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“Psiconáutica” is here. More than 7 years have passed since the release of their debut album (during which they released a non-stop parade of Singles, EPs, Mini-LPs, participated in different projects, helped new groups, and did a million other things), and we are finally going to get our hands on what we are warning you in advance is a huge deal. And as proof, we have this advance Digital Single: “Cosas Nuevas”, an anthem and a declaration of intent. A wall of sound, effervescent melodies, hypnotic lyrics (No es todo malo / Lo que habita dentro de mí / También hay agua / Y cosas nuevas que / Pueden hacerme feliz) (It’s not all bad / What lives inside me / There is also water / And new things that / Can make me happy), echoes of LOS PLANETAS, MOGWAI, and MY BLOODY VALENTINE, and above all so much energy and noise condensed into only 2 minutes.

And like every good sonic impact, it comes with an audiovisual accomplice: a video directed by Magnetova’s Javi Camino where psychedelia and impressionism play together in equal parts, where they appeal to an inner world that is sometimes too restricted by logic and reason, and where colors and shapes play a crucial role. Like all things that make a major impact, and all good acts of expression, it can’t be explained with words. Just watch it. Listen to it. Feel it. And wait just a little longer, because “Psiconáutica” will be here soon.

Rele [ Read more ]

The circle is closing. That triple EP promised great things. The reviews, the listeners’ reactions, and the positions on both Spanish and American music lists (Rockdelux, where it appeared in various categories, including listeners’ choice, song, video… ABC, Astredu Pop, Mindies, Notodo, Diario Crítica, América Económica, etc) all indicated such. The album was marked by three sixes – October 6th, 2014, January 6th, 2015, and March 6th, 2015, the release dates of each of the EPs – and by a series of audiovisuals directed by Juanma Carrillo which contained a very special mystery. The perfect plot, we even called it. And here is the squaring of the circle: “Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía” on DVD, with the three parts of the movie together, various videoclips, a making of, and a CD of remixes. Let’s take this step by step.

“Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía” is a complete work, conceived from multiple perspectives, beyond the excellence of the music. The different album covers (the three Maxi-Singles that went together, the impossible perspective of the final CD), the videos, the movie… All of these things make this final release necessary, and to make use of the loose pieces, of the documents that needed to be calmly enjoyed, in a complete format, for the multi-faceted visions that come from re-interpreting a work that will undoubtedly be talked about a [ Read more ]

TRACKLIST: 01 Me Levantaré  02 Maravillas 03 Sin Mirar Atrás

COLA JET SET is making sure that “El Fin Del Mundo” continues to be a marvelous place to visit once in a while. “Me Levantaré” is their new single, with two previously unreleased songs and a fantastic and colorful video by Ángela Ulloa.

“Me Levantaré” is an irresistible, hyper-energized anthem; in the video,Ángela focuses on the group’s colorful sound and highlights the healing power of music while we watch COLA JET SET intensely play such a hit.

On this digital single we find two extra songs that overflow with the group’s more melodic qualities. “Maravillas” is a nostalgic pop song that references Lewis Carroll’s novel and his universe of fantasy. “Sin Mirar Atrás” is prodigious northern soul; the song pushes us into the morning like a good bowl of chocolate cereal.

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We would like to introduce you to a new group that has come to form part of the growing list of emerging artists that make up our “New Adventures In Pop” collection, which has already included names as well known as PAPA TOPO, BAND À PART, BELLE GHOUL, KOKOSHCA, LOS BONSÁIS and EL PALACIO DE LINARES, to name a few. And this time, we have the new alter ego of Paco Tamarit (SERPENTINA), who is back with this new project under the name SAN FRANCISCO, on which he makes a few things very clear: his good taste for pop, his passion for sixties sounds, his incredible talent with arrangements, and his constant need to include a touch of “sabadabada” on his songs (something, we have to admit, we adore). 

“Ada” is a 10” Mini-LP (six songs) that deals with the transition from childhood to adolescence, with all the conflicts and beautiful moments that go with that. The process begins on “Ada Hoy Se Va A Enamorar”, a song that talks about the details that make the change noticeable from the outside, among echoes of “Our Dream” by THE MUNX and of JEANETTE, with that clavichord that reminds us of THE LEFT BANKE, and Paco’s enormous musical knowledge. “Todos Los Besos Del Mundo” seems like it is the godchild of Antonio Galvañ (PARADE) and Sajid Khan, when it comes to talking about those great moments that unleash childish euphoria, between very LA CASA AZUL parapapapas and psy [ Read more ]

Elefant Records 25th Anniversary Collection

Bobby Wratten is one of Elefant Records’ most significant icons. We feel, and we want him to feel, that Elefant Records was, is, and will always be his home. His sound and his songs represent us somehow where ever they are played, and we are tremendous fans of all his musical projects and his various collaborations: THE FIELD MICE, TREMBLING BLUE STARS, NORTHERN PICTURE LIBRARY, LIGHTNING IN A TWILIGHT HOUR, etc. That’s why we absolutely had to include one of his albums in the diverse collection of recovered material that we are doing for the label’s 25th anniversary. And for the occasion, we have chosen his last album as TREMBLING BLUE STARS, “Fast Trains And Telegraph Wires”, in a very special format and, for the first time, on vinyl.

