"NEW ADVENTURES IN POP": MILKNAUT, ULTRANOL, NATURE SET y BAND À PART
The main motivation and energy we have here at Elefant Records, and we hope for many of our followers too, is excitement. And really, listening to these new groups, refreshing and full of magic, and offering them an avid public, wrapping them up in a delicious package and getting them ready to stand on their own two feet is something that helps us understand, among other things, why we’re here.
And that’s what happens with these new singles that are now new releases in our collection. To start with, we have the fantastical synth-pop of MILKNAUT, a Galician duo who will drive fans of NEW ORDER, KRAFTWERK, RHEINGOLD, DAF, GIORGIO MORODER, TELEX, OMD and EL AVIADOR DRO Y SUS OBREROS ESPECIALIZADOS wild with their first single “Gumboots Girl”. Another single that will also form a part of this release is the debut from ULTRANOL, which is the stage name of Alberto Iniesta, making playful, carefree electro-pop that is fresh and unclassifiable, surrounded by a collection of casiotones, sequencers and synthesizers. NATURE SET is a British urgent punk-pop group characterized by having Reenie Hollis, the ex-bassist of THE LONG BLONDES, among their ranks. Stretched out guitars pushed by youthful melodies and energetic choruses. Finally, BAND Á PART is in the collection for a second time because we just couldn’t resist their precious songs of deliciously arranged, light, danceable pop, a cross between FITNESS FOREVER, SAMBASSADEUR and BELLE & SEBASTIAN.
That said, we hope the excitement and affection we made these new releases with will also be a starting point for long and successful careers that give us moments at least as good as the ones we’re already enjoying here.
Nature Set
Enough Is Enough
ER-290 Single 7"
NEW ADVENTURES IN POP 010
Elefant Records is thrilled to introduce, through our New Adventures in Pop Collection, NATURE SET, the new project from Reenie Hollis, bassist of THE LONG BLONDES. They are a punk-pop quartet risen from the ashes of NAVVY (Daf, Marie and Claire, the rest of NATURE SET, come from there), with the intention of spreading the festive spirit of the B-52’s but with a more anarchic perspective and a clear philosophy: “to songwrite by committee and pass the mic”.
Reenie (Bass and vocals), Daf (Guitar y vocals), Marie (Drums and vocals) and Claire (Synthesizers and vocals), recorded this EP in Sheffield in Alan Smyth’s 2fly studios (PULP, ARCTIC MONKEYS, RICHARD HAWLEY...).
The EP is full of rough, frenetic guitars, as you can hear on the title track “Enough Is Enough”, and it is overflowing with the same electricity and that youthful urgency the the early KAISER CHIEFS had and THE RAMONES had throughout their career as a group. “You or Nobody” enjoys a poppier air, but with an underlying post-punk rhythm and marvellous choruses. “At Least Not Today” is more excessively energetic, with a hyper-addictive melody, a synthesizer line that pushes you onto the dance floor, and a pop-punk attitude that reminds us of ECHOBELLY, BLONDIE, and those Californians, ROCKET. Finally, “The Engineer” throws itself headfirst into post-punk, the darkest song on the album, but with the same level of addiction.
When attitude is the most important, when the band as a whole is looking in one direction and pushing ahead with all its might, when life overflows from every bone in your body and you need to scream with the world… It’s just a matter of nature.
Limited Edition [Orange colour vinyl]
**Already available on our online store
Click here to listen to the single on SPOTIFY
Click here to listen to the single on DEEZER
Click here to watch the video-clip of "Enough Is Enough" on Youtube
Band à Part
Una Persona Normal Con Gafas De Metal
ER-292 Single 7"
NEW ADVENTURES IN POP 012
They are already old friends of our New Adventures in Pop collection, but we couldn’t resist the temptation to have them among us again. After that “No sé por que” that disappeared from the stores at the speed of light and which brought them so much recognition both in Spain and abroad, we now have “Una persona normal con gafas de metal”, the new single that enriches our special collection of little colored limited-edition vinyls. It has four marvelous songs, two of which are new and the last two of which are already known, although here in a different version, by the addicts of their demos.
The title track is one of those house specialty luminous and summery songs, with echoes of the infinite strength of FITNESS FOREVER, but with a tremendously danceable chorus. “Blankets” is delicious, with marvelous arrangements that remind us of SAMBASSADEUR, CLUB 8 and CAMERA OBSCURA, mixing hope and melancholy. “La merienda” is a song that Javi and Coral wrote for Agustín Fuentes’ (the director of the Contempopránea Festival) radio program, and it’s a hyperdanceable hit, full of energy and vitality and that we could compare to the early songs by LA CASA AZUL. “Souvenir de L’avenir” recovers that summery breath, but this time with a loungier grounding and a delicate adhesion to bossanova. Four songs like four different suns.
This is definitely a new gem that it is becoming a part of the BAND Á PART collection and that makes us even more excited than we were before for new songs from this duo, which promise big things. And we can now announce that these songs will arrive soon, six to be exact, in a 10” color vinyl format, again, with Elefant. Don’t miss their next shows in the Contempopránea and the Indietracks festivals, because there are already so many of us excitedly following this group.
