News

TRACKLIST: 01 The Other Side Of Grey  02 Five Miles Of Line  03 On The Telephone  04 Move To Wales  05 Seagulls On A Frozen Lake 06 Mermaid  07 What Was Not Became What Was  08 Creature Of The In-Between  09 Lockdown To Liverpool  10 Northern Europeans

The band formed by Matt Jones, Mike Thomas and Les Mun, THE HEPBURNS, has always been considered one of the most exquisite bands to come out of the C86 era. They have worked with labels as prestigious as Cherry Red and Radio Khartoum, and when they have felt more comfortable self-releasing material, they have done that. Yes, they have many things in common with THE BRILLIANT CORNERS, THE HIT PARADE and THE WEATHER PROPHETS, but their elegant arrangements and harmonies, their admiration for Burt Bacharach and soundtracks by Ennio Morricone and John Barry, add a touch of delicious sophistication to their sound – a sound which is completed with the characters that Matt includes in the songs: charming losers stuck in impossible situations, somewhere between humor and tragedy.

In the middle of the pandemic, Matt met Estella Rosa, the singer for the jangle pop duet NAH and founder of the blog Fadewayradiate, through an interview. They were soon talking about doing a song together. In just three months, they had recorded a full album with 10 songs. “Architecture Of The Ages&rd [ Read more ]

In Valencia there is a scene going on that has reached a boiling point. And there is a new name to pay attention to: AMOR BUTANO. With a few songs already released in digital format, this trio formed by Diego Ferrando (production, keyboards), Raquel Goterris (keyboards, vocals) and Sara Alegre (keyboards, vocals) and rooted in the Benimaclet neighborhood, is an absolute dancefloor hit. They have no issues with looking unabashedly to the 80s (they continually reference MECANO) or the groups that use that marvelous decade as a base for their updated sound (Dua Lipa, THE WEEKND). And their first step with Elefant Records comes hand in hand with VALVERDINA (CARIÑO) and CIBERCHICO (Toxic Pop).

All of this came about while recording a video, where Sara and Diego coincided with Pablo (CIBERCHICO) and María (VALVERDINA). They all went out together and there was chemistry. The night ended at Diego’s studio, recording lyrics over a base he already had ready. Inspired by Javiera Mena, they have created an openly positive, energetic song that is a definite hit. The song is a cross between post-punk and techno-pop, and it would be the envy of TWIN SHADOW and the CHROMATICS at their most danceable. It is a naïve view of love, looking back nostalgically at school days, explaining how complicated it is to be loved back. An unquestionable starting shot that opens the door to a very succulent repertoire.

And this “Esta Era” comes with a very [ Read more ]

Míriam LABORDE is unstoppable. It was just yesterday that we were talking about her latest single with VALVERDINA and RARE, that powerful “Vampirita”, and we already have our hands on a new single, this time with TURIAN BOY, who she wrote the magnificent “Llámame” with. “Flotando” is a song that Míriam and Álex wrote in the middle of the pandemic and that has continued to shape-shift from the initial hyperpop (which has been defined as one of the singer’s trademarks) to a more powerful form, closer to her more recent songs, that somehow connect to the punk-pop of her LISASINSON. The song stands out once again thanks to Míriam’s ability to make perfect, immediate, exciting choruses that are full of energy. It’s spectacular; after listening just once we can’t stop singing it. The song is about people who come and go in our lives, and especially about everything they touch along the way. To top it off, Míriam herself made the cover and the lyric video. She is an artist who continues to show how wide her range is, how versatile she is, and how incredibly fast she works. And best of all is that we can’t help but think about everything that we will see from her in the future.

TRACKLIST: 01 Flotando (Feat. TURIAN BOY)

[ Read more ]

TRACKLIST: 01 Aurora  02 Ayer  03 Yo Y La Que Fui  04 El Pañuelo De Estrella (Feat. Estrella Morente)  05 Fe Ciega

06 Domingos (Feat. Triángulo de Amor Bizarro)  07 Iba A Decírtelo  08 El Chinitas  09 Marcelo Criminal (Feat. Marcelo Criminal) 10 Polvo Y Arena  11 Enrique

It is hard to reinvent yourself again and again. As time passes, it is more and more complicated to satisfy the expectations that have been set. That’s why at a certain point, an artist, the kind with a capital A, needs to forge their own path. Because Soleá Morentehas made an immense album. She already had a reputation for being a chameleon, and now she has taken a turn in a new direction that nobody was expecting. Towards unstable ground, dangerous for a singer of her caste and style. And she did it to talk about what she carries inside her, what we all wanted to know: what it’s like to grow up in a house with Aurora Carbonell and Enrique Morente. And after the strength of an album as powerful as “Lo Que Te Falta”, Soleá now brings us an intimate album, with references to shoegaze and dreampop, echoes of MAZZY STAR and BEACH HOUSE, and to top things off, for the first time, she has written the lyrics and music of each and every song herself. This is HER ALBUM.

