The synergies that the Valencian Toxic Pop collective is causing throughout Spanish territory are notable. The latest is the collaboration with NEVVER, which among other incredible results has given us this remix of their song “Amaneciendo Y Anocheciendo”. We had already highlighted the original version of the song (included on the last album “999”) as a shift toward more danceable territory from the Madrid-based trio, and LEFTEE has taken it even closer to the center of the dance floor. The remix has also affected the video by Daniel Cuenca, and in this new version he reinforces the contrasts – between black and white, between moments of euphoria and introspection. Because it is tremendously strange to dance with infinite energy to that chorus that repeats like a prayer or a mantra: “Por las veces que me han hecho daño” (For all the times I have been hurt). But it reaches us and it fills us up. And we can’t stop dancing.

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With their first Mini-LP, “Disforia”, NEVVER made the first move in 2019. Their music, mixing post-punk, shoegazing and trap, opened a world of possibilities for a sound that was almost completely unheard of at the time. The way their songs dampened the urban genre with melancholy, contained their rage and was filled with poetry (establishing an invisible connection to the great Saul Williams), established a before and after for a group that was destined to be talked about endlessly in the most specialized circles. But far from settling down with a style that was already cutting edge and with so much to offer, they take a new leap with their new album. With assistance on production from LEFTEE and RARE (from Valencia’s Toxic Pop collective), they have made their first full length, “999”, with an eye on the dance floor, blowing it up with techno-pop or even dream-house, holding on to that strange dialogue between rage and melancholy, their poetic breath, their capacity to evoke forgotten, mistreated neighborhoods. We have to ask again: have you ever heard anything like ití

And if you haven’t, listen to “Hacemos El Amor Con La Ropa Puesta”. Echoes of Detroit and Berlin. And instrumental, at that. It is a total statement of intentions, proof that they can’t be boxed in and won’t follow the beaten path. “999” was born of the pandemic and distance, and despite that sounds closer than ever. It gets clos [ Read more ]

The release of “999” is almost here but we couldn’t do it without first showing you “Amaneciendo Y Anocheciendo”, the third single from the album, and an especially relevant song that tips us off to what’s to come.

First, we have the production work of LEFTEE (from the Valencian collective Toxic Pop) who openly pushes the trio’s intentions to sneak onto the dance floor, maintaining their congenital sadness, but giving it a powerful energy. In fact, this release has two versions – the original that will appear on the album, and an extended version, in the best tradition of those maxis from the eighties. 🙂

Then, we have the lyrics. That phrase that repeats like a mantra: “Por las veces que me han hecho daño” (For all the times I have been hurt), and that is somehow an identifying mark for the group, the essence of their driving force.

And finally, we have the video directed by Daniel Cuenca – a spectacle of lights, projections, effects, psychedelia… It is the definitive touch to this group’s advance toward a new level of sophistication. Black and whites, backlighting, low angles, make-up. A new era opens for a group that has always been characterized by its overwhelming personality, and they let us see it once again. And we will all be able to confirm it definitively with “999”. Until then, dance sad. Or not so sad.

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NEVVER has made a dramatic entrance with their new, now imminent release, “999”. With the production of LEFTEE and RARE (from the Toxic Pop collective in Valencia), they have been able to focus their sound from a different perspective, getting more direct, even more danceable songs – without losing the original melancholy and roughness – as a result.  The second single we’re advancing from the release, “Tu Boca Mordiéndome El Labio”, is the song that most clearly builds a bridge between the past and the present. Closer to trap, with that slow, dry phrasing, with just the right dose of autotune, but with cushions of sound that range between dreamlike and bucolic, and that turn the city’s solitude and darkness into the most beautiful – and at the same time saddest – landscapes. This is captured in the lyric video, recorded by the band themselves, where we see the silent part of a bustling city at a time when it is impossible to find silence, and where all the characters are anonymous. With its grainy texture, openly avoiding perfectionism, we become another resident of this nameless city. Because NEVVER’s songs are the city, buildings, streetlights, highways, dimmed lights, closed blinds, and people aimlessly wandering. Those are the parameters of the poetry. Because ultimately, that is what makes NEVVER’s music so special, beyond the brilliant production and instrumentation. Beca [ Read more ]

After a debut that revealed them to be one of the most interesting groups on the Spanish music panorama, creating a personalized mix of shoegazing, trap and other current styles, NEVVER is back with new songs. And as soon as you hit play, you can tell – some of these new songs are much more clearly aimed for the dance floor. The lyrics are still distressed, sad, but this time that personalized hybridization that we get from Javier Aparicio is a combination of house, electronic pop, techno-pop and even

bedroom-pop. Part of this is explained by LEFTEE and RARE’s participation in the production, both of whom are members of the Valencia-based Toxic Pop collective, who have already produced and collaborated with other Elefant groups, like LABORDE and AMOR BUTANO.

