News

Joe Moore’s project is one of those groups that means so much to Elefant Records. First, because of their songs and lyrics, and everything they want to transmit with them. But also because of what the music means to him, the way he lives and interprets it: a special project, made and managed in his own studio, that with a few other things makes up a personal universe that is exciting, independent, separate from any other kind of precepts from the music industry, his very own. That’s why we are so happy to be able to get our hands on an album like “Evening Souvenirs”, THE YEARNING’s second album.

This new material is a marvelous surprise. The delicious arrangements, that romantic halo, and Maddie Dobie’s fascinating voice are still there on almost the entire album. But while “Dreamboats & Lemonade” looks to sixties pop from the most cheerful girl-group perspective, “Evening Souvenirs” is a slow, deliberate, nocturnal (as the name itself indicates) album, with echoes of lounge music and “chanson”, of bossa and chamber pop, with touches of Sarah and Él Records’ melancholy, Burt Bacharach soundtracks. Playing with a considerable number of instruments, and the special participation of the Cotswold Voices choir on many of the songs, we find ourselves with one of those albums that needs to be listened to in semi-darkness, where the notes are bursting to the surface, giving you goose bumps [ Read more ]

We have had the pleasure of hearing her debut single, but what Lia Pamina has done with her first album has exceeded all expectations. “Love Is Enough” is probably one of the most romantic and beautiful albums in years: delicate, sensitive, fragile… With strong influences from the French chanson and artists like Astrud Gilberto, Nancy Sinatra and Claudine Longet, it perfectly blends a mix of elegance and pop spirit. And to help her achieve this, she counted on Joe Moore, founding father of THE YEARNING, for production, arrangements and compositions.

So that you can get a little taste now, we are offering this advance single, “Walking Away”, where we can see Joe Moore’s chamber pop push Lia’s sweet voice, creating innocent, tender textures. The clavichord and the strings move the acoustic guitar notes over an emotional journey that is reflected in the bucolic landscapes that decorate Lia Pamina’s body in the video, filmed by BAND À PART.

This is an invitation to what is probably the best way to get a little closer to this album: looking patiently into one of those incredible landscapes that decorates our dreams, while we let the notes of “Love Is Enough” slide into our ears. Both things make us feel what it means to be human: so big, so small.

[ Read more ]

It has been three years since BELLE GHOUL, the group formed by Christopher Tait (ELECTRIC SIX) and Jesse Smith (the daughter of Patti Smith and Fred “Sonic” Smith, of MC5), released “Songs from Other People”, a digital single consisting of three covers taken from different recording sessions, on Elefant Records. The covers included songs by Nick Drake, Harry Nilsson and the “Care Of Cell 44” that THE ZOMBIES released on their famous “Odyessey And Oracle” in 1967. This more recent cover has become the object of a new video, by the multi-disciplinary artist specialized in vintage and pin-up esthetic, Autumn Luciano (http://www.autumnluciano.com/). Luciano had worked on other BELLE GHOUL videos before, and is once again throwing herself into the arms of a song that represents the classic yet also totally unclassifiable spirit of the group from Detroit.

Stella Swoon, the pin-up model, stars in the video, which represents absence, and how hard it is to stop the feeling of needing someone who is no longer by our side. It uses super-8 textures and an oldie esthetic, right in line with the rest of Luciano’s work.

This video is also a good excuse to record the new digital single that the band self-released, “Lift Me Up” –  available via their bandcamp (https://belleghoul.bandcamp.com/album/lift-me-up) and on all the digital platforms – and to record  something new that will be released this coming [ Read more ]

The time is getting close for the release of THE YEARNING’s anticipated new album, “Evening Souvenirs”, and now we have this advance digital single and video-clip to enjoy as an appetizer. The single and video perfectly show off the deep romanticism and delicate sensibilities that THE YEARNING’s new work contains. The album is full of majestic arrangements, chamber pop, and influences from the most sophisticated and melancholic French music. “When I Lost You” has echoes of Burt Bacharach and his “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, and the fragile sadness of Dusty Springfield. Chris Croft, the director of the video-clip, takes control of the camera again and creates a document with pastoral tones, with those Victorian gardens and that screen division, reminding us of the stylizations of French Nouvelle Vague. We are totally convinced that “Evening Souvenirs” is going to be one of the albums of the year, and this song is solid proof.

