Sergio Rodríguez and Marta Quintana have made something special with NOS MIRAN. Their music is direct: solid, powerful techno-pop, accompanied by profound lyrics with a philosophical origen, playing at a very specific existential dreaminess. And that contrast works with thousands of different nuances. “No Quiero El Control”, the second advance single from their new album, is radical in this aspect. It is probably one of their more solid songs, a definite and radical hit for the dance floor, catchy and easy to dance to, accompanied by evasive, slippery lyrics, that even have a certain occasional touch of anguish. Further proof of their unique, personal, unpredictable work that eludes all stereotypes. That’s how NOS MIRAN are.

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Sergio Rodríguez and Marta Quintana are keeping up their intense discographic activity. In addition to their debut Mini-LP, their Digital Singles, and that magnificent album (“Todo Se Repite”) they have released since they got started in 2018, we are adding a new and imminent full-length with the same title as the song that is coming as an advance, “Siempre Igual”, and that we are bringing you today. Once again, they are focusing on what is special and unique about what they have to offer: the mix of songs that are so easy to dance to, between disco and techno-pop, perfect choruses, with lyrics that alternate between real and surreal, and an important philosophical position. “El miedo a equivocarnos / Me hace hacerlo todo mal / Ese error / Nos tiene alejados / Como una oscura señal” (Fear of making a mistake / Makes me do everything wrong / That mistake / Separates us / Like a dark signal). The music video, directed again by Antonio Máiquez (who again honors his important role in the group’s audiovisual work), reinforces this idea: lights, cars, undefined spaces, that symbol of the infinite that appears everywhere and that is incessantly erased. This is multifaceted work, equal parts reflexive and enjoyable, a highly inexplicable rara avis, like a wormhole that carries us from one dimension to another in less than a millisecond.

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Elefant Records continues to be a source of sound material for filmmakers, and the latest proof is “La Amiga De Mi Amiga”, the debut film of Zaida Carmona (yes, the one who sang “La Llamada” with PAPA TOPO in Marc Ferrer‘s film “La Maldita Primavera”), which celebrated its presence on 1 February at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, as part of the Bright Future section. Two days later, on 3 February, and coinciding with the premiere in commercial cinemas in Spain, we are releasing the soundtrack just with the Elefant songs that appear in the movie, which in this case features SOFT REGIME, AIKO EL GRUPO, LISASINSON, JULIE ET JOE, BAND À PART, Giorgio Tuma, NOS MIRAN and FITNESS FOREVER. What a great selection! And as a gift we include in our edition the original version of “Lady Dilema” by Carlos Berlanga, which in the film is covered by Aroa Ay, from SHEGO. The film also features songs by MALAMUTE, MASONIERÍA (the solo project of Sonia, from PAPA TOPO), Rocío Saiz and CHRISTINA Y LOS SUBTERRÁNEOS. In fact, Christina Rosenvinge herself makes a cameo in the film.

“La Amiga De Mi Amiga” is a generational story, as Zaida herself says: “a five-way lesbian comedy of entanglement”, a story about women who love a lot, but love badly. A project that arises from the need to consolidate and reaffirm positive queer and/or feminist references, filmed in eleven days, wit [ Read more ]

TRACKLIST: 01 Le Midi (JULIE ET JOE)  02 Viniste A Por Mí (SOLEÁ MORENTE)  03 Tutti Frutti (SOLEÁ MORENTE) – feat. La Estrella de David, Las Negris, José Bonaparte & Checopolaco  04 La Fuerza (LA BIEN QUERIDA) – feat. Los Planetas  05 Ducati (SOLEÁ MORENTE) – feat. Cariño 06 Arcade (JULIE ET JOE)  07 Contigo (NOS MIRAN)  08 Bäckerei Digital (DIE KATAPULT)  09 Baby Love (FITNESS FOREVER)

This coming October 20th, the film festival Mostra de Valencia will open with the Valencian film “El Que Sabem”, produced by Pegatum Transmedia and directed by Jordi Núñez, author of the shorts “Píxeles” (with more than 11 million views on streaming), “Amor De Dios” and “Cachitos”. It is a daring generational portrait about a story of first love, acceptance, and forgiveness, dressed up as a hymn to friendship, desire and the youth that slips through our hands. It is a movie in which, according to the people who made it, “music plays a fundamental role in building emotions and feelings, whether it’s to intensify them or to fill them with irony”. A large part of the movie’s soundtrack consists of songs by groups from Elefant Records.

From the sticky sweet, eighties style techno-pop of JULIE ET JOE, to the fun and rumba-style cheekiness that Soleá Morente brings, the hazy myste [ 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]

If there is a collectio [ Read more ]

TRACKLIST: 01 Quien Tú Quieres Que Sea

We will never get tired of saying it: NOS MIRAN is one of those unique, inimitable groups. The cocktail that makes up their sound and lyrics have a really special effect on the listener, and the proof of this is that debut album called “Todo Se Repite”, which is an audio and existential journey, with lyrics that dive into the darkest aspects of the human mind while developing euphoric electro-pop melodies that are made for dancing to. “Quien Tú Quieres Que Sea”, their new Digital Single taken from that fantastic debut album, is solid demonstration of this. It uses an ultra-catchy euro-pop base to talk about the torment of relationships, and the insecurities, doubts, expectations and frustrations that this torment causes. It is a song to listen to a thousand times, to get to the heart of what is hidden in its many nooks and crannies. What Sergio Rodríguez, Marta Quintana and Laura Antona are giving us here is full of intentions. Two pieces of evidence: the first, the video, once again commissioned to Antonio Máiquez, in which Sergio, Marta and Laura, each one identified by a color, wander through a building with white arches that is full of mysteries, which is used to develop so many powerful and ambiguous visual metaphors. The second piece of evidence is the cover, made by Martaherself, which is directly connected to the video: three arches, each one a different color, and under [ Read more ]

