News

A few weeks ago, we released that advance Single called “Hero”. Cristina Quesada is back on the record label scene with something new, and with a surprising new team. The thing is, Joe Moore (THE YEARNING, THE PERFECT KISS, Lia Pamina) has written, arranged and produced almost all of the songs on her second album, “Think I Heard A Rumour”. The album brings together Joe’s infinite love of music and Cristina Quesada’s freshness and sweetness, and the result is a collection of songs that need (and deserve) to be carefully and specifically commented on individually. 

To start things off, we have the title track for the album, which puts all the cards on the table. “Think I Heard A Rumour” is a eurodisco hit, with a NEW ORDER bass and a SAINT ETIENNE chorus. Everyone will be playing it. It’s one of those songs that makes your heart beat faster right in the middle of the dance floor without knowing what it is you are falling in love with. Then comes “Hero” and the dance floor is still on fire. Unrepentant rhythms and dreamy melodies. “Hero” is an instant classic that moves between the PET SHOP BOYS’ most danceable hits, the Japanese pop of Tommy February6, the earliest recordings of THE SOUND OF ARROWS and ABBA’s catchiest melodies. The formula in the eighties seemed so simple and so effective… Why have so many people forgotten ití 

And now another of this album’s great [ Read more ]

We are so incredibly excited for you to be able to listen to “Miseria Humana”, the new album from Chenta Tsai, alias PUTOCHINOMARICÓN. A new work that is like a nostalgic playlist from the 2000’s with futuristic touches, a recreation of the music Chenta grew up with but based on a dream about things to do on the last day on planet earth, in the consummation of the end of the world. This new work is a transition, a discovering of new sounds and making contact with other musicians, producers and graphic and visual artists in an artistic cooperation with no limits or boundaries.

As proof of all of this we are bringing you another advance Single that is going to be, without a doubt, one of the musical events of 2019. “Deporte Nacional” confirms so many things. That the new songs have grown exponentially in terms of productions: more solid, complex bases, more complete arrangements and powerful sound. Chenta is not about mincing his words: in less than two minutes he can show the colors of our gossipy culture like no one else has done before. And he is capable of doing all of this shooting out choruses like torpedoes, highly danceable, mixing styles with shocking skill, from trap to synth-pop, from break-beat to hip-hop.

And with this release, that’s two of two. A couple songs like aces that have been pulled out of character who is trying to change so many things in the national scene, and not only regarding music. The way Chenta s [ Read more ]

We finally have the new LA CASA AZUL album, “La Gran Esfera”, in our hands and it’s full of great hits and songs that invariably form part of a unique repertoire. This album is destined to mark a before and after in Guille Milkyway’s career, and it stands out as a hit on the dance floor where ever it plays. This is partly because of songs like “Podría Ser Peor”, which was the first advance for the album, and which is a total disco anthem that we are releasing now as a remix on a Digital Single with two versions – the normal one and an extended version. Like those NEW ORDER Singles in the eighties. So that there is not a dance floor in the world that doesn’t play a song of this stature.

It is really exciting to listen to such terrible and frustrating lyrics move to such a groove, with that untouchable disco spirit and those tremendously sunny melodies. It’s an explosion of emotions and euphoria on a remix that accentuates the nocturnal and summery spirit of the song. How easy it is for Guille to make us float and make us feel completely uninhibited! [ Read more ]

He is a phenomenon. We don’t stutter when we say it. Chenta, the name behind PUTOCHINOMARICÓN, after completely selling out his first release, “Corazón De Cerdo Con Ginseng Al Vapor”, is now enjoying a meteoric career. He released an incendiary autobiography called “Arroz Tres Delicias” with the publisher Plan B, where he showed off his mix of cynicism (like Antisthenes) and social protest, using his own story as an example. Starting last September, he writes a weekly column in El País, where he develops and reinforces his ideas and his way of seeing society, making it clear that this whole influencer thing is not enough for him. Also, as of February, he has a radio program on M21 called “Nada Especial” where he tries to portray Madrid through the testimonies and life experiences of dissident, racialized, migrant voices… And offers an open, versatile, diverse artistic perspective.