On “Tiernos Maullidos Eléctricos” (co-produced by NEVVER and RARE), this first advance Digital Single for the upcoming album (that will be called “999” and which will be here in a few months), all of the above is made loud and clear. The lyrics about needing time and space, about redemption, are dressed up with a synth-pop base, cushioned by keyboards, ethereal guitars and arpeggiators. It’s a sort of cross between M83 and THE BLAZE, ODEZENNE and even CHICO BLANCO. This new mix, the new sound, creates a very special contrast with lyrics that have also evolved in their own way to show us the darkness. The title of the song is based on a verse from [ Read more ]

TRACKLIST: 01 Oso Panda (PAPA TOPO)  02 Pez En Bicicleta (TRONCO)  03 A Mí Ya Me Iba Mal De Antes (AIKO EL GRUPO) 04 Barakaldo (LISASINSON)  05 Colegas (FRED FREDBURGUER)  06 Cucurucho (GUATAFÁN)  07 Canción De Pop De Amor (CARIÑO) 08 Infectados (AXOLOTES MEXICANOS)  09 Secret Secret (PUSHY PARENTS)  10 Cumpleañera (GOMET) 11 Gente De Mierda (PUTOCHINOMARICÓN)  12 Malos Hábitos (NEVVER)  13 Braun (DIE KATAPULT)  14 Las Plantas De La Terraza (CHAVALES)  15 No Sé Por Qué (BAND À PART)  16 Capital (NELEONARD)  17 Pineapple Princess (CRISTINA QUESADA) 18 The West Coast (EDINE AVEC LISLE MITNIK ET SON ORCHESTRE)  19 Rain On My Face (CARBON POPPIES) 20 Ultramarinos (LOS BONSÁIS)  21 Campamento De Verano (TEACHER TEACHER)  22 La Fuerza (KOKOSHCA) 23 My Baby’s Just A Baby (But I Love Him So) (KNICKERS)  24 (Out Of) The Neighborhood (BELLE GHOUL)  25 Eat Tacos (WILD BALBINA) 26 Enough Is Enough (NATURE SET)  27 The Panda Bear Song (FOXES!)  28 El Fin De La Era (SAGRADO CORAZÓN DE JESÚS) 29 Cómo Es (LIA PAMINA)  30 Humo (NOS MIRAN)  31 El Chico Más Guapo De La Galaxia (CAPITÁN SUNRISE) 32 Ada Hoy Se Va A Enamorar (SAN FRANCISCO)

“New Adventures In Pop” collection [Issue 050]

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TRACKLIST: 01 Nada Me Importa

The trio from Madrid continue to shape and define their unique sound somewhere between trap, post punk and shoegaze in their newest Digital Single. “Nada Me Importa” is an important leap toward pop melodies for NEVVER, bringing them significantly closer to groups like NEW ORDER and THE CURE, but with the poetic incentive of their wrong-side-of-the-track lyrics, that at the same have a certain dream-like feel. This combination of qualities is visible in the video directed by David Vega, who was recently responsible for the audiovisuals for “Un Gatito” from LA BIEN QUERIDA. A sleepy neighborhood on the outskirts of Madrid filmed in 16mm, where we can see the context that our stars develop their creative activity in. It is an intimate look that also lets us see all the artists in a proposal that looks as much to the past as it does to the future. This is a band that moves in its own territory, outsiders of the urban sound, colonizers of inhabited islands. And to be able to enjoy NEVVER’s songs is totally exceptional.