TREMBLING BLUE STARS began as a side-project of one of the members of the dearly missed THE FIELD MICE, the most important group from the Sarah Records label. But quickly, with the arrival of the marvelous “Her Handwriting” (1996), the comparisons stopped. The project clearly was its own entity – that of an artist who poured his feelings into each and every note, who went beyond creating a soundtrack for our emotions and actually turned the emotions into music. All of this was influenced by his break-up with Annemari Davies, his band-mate in THE FIELD MICE and NORTHERN PICTURE LIBRARY. Since then, there have been 15 years (from 1996 to 201 [ Read more ]

12” MINI-LP [White Colour Vinyl] [Limited Edition of 500 copies] / DIGITAL MINI ALBUM   

TRACKLIST: 01 The Sky Beyond The Sky  02 Black Circles  03 Krzysztof Kieślowski's Lullaby 04 Notebooks / Lenticular Clouds (For Roy Montgomery) / My Own Antarctica   

Absence  

Agnes Martin  

Anne Sexton  

Antarctica  

Autumn  

"But I won't find you"  

"Can you still see mecategoría"  

Curiosity  

Dominoes  

Drumless  

Extended play  

"The faint glow of the slightly unreal"  

Flying Saucer Attack's 'Further'  

Frame by frame  

Giving nothing away  

Grant McLennan  

Hard cuts  

Invisibility  

Krzysztof Kieślowski  

Lenticular clouds  

Liverpool  

Michael Head  

Nothing  

Painting by Sabrina Joy  

"The quiet light"  

Random word generator  

Roy Montgomery  

September to December  

Short wave static  

Silence   Sorcery  

Tape hiss  

To the shores of Lake Placid  

Will you please be quiet, pleasecategoría  

Within  

Zoo records  

After the dream 

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The second and last album of THE MAGIC THEATRE to date, “The Long Way Home”, is from over two years ago. They say time flies, but here at Elefant we refuse to accept such a premise, and that’s why we are bringing back what is probably our favorite song from that album “I Want To Die By Your Side”, releasing its well-deserved video and a digital single. 

“I Want To Die By Your Side” is a hyper melodic song with those delicate string arrangements and that intense emotional power. In the video by Chris Croft (his third for THE MAGIC THEATRE), the romanticism of the group – consisting of Dan Popplewell and Sophia Churney – is made clear, among candles, dim lights, feathers, and the moon, all photographed in black and white, and with a certain halo of mystery.

And, as a gift, there is a previously unreleased track; the “B side” has an acoustic version of “Summer Wind”, recorded by Sophia with her ukulele. The song was originally composed in Germany in 1965 by Heinz Meier, ultimately adapted into English by Johnny Mercer, and made popular by Wayne Newton and, primarily,Frank Sinatra. It’s brittle, intimate, and once again hugely romantic, but that kind of romanticism that is forgotten, glamorous, elegant, subtle, and overwhelming. While we continue to wait for new songs, songs like “I Want To Die By Your Side” will continue to brighten and illuminate us.

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Sometimes it is really amazing how some groups are capable of reinventing themselves, independent of having a long-running career or a recognizable sound. But it is even more surprising when a group can do that without betraying their own essence. MODULAR’s new album is full of their trademark impeccable pop melodies, a solid collection of analogue synthesizers, and that certain combativeness that they acquired from their kraut influences. But “Fuga Al Paraíso” is an album focused on dance, in a tribute to the disco music of the 70s, as their advance single, “Fiebre En La Disco” let us see. But, as if they could do it any other way, it’s all in Mariana Badaracco and Pablo Dahy’s style. That means a lot of pop, kraut, some lounge music, touches of sabadabada and lot of ingenuity.

