Spanish Gold ‘South of Nowhere’

Words by Dennis Ruhlin

When you hear the term “supergroup”, projects like Monsters of Folk, Operation Aloha, and Middle Brother spring to mind. Newcomers Spanish Gold, consisting of Dante Schwebel of Hacienda, Adrian Quesada of Grupo Fantasma, and Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket are doing their best to join the club.

Spanish Gold’s debut LP South of Nowhere is a melting pot of sounds thrown together in a way everyone can enjoy. Schwebel described it in an interview with Rolling Stone back in February as “We grew up with MTV when it was still a music channel…the way that programming crossed genres from R&B to hip-hop, rock, soul and pop music is how we approach records. It’s an album of all those styles…”

It’s a perfect description of the album. These fellas managed to effortlessly blend together a variety of sounds and feelings into a super fun album. You’ll experience a lot in a relatively short amount of time. Opener ‘One Track Mind’ is funky and soulful, in an odd Man Man kinda way. The third track ‘Out on the Street’ is groovy with a pseudo-Latin beat at times. Track nine ‘Reach for Me’ is emotional but packs some killer guitars and features Hallahan destroying it on the drums towards the end.

Other standouts include ‘Moving On’ which is the best parts of My Morning Jacket and The Black Keys, the Dead-esque ‘Shangri La’, and the jam rock tune ‘Don’t Leave Me Dry’. The highlight of the album for me was ‘Day Drinking’, a short, kick ass, slow rock inspired tune about everyone’s favorite, boozing while the sun’s still up! It’s a perfect summer song for that playlist you’ve been working on.

This album really has it all. You can listen to it wherever, whenever, with whoever, and it’ll have something for everyone. They’re touring this summer into the early fall, with dates listed until mid-October. If you haven’t heard of these guys, check out em out, you won’t be disappointed.