[ Read more ]

PRE-ORDER here!

Release date:09-09-2016

We are really excited to share this album with you. And you know it. Since a little over a year and a half ago, we have been dishing out a few select songs by NELEONARD, and we were dying to show you everything this group – formed by Nele, Laura, Elena, Guille, Eloy and Pedro – can do. And the time has finally arrived, with “Las Causas Perdidas”. 

This album has that elegant pop spirit that is highly emotional, subtle, delicate, and that shows the fragility of what it is to be human. With the upbeat opening of “Reluces”, with clear echoes of THE DIVINE COMEDY, we see it clearly. Those beyond perfect arrangements that mark a crescendo that is more thanmusical: “En tu casa he oído que vives sin ti / sintiendo lo cerca que estamos del cielo”. (I heard that you live in your house without yourself / feeling how close we are to heaven.)Rebirth, reestablishment, believing in new opportunities, enjoying the feeling of security that someone gives you and that makes everything shine again. And when “La Más Alegre” starts, we have the first direct hit. Optimism in its purest form. Luminosity. LA BIEN QUERIDA. The strength necessary to enjoy life. We have already talked a lot about “Coger Frío”, in a good way, from the advance single, with that tart but colorful push that Darren Hayman reallylikes to use. “Seguro Que Es Por M [ Read more ]

Our 25th anniversary year has come and gone, but our collection of re-releases to celebrate such an important moment still has a lot to offer. We have already included artists like LA CASA AZUL, FAMILY, LA BIEN QUERIDA, TREMBLING BLUE STARS, LE MANS and JUNIPER MOON, among others, and old and new fans alike have quenched their thirsts. Álex Diez himself participated with COOPER, but now we have some fantastic new re-releases, at a very special moment. There have been diverse celebrations for the 30-year musical career of one of the most respected musicians on the national scene (not only among the mods): from the release of the album-book “Popcorner: 30 Años Viviendo En La Era Pop” (Popcorner: Thirty years living in the pop era) which was an entusiastic review of different moments in the discography of both LOS FLECHAZOS and COOPER, right up to that concert that took place in La Riviera (Madrid) in February (and they already have several more dates planned) – an emotional, exciting concert that brought the discographic review to life. And we have another little grain of sand to offer the celebrations, with the re-releases of LOS FLECHAZOS’ albums on the Elefant label between 1995 and 1996: “Alta Fidelidad” and “Días Grises”. Both will be released as LP + CD format, up to 1000 numbered copies of each, on color vinyl with extra tracks. “Alta Fidelidad” has two extra tracks, “Stop! In T [ Read more ]

We couldn’t let the date pass. With the label having just turned 25, with a collection to commemorate it containing names so far like LA CASA AZUL, TREMBLING BLUE STARS and LE MANS, and with the celebration of the 30 years of Álex Diez’s musical career, we couldn’t resist making a re-release of LOS FLECHAZOS material that was released on Elefant Records. Both the Mini-LP “Días Grises” and “Alta Fidelidad” will see the light again, in LP + CD format, on color vinyl, 1000-copy, numbered, limited-editions, with extras.

“Alta Fidelidad” was the grand entrance of the group from Leon to Elefant, the sixth full-length in their career, and ultimately their last. They were a group who carried the banner of so many of the precepts and ideas that define the way Elefant Records understands music, acheiving a lot without having to sacrifice their influences and their personality. The group at the time consisted of Francisco Vila (bass), Miguel Manero (drums), Elena Iglesias (keyboards) and Álex Diez (guitars), and they wrote what is undoubtably one of the best albums of their discography, which contains many of their regular qualities: great melodies, highly effective harmonies, and respect for pop, soul, and garage sounds. The album contained some of the biggest hits of their repertoire, like the perfect bullseye that is “En Tu Calle”, the rock’n’rolltouches of “Pussycat”, or th [ Read more ]

We’re moving forward with our collection of re-releases for Elefant Record’s 25th anniversary (which has already included names like LA CASA AZUL, TREMBLING BLUE STARS and LE MANS), and along with the re-release of LOS FLECHAZOS’ “Alta Fidelidad”, celebrating Álex Diez’s 30-year musical career, we are also releasing another of their great albums from Elefant Records, the Mini-LP “Días Grises”, which pushed the group from León onto the international stage. The re-release is in LP + CD format, on white vinyl, with a limited run of 1000 numbered copies, and extras.