And all of this takes us directly to his imminent new album, “Miseria Humana”, that will be released digitally this coming May 10, and physically in September. What we have here is this first highly expected advance. “Doble Tic Azul” is a big step forward in production and sound: clean, marvelous bases, somewhere between the most stylish electro-pop, with touches of trap, autotune… And then there are the lyrics, his vision of the current high-tech world, between love and hate, between irony and devot [ Read more ]

“Think I Heard A Rumour” is a surprising album in so many ways. First, because of Cristina Quesada’s vocal and artistic development. Second, because of the chemistry that arose in the production with Joe Moore (THE YEARNING) and third, because of the turn toward electronic pop, at the same time as the one Joe Moore himself took on his precious project THE PERFECT KISS. And it is a surprise full of surprises. Like “Estar A Tu Lado”, the song that Ana Fernández-Villaverde (LA BIEN QUERIDA) wrote for Cristina for this album and which is now being used as the second advance Single for this anticipated new album, “Think I Heard A Rumour”. It is a song that clearly shows the mark of its composer and that acquires sweet nuances with the electronic pop base constructed by Joe Moore. But what’s more, this Digital Single is accompanied by a delicious video directed by Daniel Cuenca and a previously unreleased track that brings us back to the topic of surprises. It is nothing other than an italo-disco style revamp of the song “Y Descubrir Que Te Quiero” by the Mexican singer Yuri, belonging to her eponymous album released by Hispavox in 1983. The album was created by the Hispanic label with the participation of various Spanish composers. Specifically, this song is the work of Ignacio Ballesteros (author and producer of songs by Raffaella Carrá, Toquinho and Raphael, among many others) and Rafael Trabucchelli [ Read more ]

LINDA GUILALA is at the top of their game. Beyond the fantastic collection of albums that culminated with the most recent one, the excellent “Psiconáutica”, which is destined to be a classic, they are putting together a collection of absolutely unmissable Singles, that remind us of the golden era of this format in the eighties, when some of any groups’ best songs could be found on these special editions for collectors and music lovers. A few months ago we were talking about “Primavera Negra” and the fantastic “Mucho Mejor”, as a result of the international repercussion they were having, and while we wait for their new full-length, the Galician threesome is putting out a series of exclusive, limited-edition Singles with labels in England, Germany, and the United States. We are definitely not just talking about a period of inspiration, but also of a period of results.

The first of these is “Estado Natural”, which is being released on April 10th, on the British label Sonic Cathedral (GULP, Dean Wareham, Neil Halstead, ECHO LADIES…) as part of a highly exclusive singles club that is releasing a new 7” every month, from February to December 2019. Membership will come with extra artwork and surprises, although a few copies will make it to concerts and even right here, at Elefant’s online store. The limited-edition, red-vinyl Single, with a marvelous cover that touches on the pyschedelic aspects [ 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 ]

We have been waiting impatiently for new songs from LA CASA AZUL to arrive. And it clearly wasn’t going to be an easy album. After having reached larger audiences, after having reached mainstream levels with their independent proposal, far from what the mainstream was used to, after having been heard both in small independent festivals as well as the return of Operación Triunfo, after having remixed Camilo Sesto’s “Vivir Así Es Morir De Amor” or having masterfully reconstructed and reinvented Nino Bravo’s whole album. From composing and producing FANGORIA’s latest hits, from writing songs for TV shows and movies, from being a judge on the talent show “Oh Happy Day” on TV3 or the teacher in the Operación Triunfo academy, from continuing with radio collaborations, from writing for different media, from writing and producing five songs for the children’s cartoon show “PINY: Instituto de Nueva York” (which Ali Howard of LUCKY SOUL sings on), from winning a Goya with a rumba, from DJing in the most important clubs in the country or making the latest version of “Sálvame” (made popular in Spain by Bibi Andersen in 1980) to headline the popular show on Tele 5. There have been so many things, and with so much variety, and above all they have all been created from the most independent spirit with the deepest love of music, that Guille Milkyway can be defined as unique and incompara [ Read more ]

