Manel is a Catalan folk-rock band from Barcelona. One of the most influential artists in the whole ambit of modern Catalan music, their first album Els millors professors europeus triggered an entire wave of new Catalan bands, including groups as prolific as Els Amics de les Arts. Their first two albums featured a more acoustic sound, incorporating classical guitar and ukulele, but as their career went on, they began to use electric guitars in Atletes, baixin de l'escenari and more electronic effects in Jo competeixo and Per la bona gent.
Principal members:
- Guillem Gisbert (2007 - present)
- Roger Padilla (2007 - present)
- Martí Maymó (2007 - present)
- Arnau Vallvé (2007 - present)
Discography:
- 2008 - Els millors professors europeus
- 2011 - 10 milles per veure una bona armadura
- 2013 - Atletes, baixin de l'escenari
- 2016 - Jo competeixo
- 2019 - Per la bona gent
Tropes:
- Age-Progression Song: 'Criticarem les noves modes de pentinats' from 10 milles.
- Album Title Drop: Els millors professors europeus appears in the lyrics to 'Pla quinquennal' from said album.
- Boastful Rap: Most of the song 'Jo competeixo' is this.
- Break-Up Song: 'Benvolgut' from 10 milles is a man musing on his girlfriend's previous boyfriend and the relationship he has with him.
- Brick Joke: The child-stealing condor from Atletes' 'Imagina't un nen' reappears in the sky at the end of 'La serotonina', one album later.
- And again, in the music video for 'La Jungla' in 2021.
-
Broken Base: Half of the fandom thinks the change in their style after Atletes was a natural progression for the band, the other half wishes they'd return to the acoustic style of their first two works. - Call-Back: The meteorite briefly seen in the video for 'L'amant malalta' is the meteorite from the album art for Per la bona gent. Also, the condor from 'Imagina't un nen' reappears in passing one album later on 'La serotonina'.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: How the singer in 'Jo competeixo' imagines his showdown with the listener to be.
- Curtain Call: The end of 'Un directiu em va acomiadar' (and the end of Atletes).And here the show comes to an end. The executive manager and our hero salute you, salute you.
- Dead Man Writing: The dead man in 'Mort d'un heroi romàntic' is found clutching a bizarre poem in his hand.
- Epigraph: The album insert for 10 milles includes a quote from Kenneth Branagh in Much Ado About Nothing, the Catalan translation of which gives the album its name.
- Food-Based Superpowers: The foreman in 'Les restes' wishes to have the power to make people sweat sobrassada oil from their forehead.
- Genie in a Bottle: A genie lives in the mysterious artefact that the foreman picks up in 'Les restes', and offers him three wishes. He asks for the superpower to make people start sweating sobrassada oil on command.
- "I Am Great!" Song: 'Jo competeixo'.
- Location Song: 'Arriba l'alba a Sant Petersburg'.
- Longest Song Goes Last: On both Els millors professors (with 'Corrandes de la parella estable') and Jo competeixo (the title track).
- Long List: Several examples.
- 'Corrandes de la parella estable' is an eight minute list of all of the things that a couple has compromised on.
- The last section of 'Mort d'un heroi romàntic' is a list of observations that the titular romantic hero left behind in his suicide note.
- 'Arriba l'alba's second half is a long list of everything that can be seen on Sadovaya Street in Saint Petersburg.
- Love Is a Drug: 'Aquí tens el meu braç' from Per la bona gent.
- Magic Realism: Touched on in 'M'hi vaig llançar'.Believe me, you've never been this confused about what's magic and what's real.
- Minimalist Album Art: Every album's artwork is to an extent, minimal, particularly Els millors professors which just features four crude drawings of empty chairs in the middle of a wide beige background.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The female robber in 'BBVA' can't get over her guilt for the accidental murder of a cashier.
- New Sound Album: Atletes began to introduce more electronic sounds into their music.
- Non-Appearing Title: 10 milles and Atletes, the former being a Shakespeare reference, the second an oblique reference to an incident at the 1992 Olympic Games where a group of athletes was at risk of collapsing a stage.
- No, You: The singer to the nightmare in 'La serotonina'.
- Out of Focus: 'Arriba l'alba a Sant Petersburg's first half details the journey of a drunk woman Babú in central Saint Petersburg. Once she arrives at Sadovaya Street, the singer immediately forgets about her and starts singing about the various people and things that can be seen there. We never hear about Babú again.
- Pest Episode: 'Formigues' is about the singer's battle against an ant infestation in his house, culminating in him giving into his madness, barricading his room and lying on his bed in fear.
- Progressive Instrumentation: Twice in 'Arriba l'alba a Sant Petersburg'. The first half builds slowly until Babú arrives at Sadovaya Street and sits down on the metro platform, and then we go back to the beginning with sparse instrumentation as the singer paints a picture of daybreak in Saint Petersburg, coupling with the lyrical zoom out and crescendoing out in the Baltic Sea with a group of jellyfish.
- Reconcile the Bitter Foes: The singer's illness being cured in 'La serotonina' causes American and Cuban scientists to begin working together in peace.
- Remaster: Els millors professors got this treatment for its 10th anniversary.
- Revenge Ballad: 'Jo competeixo'.
- Rock-Star Song: 'Boy Band'.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: 'Imagina't un nen' describes a boy and his father playing football in the park, until the boy is kidnapped by a giant condor and the song ends.
- Shout-Out:
- In 'La serotonina', to Antonia Font's 'Alegria' and to Mishima's 'Qui n'ha begut'.
- In 'Boy Band', to Supertramp.
- Signature Song: 'Al mar!' and 'Benvolgut'.
- Singer Namedrop: In 'Jo competeixo'. Doubles as part of a Boastful Rap.[I'll be] the anger of the singer of the revolutionary Catalan band of 2008!
- Slice of Life: The second half of 'Arriba l'alba a Sant Petersburg'.
- The Something Song: 'La cançó del soldadet' and 'Cançó del dubte'.
- Title Track: 'Jo competeixo' title track is an eight minute treatise on revenge and competition; 'Per la bona gent' is a character song about a murder suspect who didn't commit the crime, but can't resist taunting the interrogator.
- The 2021 EP has 'L'amant malalta', a song about a man who can't see his lover because she is sick. It was, unsurprisingly, written and recorded during the pandemic.
- Translated Cover Version: 'Les estrelles' from Per la bona gent is this for Janis Ian's 'Stars'.
- Before their first album release, they also covered 'La tortura' by Music/Shakira and 'Common People' by Music/Pulp.
- Villain Song: Arguably 'Jo competeixo', where the singer sings about how he will defeat the listener at whatever they do.
- Subverted in 'Per la bona gent', where the singer didn't commit the murder in question but can't resist taunting the interrogator.
- Wham Line: 'Jo competeixo' ends with one of these, where the singer reveals that he hasn't been talking to some arbitrary third party foe, but to the audience itself - they are his victims and are right in his trap.After I've captured the audience's attention, I pretend to be interested, I exaggerate with prudency, and I tell the story of the battle with details, stopping myself to let people picture the faces of the poor, brave souls who one day arrived just like how you've all arrived now.
