News

Besides having written –along with Iñaki Gametxogoikoetxea– one of the best and most moving albums in all-time Spanish pop music (the legendary cult of the recently re-released “Un soplo en el corazón”, by his band FAMILY), Javier Aramburu is one of the best illustrators and designers in Spain. Not only because of his precious designs for the cover artwork of some assorted records (he’s done all the art for the whole discography by SINGLE and LE MANS, among others), but also for his work in many other sides of the image and illustration job.Spanish publishers Editorial SM have just published the book “Abezoo”, an imaginative abecedary of animals, with a double page to illustrate each letter and a short poem (by Carlos Reviejo) about an animal whose name starts by or contains said letter. Aramburu has illustrated its seventy-two pages. The letter E, of course, is dedicated to the Elephant.So, if you don’t know what to buy as a present for anyone who’s older than three (and younger than ninety-three!), do not hesitate: Aramburu’s art is all-ages.

Family [Abezoo book, Page]picture: Javier Aramburu

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The Afyve top selling lists (the official lists of records sold in Spain) aren’t usually very attractive for the pop music lovers who share the taste for music we have here at Elefant Records. Too many marketing products there, bearing little resemblance with the music we all like and enjoy. But every now and then some good songs pop in and renew our hopes that one day things might change in the Spanish music biz: it is the recent case of “Como un fan”, the new single by LA CASA AZUL, which has climbed directly to number 10 on the top singles list on the week going from october 24th to the 30th, 2005. That means the public have received with joy the release of this new single, which on its first week on sale features among the most asked for along with such bands as DEPECHE MODE or FRANZ FERDINAND (and many others we don’t dare to even mention). [ Read more ]

Next November, Elefant will release the long awaited debut album by CORAZÓN (“heart”, in Spanish): eleven songs featuring some early hits in the Spanish independent scene as their indie anthem “No quiero cambiar”.CORAZÓN is a romantic, melancholic pop duo, which counted their fans by many hundreds even before recording this album, among them people like Radio 3’s DJ Juan de Pablos or Guille Milkyway from LA CASA AZUL. Their first demo tape (recorded at a friend’s with the only help of a Play Station and a four-track recorder) was chosen as best demo of the year by the listeners of Viaje a los Sueños Polares radio show, and CORAZÓN was chosen as well as best newcomer band in 2002.CORAZÓN is Carlos (vocals) and Nando (vocals, guitar and programming). They met in February 2001 in Padova (Italy), whilst studying Psychology with an Erasmus fund. Soon they started writing songs with a guitar and their two voices, and that’s how their first songs were born, songs like “María del Mar” and “Esto ya no es lo que era”. Music influenced by soft-pop and folk from the 70’s, like Spanish cult artists VAINICA DOBLE, JOSÉ Y MANUEL, SOLERA, international acts like Françoise Hardy or SIMON&GARFUNKEL, and current artists with whom they share a similar aesthetic approach, such as PARADE or LADY AND BIRD.After recording their first demo, they move to Madrid and send t [ Read more ]

After the excellent outcome of their video "Dando vueltas", NOSOTRÄSH have worked again with film director Juan Ugarriza on the second videoclip taken from their fantastic fourth album, "Cierra la puerta al salir". The song they have chosen for this new video is "Completamente sola", and the images they filmed to set it to images are the most beautiful postcards to illustrate with a melancholic beauty the feelings behind many of the songs in the album: the members of the band come out alone -completely alone, "completamente solas"- at their homes, preparing some tea or some coffee, reading, playing guitar or sharing their solitude with other lonely souls over the internet.The video has been shot in their hometown, Gijón, and as the song goes by they stop being alone: they meet the others at the Librería Paradiso in Gijón, one of those magical places where one can get lost in a world of wonderful books and records (they choose a Nabokov paperback; they look over the cover of a record by Serge Gainsbourg: solitude is more easily bearable with a good book and a good record).Juan Ugarriza, the director, has filmed other videos for independent Spanish bands such as TACHENKO (with whom he won the national contest Cinemad 2004) or GARZÓN, apart from two short films ("Imprevistos", from 2001, and "La piscina", shot in 2004) and other jobs on TV and commercials.

Nosoträsh [Completamente sola [ Read more ]

The main attraction of this new single by the band discovered and produced by multitalented Guille Milkyway is, of course, the inclusion of two new songs that keep on reminiscing the sunny atmosphere of the A&M productions from the 60’s, as they did in their album, “Tan simple como el amor”. “Viva [un poco más] el amor” and “Debería plantearme cambiar” are two new, excellent titles to add to their already delicious list of colourful bubblegum pop songs. Besides these two new songs, on this new single they include their club-pop version of FAMILY’s “Viaje a los sueños polares”, as well as the song “Como un fan”, the only one that’s taken from the album. The videoclip of “Como un fan” is also featured, as is the videoclip of “Superguay”, in two additional tracks with which you will be able to enjoy the funny footage filmed by director Domingo González.