LA CASA AZUL: “El Final Del Amor Eterno” video

Text by Juanma Carrillo

When I started working on “El Final Del Amor Eterno”, the first thing I thought was that it was a new challenge and also a huge responsibility to put images to what is clearly going to be one of LA CASA AZUL’s greatest hits. I got a bit of vertigo and a bit of writer’s block, faced with such a complex song, because when a song is this big, the feeling of not being able to measure up is very real. After a lot of thought, I decided to look past the “up-tempo” that was causing me to freeze up, and focus on the darkness of the lyrics, since at the time I was also going through something similar to what the song talks about. The complicated mix of a dance song that talks about a romantic crisis forced me to maintain a balance between the narrative and the rhythm. Ultimately, the micro-stories about characters that are going through different kinds of crises took over, as I didn’t want to only focus on the heartbreak. That’s why there are characters who don’t feel comfortable in their own skin, or who have lost faith in their family; it seemed like they could make up a group cast, once again led by a magical and special girl and an antagonist just as luminous, but at the end of her life’s trajectory.

I felt like this song was letting me show some of my soft spots; characters that are waiting for a miracle while they feel lonel [ Read more ]

We are moving forward with our “Reworked By Series” collection, where two Elefant artists collaborate to give us a very special result. One artist composes and the other reconstructs. This series has produced many curious and passionate challenges like ATTIC LIGHTS and LA CASA AZUL or THE PRIMITIVES and MODULAR. This fourth release is starring LINDA GUILALA and SOFT REGIME. The group residing in Vigo, who already starred in the third release (that time in collaboration with APENINO) put “Mucho Mejor”, one of their best songs, on the table. Pure intensity and emotion, a wall of guitars, psychedelia, shoegazing, kraut rock… The feeling of your feet being lifted off the ground. 

Christian Flamm of SOFT REGIME takes the song in the opposite direction. He rescues the melodies from the noise and synthesizes LINDA GUILALA’s analogue sound, resulting in an addictive and disarming synth-pop hit, euphoric at moments and that sometimes seems to let out a few drops of the evocative capacity of the original. And yes, it is going to be played on dance floors everywhere. The colorful lyrics and ambiguity work perfectly with the drum machines and dreamy keyboards. Food for the spirit. 

It is absolutely spectacular, the way a composition can mutate, just by changing the hands who handle its tracks and melodies. The “Reworked By Series” is back with more solid proof of this. More than a curiosity, it’s a fantasy. [ Read more ]

“Meadow Lane Park” is the first full-length album from the French quintet LE SUPERHOMARD, after releasing a few EPs on the Japanese label Rallye and the British label Megadodo, and after the advance Single “Springtime”, released with Elefant Records. This is an album that, right from the cover and the titles of some of the songs, shows us its bucolic vocation. Just put on the song that opens the album, “In The Park”, and we can see that the landscapes they show us are injected with acid, flooded with stardust, with lysergic caresses, sweet and tremendously pleasant. We haven’t heard anything like this since that “The Noise Made By People” by BROADCAST.

The thing is, under the play of the synthesizers, under the psychedelic-style muted bases, strings and guitars aimed at lounge, they create an irresistible atmosphere that the album manages in a very special way. We already knew about the danceable roughness of “Springtime”. “Door After Door” tells us how strawberry fields would be if they had been discovered today, or how the dreaminess of Syd Barret would be. But “Paper Girl” sets up the first game: with the same elements we find a song that could have been a huge hit by ABBA arranged by Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane. “Karaoking” develops a more classical concept of a song, with a piano presiding and arrangements that remind us somehow of the goldsmithing of another dis [ Read more ]

After several Singles and two Mini-LP’s; after their songs have crossed most of the world’s oceans, after having performed in festivals like Popfest in New York and Indietracks in England, and after almost four years of silence since “Nordeste”, their last Mini-LP, we finally have a new release which is also, as strange as it might sound after six years of activity, LOS BONSÁIS’ first album. 

Maybe the title, “Hinoki”, is not a coincidence. The Hinoki is a type of Japanese cypress that grows very slowly, but can grow to be more than 25 meters tall, and whose wood is used primarily to build palaces. Is this a call for patiencecategoría To not rush things and do things slowly but with convictioncategoría Either way, there is no doubt that “Hinoki” sounds less urgent than its antecedents, although that does not make it any less agile or addictive. Maturitycategoría Yes and no. Because Helena and Nel’s songs continue to make us feel young and rebellious, full of energy and vitality. But at the same time, they show traces of something that only time can reveal. 

