit); each artist’s official YouTube channels and Deezer catalogue, consulted on 22 October 2026.