Limited Edition [Yellow colour vinyl]
**Already available on our online store
Click here to listen to the single on SPOTIFY
Click here to listen to the single on DEEZER
Click here to watch the video-clip of "Una Persona Normal Con Gafas De Metal" on Youtube
Ultranol
Patitos De Goma
ER-291 Single 7"
NEW ADVENTURES IN POP 011
The main thing that brought us at Elefant to create the collection New Adventures in Pop was the idea of creating a space for the public to get closer to some of the new groups that we like the most, in a unique and special format. And we were impatient to get you to hear the project from Alberto Iniesta, the alter ego of ULTRANOL, named after a B-side by BLUR on which they talk about a pill that cures any illness. They are all over the internet, which has helped them move numerous songs, and now they finally have a release ready with a limited edition, navy blue vinyl single that includes four of their best songs. They are unclassifiable, without any stylistic limits to restrict them, moving on a bit from their more guitar-focused beginnings to step into more tropical sounds, euro-disco, with touches of electro-pop, synth-pop and even a hint of reggae.
“Patitos de goma” is an unquestionable techno-pop hit and it has all the ingredients: a vocoder-infected voice, an irresistible rhythm for our hips, a chorus that we want to sing along with at the top of our lungs without stop. But soon surprises arrive: “El Invierno” is built on a base of white reggae, but with that fresh, homemade accent that gives it a one-of-a-kind personality. It’s a song with a built-in smile. “San Juan” is electronic pop made delicately, with the necessary touches of a casiotone, that tells a curious love story on the shortest night of the year. Finally, “Corta y Pega” is a super-fun song that talks about music (something of a metasong, really), with similarities to BAND Á PART and LA CASA AZUL, above all in the melodies, and which had already gotten the attention of the folks at Jenesaispop and Mondo Sonoro. Its broken bridge and eighties sequencer sound give it an extra-special charm.
Limited Edition [Blue colour vinyl]
**Already available on our online store
Click here to listen to the single on SPOTIFY
Click here to listen to the single on DEEZER
Click here to watch the video-clip of "Patitos De Goma" on Youtube
Milknaut
Gumboots Girl
ER-289 Single 7"
NEW ADVENTURES IN POP 009
Oh, how we missed eighties synth-pop! And those vocoders that make robotic voices! Those futuristic melodies! We are celebrating the release of the Galician duo MILKNAUT’s first single, which we’re releasing as part of the New Adventures in Pop collection, and which will be a delicacy for fans of NEW ORDER, KRAFTWERK, RHEINGOLD, DAF, GIORGIO MORODER, TELEX, OMD and EL AVIADOR DRO Y SUS OBREROS ESPECIALIZADOS. The group formed in Vigo in 2008, from the ashes of a previous project called MURMURA, and consists of Iago Reigosa (bass, guitar and synthesizers) and Bruno Murmura (song writing, arrangements, voice and synthesizers), both of whom are conservatory music professors (take that!) who transform into galactic robots at night and, under that facet, got in touch with Elefant Records in 2010.
Thanks to that moment, this white, limited-edition single, “Gumboot Girls”, is here, which has four incredibly addictive and fantastic songs. The title track is the most surprising within the style, because of that guitar that starts the song off and which quickly turns into a melody that evokes the delicate blips of LALI PUNA. In any case, we have a glorious song before us, an unstoppable dance hit with its marvellous arpeggiators. “Underground Gardener” doesn’t let the rhythm up at all, with those wind instruments popping up for the chorus and the vocoder that takes a leading role, while the track continues to steadily raise the temperature. “Stay in My World” is pop par excellence; I’ve been playing it over and over and I think I can still hear Neil Tennant with shoegaze and dream-pop aspirations… And “Siebenland” confirms the KRAFTWERK theory with one of its verses sung in German and that martial, tireless rhythmic base, to end up wearing out our ankles.
A majestic single that is undoubtedly going to make MILKNAUT one of the most talked-about groups in the very near future, and which will turn them into contemporary emblems of synth-pop.
Limited Edition [White colour vinyl]
**Already available on our online store
Click here to listen to the single on SPOTIFY
Click here to listen to the single on DEEZER
Click here to watch the video-clip of "Gumboots Girl" on Youtube
NEW ADVENTURES IN POP: The latest release from our singles collection [June 2011]: MILKNAUT, ULTRANOL, NATURE SET y BAND À PART
picture: NUEVA ENTREGA DE NUESTRA COLECCIÓN DE VINILOS "NEW ADVENTURES IN POP": MILKNAUT, ULTRANOL, NATURE SET y BAND À PART
20/06/2011
NEW ADVENTURES IN POP: The latest release from our singles collection [June 2011]: MILKNAUT, ULTRANOL, NATURE SET y BAND À PART
picture: NUEVA ENTREGA DE NUESTRA COLECCIÓN DE VINILOS "NEW ADVENTURES IN POP": MILKNAUT, ULTRANOL, NATURE SET y BAND À PART
20/06/2011
NEW ADVENTURES IN POP: The latest release from our singles collection [June 2011]: MILKNAUT, ULTRANOL, NATURE SET y BAND À PART
picture: NUEVA ENTREGA DE NUESTRA COLECCIÓN DE VINILOS "NEW ADVENTURES IN POP": MILKNAUT, ULTRANOL, NATURE SET y BAND À PART
20/06/2011
Nature Set [Enough Is Enough Cover]
picture: Pippa Lennox / Artwork: Luis Calvo [Elefant Design]
Band à Part [Una Persona Normal Con Gafas De Metal Cover]
picture: Dyana Omary / Luis Calvo [Elefant Design], junio 2011
Ultranol [ Patitos De Goma Cover]
picture: David Gutiérrez / Artwork: Luis Calvo [Elefant Design]
Milknaut [Gumboots Girl Cover]
picture: Clara Honorato / Artwork: Luis Calvo [Elefant Design]