Nobody could imagine that Soleá would have sought out a way to express her private thoughts, her deepest confessions, with such sounds. But [ Read more ]

Even though it has already been five years since PAPA TOPO’s first full-length album (and eleven since their first single, “Oso Panda”), we can’t say that Adrià and company have been taking it easy. New singles, important collaborations (with MARIA DANIELA Y SU SONIDO LASSER and Yurena, for example), composing for movie soundtracks (“La Maldita Primavera”, “Nos Parecía Importante” and “Puta Y Amada” by Marc Ferrer), their impressive performance on the “Cachitos De Hierro Y Cromo” New Year’s Eve special of 2019, two tours in Mexico… Their new release includes a little of all of that – new ultra-addictive songs; top-notch collaborations like Samantha Hudson, Zaida Carmona and LA PROHIBIDA, among others. The five songs that are included on this Digital EP belong to the soundtrack from Marc Ferrer’s newest movie, “¡Corten!”. It is an exercise that plays with the comedy, thriller, and queer film genres as well as pays tribute to the Italian giallo genre. As you can imagine, the result is incredibly juicy, and is only made juicier with the way Adrià has used a clear influence from the Spanish copla and pasodoble. Let’s take a closer look, because there is so much to see.

The first song, “Mal Herido”, written with Zaida Carmona (who sang with PAPA TOPO before on the “La Lla [ Read more ]

References to Japanese culture have always been present in AXOLOTES MEXICANOS’s music, and there is no question that these references are more and more a part of the group’s overall esthetic and concept. And this single is the final touch. Check it out. Olaya and her guys take the Opening 4 from the super famous anime show Monogatari, by Kana Hanazawa, rewriting it in Spanish, fusing it with BACHY’s Latin-styled version, and giving it that personal touch of theirs somewhere between hyper-pop, the most danceable techno-pop and a punk spirit. To celebrate the occasion, they invited CIBERCHICO (from the active Valencian collective, Toxic Pop) to work with them on a stellar collaboration, in a style that fits like a glove. The result – it’s the Nintendo Music dream team on the dance floor. That irresistible double chorus that we will sing until we can’t anymore. It is such a rush to sing and dance too on repeat.

But the party doesn’t end there. To make the video, they called their friends Dani Rato (who in addition to making videos for Stephen Please, 9CKLES and CONFETI DE ODIO, plays with CONFETI, MEEKY and NO FUCKS) and AION Club (who has made videos for FUEL FANDANGO, LA MALA RODRÍGUEZ, DUKI and BIZARRAP) and told them to go crazy. And the resultí The otaku party dream team, in the WHO studios: videogames, dancing (the original song obviously had to be included, with Tania Love_letter as the guest star), cycloramas, pain [ Read more ]

After “¿Por Qué A Mícategoría” and “La Conversación”, CHAVALES are giving us a new song in advance of their imminent new album. And once again, they go straight for the hit, with no second thoughts. “No, No Y No” is a new example of synthesized punk-pop, of immediately catchy choruses with eighties echoes, of lyrics full of spite and character. The song builds slowly, introducing elements until it takes off toward the final culmination. The cover art and video that go with the advance are the work of Neelam Khan Vela, a photographer from Barcelona, who has been behind portraits of people like Alex Turner, Mac De Marco, THE PARROTS, and who has toured with people like Amaia, HINDS and THE ORIELLES. Born in Ronda, she grew up musically in Barcelona, but when she was 17 years old, she moved to London where she studied photojournalism. Not long after that, in Glasgow, and now in Berlin, she has broadened her horizons toward the video, collaborating with groups like EL ÚLTIMO VECINO. In this case, she shows us Dani and Javi performing with a clear seventies style, reminding us of bands like the BEE GEES or musicians like Elton John. We are counting the days until 2022, when CHAVALES’ upcoming full-length is finally here.

TRACKLIST: 01 No, No Y No

  [ Read more ]

While we are still waiting for the incredible “Architecture Of The Ages”, the collaboration THE HEPBURNS and Estella Rosa (NAH) worked on during confinement, and which will be their full-length debut on Elefant Records, we have a new advance for you in the form of a Digital Single. “Five Miles Of Line” is an example of their trademark excellent work: sunny melodies, delicious harmonies, echoes of sixties and lounge music, and the outpouring of C86 flooding the room. The trumpet and the parapapas. Pop in its purest, most precious state. And for the occasion, a previously unreleased track for the B-side. “See You Around” is a farewell to confinement, all the characters that accompany Matt Jones, Mike Thomas and Les Mun in that period. A song that came about the days before streets were opened again, and that revelry seeps into all of this song’s marvelous choruses that reminds us of vocal groups from the sixties like THE FREE DESIGN and THE 5TH DIMENSION.