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TRACKLIST: 01 Finde

NEVVER is back with a new Digital Single, probably one of their most accessible songs so far. Their bucolic landscapes inherited from shoegaze, and the bases and phrasing closer to hip hop and trap are still there, as is that unique language that is all their own in a musical scene that has nothing even remotely similar. But “Finde” also has a catchy, euphoric, exciting chorus in a song full of nostalgia: evoking summer, the desire to repeat good times, the resignation that they will probably never happen again. This resignation includes the collaboration of a very special lyric video, with marvelous animation and a solitary and still view from a window. A window from which we can see an empty city as the night moves through it, where shadows reign and a very singular new ambiance is created. Because the music of NEVVER is an ambiance and “Finde” is, probably, their musical culmination.

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After that surprising debut in 10” Mini-LP format that was “Disforia”, Javier Aparicio (vocals), Borja Aranda (keyboards and guitars) and Raúl Serrano (bass) are back with new songs, maintaining that musical language that is all their own, unique, moving in their own special way between such distinct references as shoegaze, dream pop, rap and trap. They have their own language, their own special way of connecting the present and the past though an intense melancholy and sadness. Like the disagreement that “La Última Vez” narrates – dry and rough, although it has an exquisite sense of melody, and includes a marvelous collaboration from Valdivia. The Madrid-based singer (who in her own career moves within the parameters of melancholy, also playing with electronic and folk sounds), brings a sweet, raw touch, that startling beauty that shines brightly in the dark. This is a journey in time that connects us with “Primitive Painters” by FELT thirty-five years ago, that fantastic song that included the collaboration of Elizabeth Fraser from COCTEAU TWINS. The video by Santi Capuz perfectly reflects the sting of relationships that come to an end, the reproaches, that couple that looks out the window, each one from a different car.

This digital release is completed by “No Disponible”, a song where the lack of communication hidden within the world of digital multi-connection resurfaces, with arpeggios that EARLY [ Read more ]

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We know that in music, like with everything else, everything has already been invented. We hear it and repeat it thousands of times. That’s why we fall to pieces whenever one of those strange, magical, unique moments occurs and we think we are hearing something new. And when that happens in Spanish, the feeling is even more intense. That’s why we’re so satisfied with our “New Adventures In Pop” collection, that brings us new groups with so many new things to say. And that’s why we’re so proud of groups like NEVVER debuting in this collection, which was born for bands just like them, who have so much to offer, in such new and surprising ways.

Oddly, NEVVER’s first album is called “Disforia”. They don’t hide it; their intention is to make you nervous, to disturb, to throw you off. This trio from Getafe made up of Javier Aparicio (vocals), Borja Aranda (keyboards and guitars) and Raúl Serrano (bass), has searched among shoegaze, trap, dream pop, hip hop and synth pop to find their own voice. Their structure is surprising, but the chosen emotions make an impact, and are the vehicle that carries us along in this journey. Unlike many other urban rhythms that were the upbringing of three friends growing up together in this part of Madrid and who spent their time in an old garage, NEVVER use sadness, sensitivity and melancholy to express their frustration. Like JOY DIVISION, like DÉCIMA VÍCTIMA, li [ Read more ]

Let us introduce you to NEVVER, the newest group in our “New Adventures In Pop” collection. Giving you two songs as a Digital Single felt insufficient to us, but sometimes they best way to make an entrance is very slowly, without making too much noise. Coming in little by little so as to not miss a single detail.

NEVVER is a trio from Getafe (Madrid) made up of Javier Aparicio (vocals), Borja Aranda (keyboards and guitars) and Raúl Serrano (bass) that sounds urban in a way that nobody has ever sounded urban before. They sound melancholy in a way that redefines the whole concept of melancholy and brings them closer to current feelings; less bucolic and tempestuous, more instantaneous and artificially light. They play with the elements of styles like shoegaze, dream pop, trap, hip hop, synth pop… To come up with their own discourse that is absolutely differentiating.

And there is no better proof of this than “Varsovia”. The repetitive, dragging flow, the rhymes that take you through a nocturnal nightmare, where pride beats against the walls of the city. The synthesizer that seems to walk us through the most bucolic scenes of “Drive”, the fine, fragile bass that is also seeped in emotion, like THE XX, the buildings that show a solid but oddly friendly face – they there is nothing for us to do. “Redención” lets some light in. More open chords, the guitar with echoes like the kind the Robin Gu [ Read more ]