“Fugitivos Cósmicos” shows it clearly, but their own specific details also get your attention: lyrics full of B-series, where they try to make music out of Philip K. Dick’s prophetic visions, describing a dystopian future of clones, robotized men searching for the escape to paradise (the title of them album, in Spanish, means “escape to paradise”)… “La Niña Fantástica” brings us back to the delirious and amazing MODULAR we know, charged with a cocktail of melodies and sixties arrangements, full of elegance and as playful as ever at the same time. It’s no wonder we’r [ Read more ]

JUNIPER MOON “EL RESTO DE MI VIDA + SINGLES Y RAREZAS (1999-2003)”  Elefant Records 25th Anniversary Collection

JUNIPER MOON’s story was brief but intense. In their short eight years of history (in which they only released material between 1999 and 2003) they managed to earn themselves an important legion of fans in our country, as well as considerable international recognition, as Steve Lamacq (BBC), Ken Stringfellow (THE POSIES) and Sean Tyler (Rough Trade) all publicly stated, or as we can judge by their participation on important complications, like that “Indiepop 1”, on which they shared grooves with PRIMAL SCREAM, THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, MY BLOODY VALENTINE, FELT and MCCARTHY, to name just a few. Their speedy, energetic punk-pop was an injection of energy like that of few groups we have heard. That’s why bringing back their songs on this vinyl re-release of their only album, “El Resto De Mi Vida”, is such an immense joy. Joy that is made even greater with the inclusion of all the songs from their singles, their contributions on compilations, and even demos and early versions. This is another re-release in the commemorative series for Elefant Records’ 25th anniversary, giving shape to a collection which includes re-releases from FAMILY, LA CASA AZUL, COOPER, LE MANS and THE SCHOOL.

We don’t need long introductions to talk about the songs from that album produced by Carlos Hernández. Their sp [ Read more ]

We made the announcement just a few short weeks ago – after three singles of collaborations with Malik 'theFreq' Moore, Laetitia Sadier and Lena Karlsson, and after a few months of waiting, we finally have Giorgio Tuma’s new album in our hands. “This Life Denied Me Your Love” is a collection of songs made for a galactic cocktail party, where glamour and elegance go subtly and delicately hand in hand, making a highly exciting but hard to classify collection of songs. 

The album substitutes the psychedelic fantasy of previous releases for a dreamy elegance, without letting go of the small trademark hallucinogenic touches, to which we also have to add the goldsmith’s accuracy we have come to expect. In this case, the hallucinogenic touch comes from the synthesizers and arpeggiators (which curiously links him to our beloved MODULAR, using that collaboration with Laetitia Sadier, that delicious “Maude Hope”, as a tie), which intermix with silky chords and acoustic guitars. But at the same time this is probably the most introspective of all of Giorgio Tuma’salbums so far. From that opening full of synthesizers that is “The Wings Of A Loser” to that fragment of acoustic folk-blues that closes the album (“In Back Of You”), a certain melancholy runs through the album from beginning to end, with its luminous moments and other silent ones, but always with that feeling of unease that stays in the body af [ Read more ]

"Wasting Away And wondering" tour    

★ January-February-March ★ 2016  

LONDON-GLASGOW

MADRID-BADAJOZ

MURCIA-BARCELONA

ZARAGOZA-CARDIFF    

TOUR TO PRESENT THEIR NEW ALBUM

Tour dates HERE   

THE SCHOOL are back with a huge album, where their maturity and freshness combine to create an unusual formula that, based on soul, pop, and rhythm 'n blues, goes above and beyond the limits of brilliance and optimism, despite the sad title. This third album was anxiously awaited by so many of the fans the group has gathered (earned) all around the world with the success they achieved with their previous albums and their fantastic concerts.    

"Wasting Away And Wondering" in the press:

RADIO NOWHERE RadioNowhere’s Album of the Year – THE SCHOOL: Wasting Away And Wondering      

MAGIC, Revue Pop Moderne Inspirée et référencée, l'esthétique de The School ne fera peut-être pas école, mais elle nous offre aujourd'hui une oeuvre blue-eyed soul de première classe.     

SHINDIG MAGAZINE  In our time of toil and troubles, this is a nice way to waste away the day wondering where all the giddy goose-bumps and warm-hearted camaraderie went.    

SHANE MARAIS And with The School’s third album, Wasting Away & Wondering, longtime fan [ Read more ]

Continuing with our planned re-releases in honor of Elefant Record’s 25th anniversary, this time we have the debut album of Wales’ THE SCHOOL, whose “Loveless Unbeliever” will be re-released as a 500-copy limited-edition vinyl, changing the red color of the original for green, both for the album cover as well as the vinyl color. Another coveted out-of-print album from Elefant is coming back into circulation in limited edition.