The obsession NOS MIRAN has with looking deeper into the most irrational and inexplicable aspects of the human mind has just reached a clear turning point. Their first full-length, “Todo Se Repite”, has managed to intertwine that terrifyingly dreamlike and disturbing universe with absolutely marvelous electronic pop songs. The result is spectacular, an album that is enjoyable, intimate and hard to define. As if FAMILY made the soundtrack for a David Lynch film. Come closer and take a look.

Sergio Rodríguez and Marta Quintana have developed a type of treaty about existential anguish through a strange state somewhere between asleep and awake, where everything is wrapped in a cloud of dreaminess. In fact, “Aquí, Antes” talks about those strange feelings dreams give us, about déjà vu, the feeling of having already been in an unknown place. “No Existo”, talks about the pain of being alive, and the recovered “Contigo” (what a wonderful exercise in dark disco music) talks about the pain of loving. “Árbol De Sombra” is a break, a BROADCAST-esque sonic passage (with some programming that reminds us of BJÖRK on “Homogenic”), clear and light, the pleasure of being at peace with oneself. It is a special oasis on such a singular album. And “Au 79” is precisely a good example of the two sides of this album, of the multiple perspectives it offers us. Somewhere between [ Read more ]

A few months ago, we were able to enjoy the Digital Single, “Contigo” from the electronic duo NOS MIRAN, and now “No Existo” is here, preparing us for the imminent arrival of their first full-length, “Todo Se Repite”. The song starts with the line that gave the album its title, on which Sergio Rodríguez and Marta Quintana are back with more proof of so many of their qualities that make what they have to offer so exciting.

Electronic pop with an eye toward the dance floor, with great choruses and disturbing lyrics, that talk about existential questions, anguish about living, achieving a strange dialogue between serious and carefree, as if they were aware of all of the suffering but also of how important it is to hold onto hope. “Todo Se Repite… Pero no existo” (Everything repeats itself… But I don’t exist). This line runs around in circles in your head endlessly.

This advance Digital Single also comes with a video by, once again, Antonio Máiquez, who is now a frequent collaborator with NOS MIRAN, and who, as always, invents a special and unique universe in the videos for the group’s songs.

The countdown begins. What we are sure is going to be one of the biggest surprises of the year is about to be revealed. And we can guarantee it’s going to be amazing. They do exist and we are well aware of it.

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With this new release, NOS MIRAN are taking over. With that name that is so mysterious, and those videos where they develop that universe all their own that navigates through the irrational, NOS MIRAN radically abandon their more pop spirit and leap into building on minor chords, developing a darker Digital EP, openly hazy, and that turns restraint into tension, turns the unknown into poetry. Meandering between Italo disco and the dream house sound, with electronic and minimalist bases, they develop that strange world around the dance floor.

The best proof is that “Mientras Bailo”, which defines a dreamlike world that is hard to describe, that searches for a connection with the listener through something other than logic. Or the more solid “El Planeta”, which moves them closer to KRAFTWERK and MORODER, with DEVO’s martial tones and the dreamy strength of YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, stellar space travels through geometric dreams. “Contigo” marks a change compared to the others: less psychedelia, more direct, breathtaking, as if LIO and SAINT ETIENNE were in the midst of a deep melancholy for some impossible love. By the way, the video is once again directed by Antonio Máiquez, who is becoming an intrinsic part of the definition of the aura surrounding NOS MIRAN. “Algo Va A Ir Mal” is a difficult, pessimistic, sad, closing song that is not for dancing, almost closer to shoegazing. But like artists with something personal [ Read more ]

One of the collections we are proudest of here at Elefant Records is “New Adventures In Pop”, an initiative dedicated to giving opportunities to new groups. Names that are now well-known by pop fans have been come through this collection, like PAPA TOPO, EL PALACIO DE LINARES, NELEONARD, BELLE GHOUL, SAGRADO CORAZÓN DE JESÚS, AXOLOTES MEXICANOS and LIA PAMINA. And now we are bringing you a new group that we are sure you’ll be talking about.

NOS MIRAN is a techno-pop duo comprised of Sergio Rodríguez (CAPITÁN SUNRISE, THE SOLVERS) and Marta Quintana (VENTOLÍN). They met at the Elefant Records stand in a LA BIEN QUERIDA concert, Santi from CAPITÁN SUNRISE introduced them and a few months later they were already working together on the songs we’re releasing now. “Humo” is their first release, a purple, 10”, 500-copy limited-numbered-edition Mini-LP, where synthesizers, 8-bit arpeggiators, and even some distorted guitars play. But the most important thing is how wide an expressive palette they show in only six songs, from melancholic techno-pop to bubbly pop-punk, and with moments of europop or delicate synth-pop. But not only in the musical aspect; the lyrics also range from an evocative look back to brazen events, from carefree to critical.

“Amor Y” reminds us of AU REVOIR SIMONE and FUTURE BIBLE HEROES, a cosmic lullaby about love and the fear of falling in love again [ Read more ]