News

MY LITTLE AIRPORT is the peculiar name of the newest signing on Elefant Records: an indie-pop/electro-noise-pop band from Hong Kong (the second Hong Kong artist in the Elefant Records story, right after THE PANCAKES), formed by P and Nicole, and well known in the Hong Kong area thanks to the big success they had with their debut album.

In December we will release "Zoo is sad, people are cruel", a fourteen-song album compiling the best moments off their two albums.Their lyrics are about relationships and stories between P and his friends and acquaintances -really, the lyrics are about this; just check out song titles like "Victor, fly me to Stafford", "You don’t wanna be my girlfriend, Phoebe" or "Leo, are you still jumping out of windows in expensive clothescategoría"-, and their twee-pop sound shares the naïveté of the Sarah Records bands, the simple charms of CONFETTI and THE SOFTIES and the unaffected intonations of HEAVENLY’s Amelia Fletcher. With a song titled "When I listen to The Field Mice", what else could they be but an indie bandcategoría

Anyway, their sounding indie and delicate doesn’t mean they don’t have darker moments and secret thoughts. Or maybe not so secret: "I don’t know how to download good AV like Iris does" is a childish, light-weight melody, about someone who asks a friend help to download… good porn, movies with "boys and girls dressed u [ Read more ]

The new season of "Grey’s Anatomy" is already showing in the States, whilst many other territories still have to wait some time to know who will Meredith choose, or what will Izzie do with her life from now on. We’re not telling you what will happen, but we can already tell you that the fourth episode out of this new third season of the series (the one that was aired in the States on october 12th) starts its two first minutes with the song "If looks could kill" by CAMERA OBSCURA, taken from the increasingly successful album "Let’s get out of this country".

A new prove of the place of privilege achieved by this Scottish band all over the world from their homebase at Elefant Records, and in a TV series that takes pride on an excellent musical selection. CAMERA OBSCURA have already appeared in other series like "The Gilmore Girls" or "The O.C.", and now it’s been the moment for "Grey’s Anatomy". Watch out for it, very soon on your homescreens! [ Read more ]

If there is an artist in Spain (and we dare say in the world) who is capable of reinventing pop music's language, that is SINGLE. And this is no easy exaggeration. Teresa Iturrioz, ex bassist and lyricist in cult avant-pop band LE MANS, has proved in her two first EP's as a solo artist ("Honey" and "Su recuerdo") her ability to create, with the help of her producer Ibon Errazkin, an original sound of her own, absolutely modern and yet with huge commercial appeal, based on an exceptional flair to choose the best from the most diverse origins: reggae and country-pop, R&B, synth-pop and hip-hop, following the path (and going much farther beyond) from where LE MANS left it with their fabulous farewell trilogy.

And at least the moment has arrived when we can make the bells toll and announce as loud as we can the release of SINGLE's long player debut: next November 14th Elefant Records will put out "Pío Pío", an album featuring fifteen songs of unusual, mysterious beauty, produced by Ibon Errazkin and written in its entirety (except for a cover version of 70's flamenco duo Lole y Manuel) by Teresa and Ibon.The cover is, as usual, a new hit by Spanish cult designer Javier Aramburu, which joins the short but stunningly beautiful collection of cover artworks, pictures and illustrations he has been designing for SINGLE since her debut. [ Read more ]

In a few weeks time we will at least receive "Días de cine", the new EP by COOPER with the conceptual link of the appreciation of cinema. The cinematic references can be found above all in the titles of the three original songs we find in this new deliver of our best guitar pop songsmiths, which will mean as well the return of COOPER to live shows and concerts, presenting these new songs on the road during the last weeks of 2006.The record opens with "El sur", a guitar pop song that had already been played live by Alex Díez and his band in their latest shows. The following track is "Rainman", a mid-tempo that follows the tracks of TEENAGE FANCLUB’s guitar work, and "Un día de furia", a song so new it didn’t even have a title when they entered the studio to record it, which starts and finishes with a catchy distorted synthesizer riff giving the counterpart to the vocal lines. As a bonus track, COOPER close this magnificent EP with a version of the 90’s guitar pop classic "Where I find my heaven", originally by the GIGOLO AUNTS.

"Días de cine" is just four three-minute pop songs; a short dose of hummable melodies, infectious beats and dreamy lyrics that take you to the dark but comfortable atmosphere of a projection room: the ephemeral magic of the best pop music, condensed in its most natural format. [ Read more ]

The second single taken from CAMERA OBSCURA’s most recent album is about to come out, and we already have a new fantastic videoclip to offer you. The song on the video is the same we’ve chosen as the title track on the single, which gave the album its title: "Let’s get out of this country". A precious melody dressed with violins and melancholy, where Blair Young (on his best work yet – and that’s a lot to say when we’re talking about the director of the videos by CAMERA OBSCURA, plus many other Scottish acts like TEENAGE FANCLUB, SONS AND DAUGHTERS o BELLE AND SEBASTIAN) shows the band lazily going through their repertoire in a living room rehearsal, matching perfectly the feelings of boredom and need to escape from routine that we find in the song’s lyrics. An evocative video with a deliciously mellow atmosphere, giving even more charm and emotional impact to an already outstanding song.