In that not-so-far-away 2010, THE SCHOOL were already one of the most promising new groups. With two magnificent singles like “All I Wanna Do” and “Let It Slip” in 2008, they made fans of groups like THE PIPETTES, CAMERA OBSCURA, and LUCKY SOUL focus on them, and the arrival of their first full-length was anxiously awaited. And when the album arrived in stores, it confirmed what those singles promised: ultra-melodic songs, agile and deliciously pop arrangements, chu-chu-ruchus and para-papas, prodigious wind instruments, and heavy echoes of the girl-groups of the sixties that we love so much. With the production work of the still totally essential Ian Catt (SAINT ETIENNE, TREMBLING BLUE STARS, THE FIELD MICE, SHAMPOO, THE BOO RADLEYS…), the group from Cardiff give us songs like “Valentine”, “Is He Really Coming Homecategoría”, “I Want You Back” and “Hoping And Praying”, which we were already saying back then were unquestionably going to become an irres [ Read more ]

The musical relationship between the Italian composer Giorgio Tuma and Laetitia Sadier (STEREOLAB, MONADE) is one of those worthy of forming part of music history (and we won’t be pulling out the typical references like Hazlewood & Sinatra here; this is going in a different direction). Their alliance has an impressive chemistry and magic. And “Maude Hope”, the next advance single from what is going to be Giorgio Tuma’s fourth album, is further proof of that.

This story is full of those magical halos that can only send out luck and excitement, in a kind of unpredictable pact. It all began with that absolute delicacy, full of romanticism and melancholy, called “Anna, My Dear”, which has caused many a tear to fall since it came out. String chords that deserve Laetitia Sadier’ssilky voice… perfection. After that, the encounter took shape on stage, with both stars sharing space in the “Contronatura” festival in Lecce (Italy). From then on, a sort of “agreement” was born, in which Giorgio wrote song for Laetitia’salbum, and she sang a few songs on his new album.

As you know, our admired song-writer is no friend of predictability, which is why he began to work on a reggae song (“Through Your Hands Love Can Shine”, the A-side of the collaborative single they wrote together a few months ago for Elefant Records), but Laetitia Sadier, while at rehearsals for that, heard the [ Read more ]

Pay attention, because our favorite Argentinian group is back and they’re doing something really surprising. We all know about their wide knowledge of the spacey analogue that Mariana Badaracco and Pablo Dahy were so good at, but now we are going to discover their incredible abilities to make the dance floor move (not that we haven’t danced to some of their older songs already). “Fiebre En La Disco” is an advance single of their upcoming album, “Fuga Al Paraíso”, and it is a tribute in every way to disco music from the 70s. It’s a tribute to Studio 54, Garage Paradise, Gloria Gaynor, Donna Summer… Wah wahs, strings, vocoders, tight suits, and a very personal interpretation of that music and that time, creating their own space halfway between today’s two lovers of that sound – LA CASA AZUL and FITNESS FOREVER. The single comes with a remix (CCCP Remix) by the Russian musician Pavel Polyakof and his group COPY CAT PROJECT. It is a revision that brings the song’s sound 10 years ahead, with echoes of the 80s, from the beginnings of house and dreamy touches, but still maintaining the essence of the original song’s melody.

We also get two striking and spectacular videos directed by Jean-Marie Marbach (http://jm-marbach.net); a very special futuristic dance competition. The French director is a specialist in visual-effects (something that is clear in his creations) and he was also behind two of LA [ Read more ]

They are returning with a few changes in the line-up, and more importantly with a new collection of great pop songs. These are timeless, catchy songs, full of exciting stories and eternal melodies.

ROCKDELUX:  "La Causa nunca habái sonado tan creíble, dejando para cerrar el telón el gran manifiesto "Lo Mejor Está Por llegar", del que aflora el triunfo final."  

AVOIDING SILENCE: "El Fin del Mundo is the work of a band on the verge of growing into something impressive and real; dismissing them as a chirpy novelty would mean missing out on their best work yet, and one of the best indie pop records of the year."  

MONDO SONORO:  "En el “El fin del mundo” hay guiños a Stereolab (“No te enamores de mí”), The Muffs (“Me levantaré”), la música surf (“Lo mejor está por llegar”) y a los Comet Gain del “Casino Classics” (“Nada, nada, nada”)."  

EFE EME "Eterno espíritu teenager al que hemos visto abanderar el amplio abanico del sonido sixtie, acercarse convincentes a la Motown y, ahora con el nuevo disco, hasta degustar el punk chicle de dogma ramoniano."   

JE NE SAIS POP "Con su frescura característica, Cola Jet Set han conseguido un disco fácil, hermoso y reconfortante, con visos de convertirse en su gran c [ Read more ]