News

"Let’s get out of this country", third album by CAMERA OBSCURA, is undoubtedly the one that has confirmed the band as one of the most interesting and admired names in the international pop scene. If the quality of an album can be measured by the amount of singles we can take from it, it’s clear that this is one of the best pop albums that have come out in a long time. "Tears for affairs" is already the fourth single taken from this album, and it’s obvious we couldn’t release a new single by CAMERA OBSCURA without its own videoclip. As usual, the video has been directed again by Blair Young, on his sixth work for the Glaswegians. Once again, Young has done an excellent job combining visual elegance and a love and respect for pop music that he shares with the band, its fans and of course ourselves. The footage is a tribute that perfectly evokes, through the use of light and video effects, the different atmospheres of mythical English, American and European TV shows from the 60’s. A master lesson in musical knowledge, a model in good taste and, once more, a most beautiful video for our collection. [ Read more ]

June 2007

Friday, 1IV Festival IndyspensableCamera Obscura+ Astronautas + Bombones + FarrahMadridtime: 23:00 price: Free ShowAuditorio El EspinilloTertulia s/n [Distrito de Villaverde]www.indyspensable.com

Saturday, 2Wychwood FestivalCamera ObscuraLondon and South East [uk]Cheltenham Racecoursehttp://www.wychwoodfestival.com/lineup,day,2.html

Sunday, 3Camera ObscuraLeeds – Midlands [uk]The Wardrobe

July 2007

Friday, 6Roskilde FestivalCamera ObscuraRoskilde [Denmark]

Saturday, 7T in the Park FestivalCamera ObscuraPerth & Kinross [Scotland]http://www.tinthepark.com/

Saturday, 21Festival Internacional de Benicassim FIBCamera ObscuraBenicassim [sp]http://www.fiberfib.com

August 2007

Thursday, 22nd Sudoeste FestivalCamera ObscuraAlentejo [Portugal]http://www.breakpoint.es/es/sudoeste07.htm

Friday, 24Seaport Music FestivalCamera ObscuraNew York [us]http://www.seaportmusicfestival.com/ [ Read more ]

We’re glad to present two videos by LUCKY SOUL, the next white great wonder from UK, due to its sophisticated, nostalgic pop.

The video for “Lips are unhappy” (directed by James Slater) is filmed in black and white with appealing stroboscopic light effects to enhance the charm and the vitality of the track, which is one of the band’s most popular singles.

On the other hand, the video for “Add your light to mine, baby” (the opening track in the band’s debut album “The great unwanted”, released in Spain by Elefant Records) is produced by US3 and directed by David Mullet. The band plays the song in a colorful, classy stage; the audience (featuring real LUCKY SOUL fans) enjoy the show while they drink some beer and play snooker.

Lucky Soul [Add you light to mine, baby videoclip]picture: Archivo Elefant

[ Read more ]

Following their 2007 European tour, CAMERA OBSCURA have confirmed an appearance in this year’s Festival Internacional de Benicassim de este año, which will take place from July 20 to July 22. Other top names confirmed in the bill are LO-FI-FNK, THE PIPETTES, KLAXONS, CLAP YOUR HANDS AND SAY YEAH, ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS, THE B-52’S, DINOSAUR JR, THE GO! TEAM, THE RAPTURE, WILCO, ARCTIC MONKEYS, CANSEI DE SER SEXY, THE HIVES, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, THE MAGIC NUMBERS and many others.

In their FIB show, CAMERA OBSCURA will play the songs in “Tears for affairs”, the fourth single taken from their highly successful third album “Let’s get out of this country”. The band has also confirmed two other Spanish dates: April 27 in Santiago de Compostela and April 28 in La Coruña. [ Read more ]

British band LUCKY SOUL, the latest pop sensation coming from UK, will make its Spanish debut in the Second CulturaPOP festival at San Blas (Madrid).

The event will last for 4 days (from Thursday 19 to Sunday 22, April 2007) at the brand new Auditorio Municipal del Parque Paraíso (Avda. Arcentales, San Blas district), with a capacity of 1.000 people. LUCKY SOUL is scheduled for Sunday 22. Among other bands confirmed for the festival are COOPER, who will play on Friday 20.