Camera Obscura [Let’s get out of this country videoclip]picture: Blair Young

[ Read more ]

It’s been many years since we’re the number 1 fans in the world of HELEN LOVE. We love their melodies, their musical and lyrical references to the best all-time pop culture, and the uplifting feeling of fun and energy that go along with their songs. And now, at least, we fulfill our long-time dream of releasing an exclusive HELEN LOVE single on Elefant Records! Gabba gabba hey!

"Junk shop discotheque" is a glam-rock bomb with a punk-pop flavour and a scent of disco music and vocoder vocals (echoing Suzi Quatro, DENIM and LA CASA AZUL, all at once), which will surely fill dancefloors in all the funniest pop clubs around the world. This is the main track on a single (CD-single in digipack format and pink-coloured vinyl 7", both in limited editions) which will come out by the end of the summer, and will feature two other songs: "Shut your mouth" and a new mix of the song "Debbie loves Joey" (the original version of which appeared on the EP "The bubblegumkillers", released on American label Sympathy For The Record Industry).

HELEN LOVE: new exclusive single this summer!picture: Helen Love: ¡nuevo single exclusivo este verano!18/08/2006 [ Read more ]

Having just finished the UK tour, and ready to tour the USA during all the month of July, CAMERA OBSCURA are more active than ever after the release of "Let’s get out of this country", their third album. And out of their country they will go, because this summer they’re booked in some festivals, like Emmaboda in Sweden or Belladrum and Summer Sundae in the UK, as well as a short German tour and one show in Spain in September (in the Lemon Pop festival in Murcia).

Besides all this, we are glad to announce the forthcoming release (in September) of a new single taken from the album after that glorious "Lloyd, I’m ready to be heartbroken": this time, the chosen track from the album is the title track, "Let’s get out of this country".

As usual, the B-sides in both formats of the single (CD-single and limited edition 7") will be previously unreleased songs: except for the song on the B-side of the 7", which is the cover version of Sheena Easton‘s "Modern girl" the band recorded for the 80’s covers album that went along with the latest issue of Q Magazine. The CD-single, then, will feature apart from the title track other two previously unreleased pop gems: "Lemon juice and paper cuts", and "Return to send her". [ Read more ]

Following with its huge acclaim in Asian territories, LA CASA AZUL will include its song "Prefiero bailar" (taken from the album "Tan simple como el amor") on the "Peachy little secrets" compilation, which will be released this next month of July by new record label Fruit Records from Singapore.

This will be the third release on Fruit Records, a record label with which Elefant Records will start working from now on in Singapore. This relationship will start with the upcoming release in their territory of "Let’s get out of this country", the new album by CAMERA OBSCURA.The "Peachy little secrets" compilation features fourteen Asian pop bands (among them MY LITTLE AIRPORT from Hong-Kong, new signing on Elefant Records), plus six international acts which include, as well as LA CASA AZUL, such great bands as THE LUCKSMITHS from Australia or MY FAVORITE from the USA.The complete band list on the compilation is as follows: THE ODDFELLOWS, PURPLEPAIGE, MY WRITES, SERENAIDE, GIBRALTAR (all from Singapore); FERNS, COUPLE, SALLY FAERIE (all from Malaysia); MOCCA, 1900 YESTERDAY, THE MONOPHONES, ANNEMARIE (all from Indonesia); MY LITTLE AIRPORT, THE MARSHMALLOW KISSES (both from Hong Kong); and the international bands MY FAVORITE (USA), LA CASA AZUL (Spain), THE LUCKSMITHS (Australia), LITTLE NAME (UK), LUISA MANDOU UM BEIJO (Brazil), THE CASTAVETES and |ingenting| (both from Sweden). [ Read more ]

When we announced that TREMBLING BLUE STARS weren’t going to play live anymore, many expected things going even worse and thought the next news would be the band splitting up. But obviously things aren’t like this, and we can prove it with such good news as the ones we present you with now: Bobby Wratten has just entered the studio to start things off with the recording of a new album, as always with the help of Ian Catt (SAINT ETIENNE). The album will be called "The last holy writer", and it will feature 10 new songs. Yay!But this isn’t all the good news: in these recording sessions, the band is going to lay down 16 tracks in total. Besides the 10 songs on the new album (which will be the seventh on their career, time certainly flies!), TREMBLING BLUE STARS and Ian Catt will record 2 songs for a 7" and 4 other songs for an EP. Ear candy for the fans! We’re sure that many of you can’t wait to listen to so many new melodic delights from Bobby Wratten, one of the most admired and influential composers in the international indie-pop scene since his years fronting cult stars THE FIELD MICE, and a strong inspiration for Elefant Records throughout all these years. [ Read more ]

The Myspace.com phenomenon is growing fast, especially among independent bands, who see it as an ideal way to avoid obstacles between them and their fans. CAMERA OBSCURA’s Myspace website is one of the most successful lately: in less than six months they have got over 75.000 visits to the site, and there have been more than 300.000 plays of the songs they have uploaded on the website. Special mention here to their latest single, "Lloyd, I’m ready to be heartbroken", which in a few weeks has got more than 124.000 plays.

Prove of this success among the internet crowd is that CAMERA OBSCURA were selected to appear as the recommended artist in the Myspace.com homepage (a big honour, if we consider there’s a few million artists pages on Myspace).

Meanwhile, the band is currently on tour in the UK, playing the songs on their third album, "Let’s get out of this country", which has been received to critical acclaim worldwide. Next move will be the imminent tour around the USA during the month of July.

CAMERA OBSCURA – MyspaceElefant – Myspace [ Read more ]