From time to time, when you hardly have time to take it in properly, bands come along that really break cultural boundaries, bands that bridge the gap between Europe and America without much effort. Perhaps what they do is to remind us of the importance that the rock tradition in North America has always had, and continues to have. Tuesday Afternoon are, at once, an example of this and an exception to the rule. Firstly, because, all the way from Barcelona, Spain, they tip the hat to the authentic American rock and pop songwriters from the last few decades and manage to reinterpret their work in a very contemporary, vital and creative way.Secondly, because, without straying too far from the same path, they manage to decorate, revamp and alter such a tradtion with a distinct continental flavour.Born in Barcelona just a few years ago, Tuesday Afternoon is made up Guillem Duñó (bass), Martí Duch (guitar) and Ramon Garriga (drums), a tight trio that constitutes something more than just a back-up for composer and vocalist Borja Duñó, an artist capable of carrying his influences and his own considerable musical background to breathe life into his very personal work, an author who grew up musically in college bands and later, with guitar in hand, whilst travelling across the Open Mike circuit in cities like Boston and New York. Now, after blazing shows in Razz 3 with I Am Kloot, festivals and local shows, and being regulars on the national Radio 3, Tuesday Afternoon finally debut on record with Things To Do On A, one of the first releases from the recently-created Fork Series, and coproduced by the band and Roger Rodés of Gallygows fame.Throughout the eleven tracks on Things To Do On A, Tuesday Afternoon take off with enviable agility, sprinkling the album with harmonicas, violas, hammonds, keyboards, a wind section and a palet of colours and sounds that fall somewhere between the modern classic and the classically modern.As it is, its not enough to say that there are various influences here, for the band may well have learned directly from such luminaries as Wilco, Paul Westerberg, the last few albums by The Replacements, Sid Giffin or The Long Ryders at their least-surly and when the machine is greased-up, theres be no room for mimitism. We can find a home for "Shame, Shame, Shame" at Tom Petty garage, feel the Motown sound among the wind section of "Help Me (To Change)", revel in the steamy, sexy atmosphere of "Sixteen", break away from the guitar-pop norm on "One Of Your Kind", sumerge ourselvesl in our own intimity and feel the tears of joy roll down the cheek of "Mountaintops", breathe the uneasy airs of "Lost And Found", drink with Whiskeytown on "High And Dead", let out that pent-up emotion on "Starving", take in the classic rock "The Other Side" and leave with a magnificnt Lamchop-esque ballad Kiss Goodnight. Maybe these four Barcelonians are all this and at the same time none of it, as, with comparisons aside, Tuesday Afternoon are quite simply a rock band. Without labels, excesses, complexes or limitations.- Joan S. Luna (Mondo Sonoro Magazine) Read less