This six-piece from Greenwich (UK) led by Ali Howard’s charming vocals is to be the next white great wonder due to its sophisticated, nostalgic pop. Catchy, fresh songs influenced by Dusty Springfield, Tamla Motown or THE RONETTES, specially for the ones in love with two-and-a-half-minutes pop songs with simple structures and unforgettable choruses. The band will play the songs included in their brand new debut album “The great unwanted”, released in Spain by Elefant Records.

LUCKY SOUL – WebLUCKY SOUL – Myspace

Sunday, 22nd April2ª festival CulturaPOP de San BlasLucky Soul [uk]Madridprice: Free showAuditorio Municipal del Parque ParaísoAvda. Arcentaleswww.culturapop.com

[ Read more ]

One of the first references on Brooklyn based new label Hugpatch Records, is this limited edition of 500 7" vinyl copies by Spanish all-girl band NOSOTRÄSH, which we are also selling through our mail order service.

The single, with cover artwork by Pedro Balmaseda, has four soungs. Two of them ("Pez globo" and "Visita") are taken from "Cierra la puerta al salir", the most recent album by NOSOTRÄSH, produced by Pedro Vigil and Xel Pereda.The other two songs come from the sessions of the previous album, "Popemas", and were produced by Ibon Errazkin (LE MANS, SINGLE): "Tanga" had already appeared on the "Momentos perdidos" compilation we released a few years ago, and "Sólo soy una persona" is a previously unreleased cover version of Spanish 80’s legendary synth-pop band MECANO. Four gorgeous songs in glorious 7" vinyl, and a very limited edition. Don’t be too late or we’ll run out of them!

Nosoträsh: new single in USApicture: Nosoträsh editan un single en USA23/01/2007 [ Read more ]

Once again and for the second season in a row, the song "A Hélène" by LES TRÈS BIEN ENSEMBLE will back the new "Blancolor" campaign announcing the biggest Spanish chainstores, El Corte Inglés. As they already did last year, during the first months of 2007 the music of LES TRÈS BIEN ENSEMBLE will sound on radio and TV (and through the loud speakers in the hundreds of stores spread over the Spanish geography). From february 15th, and up until the 1st of march, pump up the volume when you hear Suzette‘s voice, and let everybody know about it! Hey, that band on TV is called LES TRÈS BIEN ENSEMBLE, and they are fantastic! [ Read more ]

A few weeks ago we mentioned how Richard Hawley had chosen from the pages of Mojo magazine "Let’s get out of this country", the third album by CAMERA OBSCURA, as one of the best albums he had heard in 2006. He said CAMERA OBSCURA deserve to be much better known everywhere (he actually said "massive"), and he isn’t the only fellow musician who thinks that way. On The Independent we read Brett Anderson (singer from SUEDE and THE TEARS) saying that this album is "probably my single favourite album this year. Beautifully crafted songs that echo the best moments of THE CONCRETES".

In another important British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, the title song from "Let’s get out of this country" is one of the year’s best five singles (along with worldwide megahits like "Crazy" by GNARLS BARKLEY or "Hips don’t lie" by Shakira), and on the same page we read Stuart Murdoch (BELLE AND SEBASTIAN) saying that the album by CAMERA OBSCURA is "the best contemporary record I’ve heard in a long time".At the same time, "Lloyd, I’m ready to be heartbroken" is featured on the "100 great undiscovered tracks of 2006" in Q magazine, where they add: "Infectious retro-pop with nods to both Phil Spector and fellow Glaswegians Belle and Sebastian".

In Spain, "Let’s get out of this country" is up on all the specialized magazines end-of-year lists (Roc [ Read more ]

"A Renewed Interest In Happiness" is THE FRANK AND WALTERS fifth studio album. Released on the anniversary of their 15th year in music, it encapsulates all that we have come to expect and admire from them. It is probably their finest work.When they needed a gritty location to suit the mood of the songs "Fight" and "Country Boy", Wheatfield prison offered their services. In fact Paul did the vocal takes in a confined room full of inmates. In an interview they mentioned that they wanted to record in a church. Offers flooded in. "Keep the Faith" and "Hold On" were cut in an old Church Of Ireland building in Carrig Na Bhearr, Cork City.

This new album is an antidote to the trials and tribulations we all face. Questions and answers beautifully packaged in unforgettably perfect melodies.