Release date: October 24th, 2005 [ Read more ]

On October 24th, NOSOTRÄSH visited Madrid to record some live songs for several TV shows. Among others, NOSOTRÄSH presented their new live line-up playing several songs with the full electric line-up for the MTV show "Fiber", for which they also recorded an interview. The songs they played on MTV were "Dando vueltas", "Completamente sola" and "Puta conciencia".

Besides of this, the band played some acoustic tracks and answered an interview for another nationwide TV show, "Miradas 2", which is broadcasted daily on TVE’s second channel. [ Read more ]

In February this year we released “Honey”, the debut single by SINGLE: three heart throbbing songs where Teresa Iturrioz started anew after her years fronting the magic pop of a cult band like LE MANS, opening a new adventure no less suggestive and mysterious. Now we proudly present “Su recuerdo”, the follow up to that fantastic debut single. Three new songs by SINGLE, where Teresa maintains the high standards reached by her lyrics, and a production work which balances again between the electronic and the acoustic, creating a slice of soft and elegant pop.

The beautiful cover artwork has been conceived once again by Spanish design star Javier Aramburu, and once again the graphic artist finds the perfect image to match the contents of the record – this time a mysterious picture of Teresa.

The record opens with “El amor en fuga”, a cover version of the theme tune written by Alain Souchon and Laurent Voulzy for François Truffaut‘s eponymous movie (“L’amour en fuite”, “Love on the run”, 1979): a cinematic track featuring baroque string arrangements and a nutty piano that stumbles upon the electronic beats. “Llévame a dormir” has a country-pop feel which is also present in “Su recuerdo”, the song that gives the record its title but paradoxically means its end.

Great news for the world’s soft-pop lovers, SINGLE is back with three new samples of her genius. We [ Read more ]

Tracyanne Campbell and her troupe have just entered the studio in Stockholm in order to record the follow-up to their successful previous effort “Underachievers please try harder”. At the same time, the Glaswegian band have just renewed their website, a full refurbishing of it that has proved to be a great job: by clicking on www.camera-obscura.net you can get to know them better (their recommended links, Nigel’s recipes, Kenny’s Q&A’s…), you can find pictures from their tours, participate in their forum, and even read their own blog (which you can also enter directly by clicking on http://cameraobscura-.blogspot.com), where they will surely write the day-to-day story of their recording of this third album, due to be released on Elefant Records in 2006.

This is the first time the band’s going to work under the supervision of a producer, apart from the collaboration with Stuart Murdoch on the “Eighties fan” single: the chosen man this time has been Swedish producer Jari Haapalainen, whose CV includes previous work with Ed Harcourt and, especially, with Swedish band THE CONCRETES (with whom he also works as a satellite musician; in fact, Haapalainen keeps a side-project, named HEIKKI, along with Maria Eriksson from THE CONCRETES). A great choice for CAMERA OBSCURA, indeed, considering his excellent work with the Swedish band. [ Read more ]

As we informed last year, Taiwanese label Avant Garden Records has been releasing for some time now assorted records from the Elefant Records recent catalogue: Ana D, ENTRE RÍOS, NOSOTRÄSH, NIZA, CAMERA OBSCURA…

The label from Taiwan releases now a complete compilation of NIZA’s recordings under the title “Archivando mis recuerdos [1998-2004]” (“Filing my memories”), a compilation as wide as the complete career of the duo, featuring stops in all the band’s different periods: here we find their two singles, plus a series of rarities and hard-to-find recordings: new and different versions of songs appeared on the band’s only album; live recordings (acoustic radio sessions, or onstage featuring Guille Milkyway from LA CASA AZUL on the piano, as in their cover of the classic standard “Fly me to the moon”); rarities that only appeared in compilations before (such as “Radio Star”, the song they dedicated to Radio 3’s DJ Juan de Pablos, previously released on the compilation of his show “Flor de Pasión”; and also “Jamás te he olvidado”, a song we had previously released on Elefant’s “Modapop” compilation); cover versions of favourite songs by FAMILY (“Dame estrellas o limones”), spanish chanteuse and 60’s pop idol Jeanette (“El muchacho de los ojos tristes”) and even THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. A total of eighteen [ Read more ]

If you enjoyed the technicolour images on LA CASA AZUL’s latest video “Como un fan” (main track on the band’s most recent CD-single) today’s your lucky day: David, Sergio, Clara, Virginia and Oscar are the stars in a new startling, colourful pop story, once again directed by film director Domingo González. “El sol no brillará nunca más” is another upbeat sunshine-pop song taken from “Tan simple como el amor”, the album by LA CASA AZUL, from which we keep discovering new hidden gems of melodic pop such as this one. On the video we can see the five group members playing in a TV set, and those images mix with footage featuring a love story in the middle of a teenage party. The scenario (the TV set, the house where the party is done) is the aesthetic dream of any pop aficionado, and the images are like brightly coloured fireworks, full of light and expanding power. A new visual tribute to the best pop music of all time. [ Read more ]