Songs like “Cansado”, “Solo En Casa”, and “Fiebre” maintain the high level of their song writing, and confirm that their songs evoke a sound and an esthetic from the golden era of pop (beat sounds, mod esthetic, echoes of garage, northern soul, and sixties-pop), but they also add a current, renewed touch. In that period, the band’s line-up consisted of Elena Iglesias,Francisco Vila,Miguel Manero andÁlex Diez, and it would be the last release of their career.

And as if you were expecting anything less, we’re including a ton of extras. In addition to the six songs that made up the Mini-LP, on the B-side we’re including the single they put out on the British label Detour Records. There are two original songs, and two covers: “One More Try”, “Dream In My Mind” (a [ Read more ]

[ Read more ]

Just over a year later, we are still enjoying the fruits of THE SCHOOL’s fantastic third album. And we couldn’t stop ourselves from releasing a single with that marvelous song that is the album’s closing track, “My Arms, They Feel Like Nothing”. This coming July 8th, the digital single will be released, along with an alternate take of the very song that served as the introduction to said album, “All I Want From You Is Everything”.

Two songs that perfectly represent the band from Cardiff’s sound: sixties influences, touches of soul, luminous arrangements (those winds that close the single’s title track!) and exquisite melodies. And, with these two songs we can also enjoy a video directed by the always-fascinating and talented Duprez: the man behind LA CASA AZUL’s animated video “La Nueva Yma Sumac” and multiple album covers for our label like the compilations “Space Escapade [Aventura Espacial] Unit 1 – Destination: Pluto Sector 68”and “A Christmas Gift For You From Elefant Records”, and the latest work from MODULAR, BMX BANDITS, and THE PRIMITIVES, among many others. The result is a choral and colorful video that is fun and intimate, and in which we can see the whole group, and a little fan named “Lolita”, having fun and singing along with the song.

The cherry on the top of this delicious cake, always a pleasure to taste it again and again, an [ Read more ]

Just a few short months ago we were enjoying NELEONARD’s single “Casi Cuela”, which confirmed what their Mini-LP “Agosto” showed us: Nele’s band is one of the best on the current scene in Spain. Soon, their debut album “Las Causas Perdidas” will be out and will reconfirm everything more palpably and solidly.

“Coger Frío” is the advance single for “Las Causas Perdidas”. It’s difficult to condense everything that NELEONARD’s album contains into one single song, and we want so badly to let you listen to all of it, but “Coger Frío” definitely contains a lot of what the album has to offer. The pop spirit, in this case inherited from PULP, CAMERA OBSCURA and HEFNER, the elegance and precision of the arrangements of THE DIVINE COMEDY and LA BUENA VIDA, and above all, spot on lyrics that hit the emotional bulls-eye; the kind of lyrics we will need to memorize on the first listen and sing along with like someone possessed. This song talks about the disappointments life can give us, especially with the things we had our hopes set so high for that ultimately fail us, but how sometimes the little details are the things that turn out to be the most important. “Coger frío para poder perder el miedo a lo conocido /… / Desaprender lo aprendido / Llenando cada silencio con palabras que inventar” (Getting a little cold to lose the fear of the known /… / [ Read more ]

Finally, the long-awaited full-length from PAPA TOPO is here, after almost three years of record-label silence. This period has allowed Adrià Arbona to let the group’s new line-up settle, solidify, and develop its own sound. Júlia Fandos (vocals, and flute), Òscar Huerta (guitars and backing vocals) and Sònia Montoya (bass and backing vocals) join Adrià to form the current reality of one of the groups that stirred up the music scene the most, at the beginning of the decade. These past three years, PAPA TOPO has participated on compilations, they have played songs in live performances halfway around the globe, and most of all, they have very carefully and affectionately prepared their long-awaited debut album.