Next concerts:

Saturday, January 27Presentación nuevo álbumThe Frank&Walters [uk]+ Dj Polar + Dj RojiblancoMadridElásticoPlaza del carmenhttp://www.tripfamily.com/tripfamily.html

Saturday, February 24XII Minifestival de Música IndependienteThe Frank&Walters [uk] + Damon&Naomi [us]+ The Bitter Springs + …Barcelonaprice: 13€ adv / 16€ doors / 12,5€ on lineLes BassesCarrer Teide 20http://www.minifestival.net/ [ Read more ]

The first nonsense-pop movie

On March 23rd has been premiered in Spain the movie "The Svensson’s Syndrome", the first full length movie by Spanish filmmaker Kepa Sojo, who had already been awarded many times with his previous short movies, "100 maneras de hacer el pollo al txilindrón", "Looking for Chencho" and "Cuando puedas".

Defined as the first nonsense-pop movie, "The Svensson’s Syndrome" is a nonsensical, surrealistic, underground film with music as its background. The main characters travel in an absurd epic trip to Xàtiva, where there’s a pop megaconcert by the hype band of the moment, the KU-3. Music is a very important part of the movie, and on it we can listen to such important names in the independent music scene as FAMILY, LA CASA AZUL, TENDER TRAP, NOSOTRÄSH, JUNIPER MOON or MOGUL.

The original soundtrack has been composed by Basque composer Fernando Velásquez, who has been awarded with the Best OST Award at the Mostra de Valencia. In the movie’s music it’s specially remarkable the music composed for the fictitious bands appearing on it: "Los Balones" and "KU-3". Other genres like hip-hop and death metal are also mimicked in several moments of the score.

"The Svensson’s Syndrome" is starred by Adrià Collado, José Sancho, Lluvia Rojo, Eulalia Ramón, Secun de la Rosa, Alejandro Garrido, Fele Martí [ Read more ]

We are getting used to read the news about the international success of CAMERA OBSCURA: "Let’s get out of this country" is at the top of the best end-of-year lists worldwide, and the band lead by Tracyanne Campbell is already one of the most admired in the international pop scene thanks to their marvellous tunes and their tireless concert schedule. One of the latest countries to join the fever for the Glaswegian band is Mexico: last december 4th was the release date of "Let’s get out of this country", released through the Noiselab label (responsible also of domestic releases by ARCADE FIRE, BRAKES, BLOC PARTY, CANSEI DE SER SEXY, CAT POWER, MORRISSEY or THE LIBERTINES).

Thanks to this domestic release of their third album in Mexico, CAMERA OBSCURA will take advantage of their new American tour -starting at the end of January and going through all of February around the United States and Canada- to add a new stamp top their passports and play their first gig in Mexico: the date will be next february 10th, at the Poliforum Siqueiros in Ciudad de Mexico. And we bet it won’t be the last one! [ Read more ]

We can announce the release of "The last holy writer", the sixth album (the second released exclusively worldwide through Elefant Records) by Bobby Wratten‘s band.Twelve songs that are the living proof that their being away from the stages has only made them focus even more on their inspiration, concentration and creativity. The album, which will be released at the end of April, features some of the most daring and experimental moments in the band’s career so far, without leaving aside, of course, their characteristically dark, melancholic sound, and the influences that range from shoegaze to 80’s afterpunk. [ Read more ]

"If looks could kill" will be the third song chosen as a single from the successful third long-player by Scottish band CAMERA OBSCURA, released worldwide through Elefant Records. After the excellent reception of the album "Let’s get out of this country" and its two first singles, the new single will come out on sale next January 22nd 2007, tying in with a new tour around the USA.Along with the title track, the CD-single format will include two previously unreleased tracks: "Hands up baby" (a duet by Kenny McKeeve and Tracyanne Campbell, recorded during the main album sessions in Sweden) and the very recent song "Alaska", recorded on the last weekend of October by Paul Savage (THE DELGADOS) at Chem19 studios in Glasgow (where have also recorded, among others, Vashti Bunyan, TRASH CAN SINATRAS, Scout Niblett or TEENAGE FANCLUB).As usual, the 7" vinyl will be a limited edition and it will feature an exclusive, previously unreleased B-side only available on this format: a cover version of Phil Spector and the PARIS SISTERS’ eternal classic tune, "I love how you love me".

The international release of the new single by CAMERA OBSCURA will tie in with a new, extensive tour of the USA, beginning on January 18th, up until February 18th. Afterwards, the six-piece will move to Australia for seven dates there, and will immediately follow their unstoppable international tour with more shows in several territories in Asia. [ Read more ]