Yes, there is fresh, fun indie pop like “¡No Quiero Salir!” (which finds interesting parallels with the surfy “Septiembre”), but above all on the first part of the album, even that reformulated “Nubes Y Claros”, they talk about taking things slowly, contemplating your surroundings. Even that acoustic ta [ Read more ]

We just finished celebrating 25 years of Elefant Records and we are already on the verge of turning 30. Time flies, but luckily, but not for nothing. Really exciting new groups, like CARIÑO, TRONCO, PUTOCHINOMARICÓN, THE LAST DETAIL, RUSH WEEK, LE SUPERHOMARD, Lia Pamina, AXOLOTES MEXICANOS, SOFT REGIME, NELEONARD, NOS MIRAN and so many more have enriched a catalogue that is still a celebration of important releases by LA CASA AZUL, LA BIEN QUERIDA, PAPA TOPO, LINDA GUILALA, THE SCHOOL, COOPER, THE PRIMITIVES, Cristina Quesada, BMX BANDITS, SINGLE, HELEN LOVE, THE YEARNING, LOS BONSÁIS, FITNESS FOREVER, ALPACA SPORTS, BAND À PART and Giorgio Tuma, to name just a few.

And it has been such a pleasure to look back in these five years with that collection of re-releases that let us relive the feelings we had when we released some of the songs that still make up the label’s – and, luckily, a lot of people’s –

collective imagination. We look back with the conviction that we are still maintaining intact that young, fresh spirit that led us to release, in those first years of the label, bands like: FAMILY, CAMERA OBSCURA, LE MANS, LOS FLECHAZOS, NOSOTRÄSH, TREMBLING BLUE STARS, SPRING, HEAVENLY, Carlos Berlanga, VAINICA DOBLE, NIZA, JUNIPER MOON and so many other that it would be nearly impossible to name them all in these few lines.

We want to believe that these groups’ songs are examples of a way of unders [ Read more ]

El líder de Papa Topo regresa a México después de la cálida acogida que el grupo recibió en Chile y Argentina el pasado mes de octubre.   Este mes de febrero de 2019 pasará por las principales ciudades del país .   En algunos casos, los conciertos irán acompañados de la proyección de Puta y Amada, la última película de Marc Ferrer.  

Después de la exitosa gira por Chile y Argentina, Papa Topo regresa a México para visitar las principales ciudades del país. Adriá Arbona, líder de Papa Topo,hará un repaso completo de su discografía en solo set. Se escucharán las canciones de su primer LP “Ópalo Negro”, las nuevas canciones de las bandas sonoras de “Puta y Amada” y de “La Maldita Primavera”, Oso Panda, La Chica Vampira, las canciones incluidas en su mini-LP “Rotación y Traslación” y alguna maqueta que nunca se ha tocado en un escenario del hemisferio sur.

Algunas visitas irán acompañadas de la proyección de Puta y Amada, la última película de Marc Ferrer, que cuenta la historia de un par de chicos y de chicas. Marcos es un joven director de cine en crisis, mientras que Adrián es un músico que compone canciones pop. A su vez, Julia y Zaida no tienen mucha suerte en sus relaciones pero siguen in [ Read more ]

Many people have fallen in love with the nocturnal magic of “Stranger Danger”, one of the songs from “Feels”, the first album by RUSH WEEK, the duo from Philadelphia formed by Rachel K. Haines and the producer James Benjamin Thomas. “Stranger Danger” is included in the soundtrack of the fourth episode of the Netflix hit show “Élite” (their first single, “Feelings” was also chosen for the second episode). Today we are releasing the video for the song that highlights its fascinating nocturnal characteristics. It’s a journey through the lights and shadows of the night, led by the Argentine director living in Madrid, Santi Capuz. The thing is, “Stranger Danger” plays at being a dazzling mystery, blinding, with a seductive and addictive chorus. Super melodic but slippery electronic pop, with a hopeful THE XX, or as if St. Vincent were going to do a cover of TALK TALK, trying to find the pop formula of the future. Enjoy.

[ Read more ]