And now there is a blizzard of unknowns. How have the past three years affected such a young and promising song-writer like Adriàcategoría Has the group’s sound changed, and if so, how muchcategoría In a way, we can say totally and not at all. After having shown us his versatility, moving from sixties sounds to saba-daba-da, from garage to punk, from disco to the sweetest pop, it isn’t going to surprise us at all to hear classical pieces, or boleros, on an album that doesn’t completely forget what came before. But it’s all much more cohesive; you can tell that there is more than just a song-writer at work behind it, that there is a solid band. In any case, we are once again looking at a super [ Read more ]

To celebrate the release of “Ópalo Negro”, the new album by PAPA TOPO, the band is holding a competition that will give you a chance to test out your skills as karaoke divas. To enter, you just need to record yourselves singing “Ópalo Negro” as energetically as, you can over the playback track you’ll find here:

The band will judge the entries, evaluating no only the vocal aspect but also the performance as a whole (we strongly recommend you to make it as wild and crazy as you can), the choreography, editing and other non-musical parameters. The videos should be sent to papatopoxcore@gmail.com  before 17 june (the LP’s release date), and the judges will issue their verdict on the 18th in Barcelona at the album presentation party.

The exciting prize will be a pack consisting of the complete signed discography of PAPA TOPO (incluiding the three discontinued singles: "Oso Panda", "La Chica Vampira" and "Sangre En Los Zapatos (Mi Amor)", their Mini-LP 10” “Rotación y Traslación” and their new album "Ópalo Negro"), a T-shirt and totebag.

Good luck everybody! We are dying to hear you all singing your hearts out to "Un, Dos, Tres…"!

[ Read more ]

Seven years have passed between the release of LINDA GUILALA’s debut album, and this new one. They haven’t been silent years, for the record label – there have been numerous singles, EPs, Mini-LPs, as well as other work, like the new theme song for the legendary program on Radio 3, “Disco Grande”, concerts throughout Europe, and the abundant production work that Eva and Iván have done in the Kaiju Studios in Vigo. But now we everything is clear. It was a time for polishing, refining, for preparing, for pampering, for perfecting, for using up every possible drop of inspiration. Because what we have here is a masterpiece. The album. “Psiconáutica”. An electric, hallucinogenic journey – right from the album cover – that ties them (as if they weren’t already) to MY BLOODY VALENTINE, THE JESUS & MARY CHAIN, BEACH HOUSE, SILVANIA, SLOWDIVE, COCTEAU TWINS and LOS PLANETAS.

“Psiconáutica” is ambitious, it’s true, and the album format itself shows it. The album has twenty songs (more than half barely reach the minute mark) and there is barely a second of silence, not even between tracks. The saturation and atmosphere are key, but where, contrary to what it might seem, Eva’s vocals and melodies shine especially bright. As proof, we have songs like “Cosas Nuevas”, “Accidente”, “Fobia Social I” and “La Última Vez (1ª Rec [ Read more ]

We have experienced a lot of changes in the line-up and the universe of PAPA TOPO, and soon we will have the physical manifestation of this new stage in the career of the truly inspired character that Adrià Arbona respresents for pop music. As an appetizer, we give you the single that gives their long-awaited debut album its name. “Ópalo Negro” is a surprising, multi-faceted song with a solid, cohesive sound, that at the same time has such diverse influences as GOLPES BAJOS, French electro-pop from the 80’s, Carlos Berlanga, Italo disco, and the addictiveness of choruses so very LA CASA AZUL. This is definitively a futuristic bolero with electronic bases and arrangements; a small tribute that goes from Sara Montiel’scollaborations with Nacho Canut and Carlos Berlanga to Liza Minnelli’s with the PET SHOP BOYS.

“Ópalo Negro” also includes a video directed by Marc Ferrer, who co-directed the video for “Sangre En Los Zapatos (Mi Amor)” with Anna Díaz and who just released his first feature-length, “Nos Parecía Importante”, which PAPA TOPO perform in and which Adrià wrote the soundtrack for. In the video, the usual aspects of Adrià’s imagery shine: supernatural incidents, dance, B-series terror films… A girl is tormented by her night-time paranoias of flying scissors that chase her, and a hand with an opal (the hand of the boy she dances with at a party) t [ Read more ]