And to go with the launch, a delicious video filmed by James Owen and directed by Daniel Cuenca following trains, tracing the coast, leaving Cardiff, reaching the sea. At the same time, we can see Matt, Mike and Les playing, connecting with Estella in the choruses. Two new objects of tremendously detailed work that leave us craving that imminent album more than before.

  [ Read more ]

Chemistry is magical. Just ask Heisenberg. Its laws constantly defy the logic of what we call common sense, and open doors to new worlds that are hard to explain, but absolutely fascinating. And musiccategoría Music is magic. Nobody knows what type of frequencies move our insides, and why it takes them to such great heights, but neither physics nor specialized critics can explain the reasoning they follow and that provoke such emotional chaos. And what happens if you mix chemistry and musiccategoría Oh, my friends, oh my… Don’t wait for us to explain it, after these lines to present this album. We’ll just help you set some precedent: Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, Kathleen Brennan and Tom Waits, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg,Bobbie Gentry and Glen Campbell… Something similar has occurred with Maria Rodés and David Rodríguez. It is hard to define, but it gives us the feeling that on “Contigo”, their first album, everything flows, everything works, everything is in the right place, balanced, exciting.

We can’t forget the important work of the (please allow me here) chaperone, Sergio Pérez (SVPER, PEGASVS, THELEMÁTICOS), who has done a titanic job on production and who plays almost all the instruments. In recent years, Sergio has stood out for his tremendous work as a producer. Joe Crepúsculo, LA BIEN QUERIDA, MUJERES, CHUCHO, Lid [ Read more ]

We already thought so, but we can finally definitely shout it as loud as we can to anyone who will listen. AIKO EL GRUPO is the craziest, least biased band we have ever seen. Their thing is punk, sound and attitude. There are no limits, no barriers. Just their music and having fun. And the definitive proof of that is “Romantinski”, their new Digital Single. Their trademark distortions and roughhousing, one of those choruses that are fresher and more immediate that most people know how to do, extraordinary lyrics and the endless need to move. Carlos Hernández (LOS PLANETAS, CAROLINA DURANTE, AXOLOTES MEXICANOS, TRIÁNGULO DE AMOR BIZARRO, AIRBAG, JUNIPER MOON…) has recorded, mixed, produced and mastered this new single amazingly. And the video! AIKO EL GRUPO takes a trip to get away from the city and talk about important issues for the band in a rural environment. In the end, just like the song lyrics, they discover that all of that… Was not at all what it was cracked up to be. Betrayal, abandonment, distrust and a frenetic rhythm are the ingredients that make “Romantinski” such a special video. Filmed by GRAPA, an audiovisual production company consisting of band members Bárbara (keyboards and vocals), Tere (guitar and vocals) and their friend Jorge Pesquera. They just do their own thing. And that’s exactly why we like them so much.

TRACKLIST: 01 Romantinski

[ Read more ]

TRACKLIST: 01 Aurora  02 Ayer

The countdown is almost over; “Aurora Y Enrique” is almost here. This is an album that, with the title alone, is already making all of Soleá’s fans tremble with excitement. That’s why this last advance doesn’t only have one song – it has two. And there’s no music video. At least not in the normal sense. Jonás Trueba, the respected Spanish director who is currently riding the wave of success of his recent “Quién Lo Impide” (and whose philosophy has something to do with this document, and who already put Soleá in his movie “The August Virgen”), went to Aurora Carbonell’s house to record the moment when Soleá told her mother what the name of her album was going to be, and when she showed her the first two finished songs: one that is named after her, “Aurora”, and the second, related to it, called “Ayer”.

Jonás himself describes his experience like this: “Soleá asked me if I wanted to do something with “Ayer”, a song that I loved right away; but when I heard “Aurora”, the song that comes before it on the album, I understood that there was a really strong connection between the two songs, the way one melts into the other, and I certainly wasn’t going to be the one to separate them. They are two love songs, between Aurora and Enrique, between Enrique and S [ Read more ]

A few weeks ago, we introduced you to the first songs from Marina Gómez Marín, also known as MARINITA PRECARIA. We talked about those figures that make up a completely unique way of understanding pop music in Spain. “Celosa” makes us think of LE MANS at their freshest, with their sensational irony, and of NIZA and their delicate melodies. And of course, we already said it a few weeks ago, but it’s worth repeating: there is also the spirit of VAINICA DOBLE. But what brings Marina closest to all these references is the very personal, different and unique way she understands pop. And she develops it with honesty, emotion, without artifices, with her heart in her hand and the sound that emanates from her very own bedroom.

The thing is, with just three songs it is already very clear that her first Mini-LP for our “New Adventures In Pop” collection is going to be a true gem, the kind that fans of greatness coming from subtle details evoke, like morning dew. And once again, the cover of this second single is designed by Marina herself, also again playing with a series of photographs by Raquel Calvo, where the sepia tones and chiaroscuros take a leading role. Santi Capuz (LA BIEN QUERIDA, NEVVER, Soleá Morente, AIKO EL GRUPO) is in charge of directing the music video for “Celosa”. Silky textures and everyday life in a fresh and fun video.

Keep your eyes and ears open; it won’t be long before we have new [ Read more ]

TRACKLIST: 01 Venga Va

We will soon have “Contigo”, that album that we are taking apart with the same attention to detail that it was made with. That magical alliance between Maria Rodés and David Rodríguez, with the key participation of Sergio Pérez (SVPER, PEGASVS, THELEMÁTICOS) is going to give us so much to talk about, but above all it makes it clear how important the personality of the great authors is, those authors who find their own way and hit their own marks. And when those two paths cross… They write songs like this “Venga Va”, the new advance single for the album. The song reflects a magical moment of indecision, of anxiety about taking that step, fear of rejection, that burning desire, the first kiss, the itch dying to be scratched. And we end up getting burned.

For this release, we also have an animated video by Néstor F., who has done videos for Amaia (“Nuevo Verano”) and LA ESTRELLA DE DAVID (“Eroski”), where the loose lines and rudimentary-style animation creates the perfect environment for developing a story about a couple that moves from the most mundane realism to the most dreamlike ambiance. A surprising use of very special resources.

Everything about this project has something special to it, something distinctive, but in the midst of that personality it still doesn’t lose sight of its main objective: to excite us. And wow does it ever.

&nb [ Read more ]

LABORDE keeps on adding more to that unusual collection of singles full of surprising and diverse collaborations. It is turning out to be quite varied, and full of hits. We have a new one here now, with VALVERDINA (María from CARIÑO) and RARE. All together, they give us a highly addictive cocktail with halos of punk-pop and production work full of surprises from RARE, who is back at the technical controls (production, mixing and mastering) after that collaboration with LABORDE and CIBERCHICO for “Estoy Por Ti”, but this time with a different register, more organic and powerful. There is a catchy chorus, carefree lyrics, and a video that oozes hedonism, parties and freedom, under the direction of Enrique Tarazona, a regular collaborator from Valencia’s Toxic Pop collective and the person specifically in charge of videos for LEFTEE, RARE and CIBERCHICO, among others. LABORDE’s agile and slippery phrasing combines perfectly with VALVERDINA’s sweet tone in a clear and open, direct and burning metaphor. Another bull’s eye. These current times are signaling new ways of working and writing, and LABORDE is keeping a devilishly fast pace, jumping from style to style, combining rhythms, sounding different and unique each time, and putting out a ton of singles and collaborations. Where will this take hercategoría Where will it take uscategoría

[ Read more ]

We are still discovering songs (this is the fourth already) from this marvelous project born in New York called BUBBLE TEA AND CIGARETTES, which takes us reminiscent landscapes that bring “Levitating” to life in the most nostalgic way.

Kat and Andi continue to take us on a dreamy journey with slow-motion melodies, vintage synth, ethereal vocals, and ultimately to a secret cosmopolitan night walk with Liz — their latest single, where they once again play with nocturnal nostalgia and that surreal, dreamlike feeling. This is all corroborated by the exquisite video filmed by Xinyi Zhu, an LA-based director originally from China who was recently recognized for her short film, “Kindling”, in the Palm Springs International Shortfest and the Houston International Film Festival. With Eva Zhao’s magnetic presence, we journey through the night of Shanghai, among the lights, neon, chiaroscuros, hidden corners, smiles, velvet… It is an experiment in visual poetry, urban expressionism, and it is the perfect match for BUBBLE TEA AND CIGARETTES’s music.

Mixing is once again in the hands of Anthony “Rocky” Gallo (Norah Jones, Cat Power, THE XX, CIGARETTES AFTER SEX, THE KILLERS, THE CLIENTELE…) and mastering has also been given again to Greg Calbi (Stevie Wonder, John Lennon, David Bowie, TAME IMPALA, ARCADE FIRE, St. Vincent, PERFUME GENIUS, BLONDIE, Aretha Franklin and a [ Read more ]