NEW ADVENTURES IN POP: New release!!! THE RUSKETTES, KNICKERS and RENALDO & CLARA [21st May 2012]

The current music scene continues to show us that, despite the crisis that is affecting the industry, there is still so much good music being made. There are new and interesting bands coming up all over the place and we at Elefant Records continue to support and promote them through our New Adventures in Pop collection, which bands like THE SILVER FACTORY, BAND Á PART, PAPA TOPO and CAPITÁN SUNRISE, among many others, have already released singles on. This time it’s three new bands turns: in this case, the urgent and electric pop of KNICKERS, the paused and bucolic folk of the Catalan group RENALDO & CLARA and the sixties sound of the American group THE RUSKETTES. It’s a limited-edition singles collection that keeps increasing its roster of names at the speed of light.

Limited Editions [500 copies]  •  All of them include a free digital MP3 download [320 kbps]

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THE RUSKETTES "Tell Me Why"

New Adventures In Pop 019

SINGLE 7" [Vanilla Colour Vinyl] [Limited Edition]  •  Includes a free digital MP3 download [320 kbps]

TRACKLIST: 01. Tell Me Why 02. City Boy Haircut 03. Tiki House 04. Didn’t Know His Name

Formed in Oklahoma in 2010, THE RUSKETTES is the name behind which lies the talent of Chris Rusk (WIGHEAD, LA PANTHER HAPPENS), and his passion for Phil Spector’s wall of sound. This gives shape to a group based in a trio of women:  Lindsay Bolliger, Vanessa Painter andJustine Rusk, and a band known as THE RUSKETTES ORCHESTRA that varies constantly and that has its rhythmic nucleus formed by Airon Wessinger, Brian Voris andChris Rusk himself.

“Tell Me Why” is the debut single of a band that emphasizes the choruses and catchy melodies with a certain air of irony and so much youthful confidence. The title-track, in fact, speaks just from the opposite point of view of an unrequited love, with a chorus that is pure THE RONETTES. “City Boy Haircut” is a super-fun song that describes a man with impeccable taste, mixed with SUPREMES-styled choruses. “Tike House” is an ode to summer written during a cold winter, with a riff that seems to come out of Eddie Cochran’s fingers and install itself in the throat of THE SHANGRILAS. “She Didn’t Know His Name” speaks of a girl who sees the man of her dreams every day, but she never talks to him, and is full of dreamy choruses and ethereal metallophones that that throw off echoes of THE CRYSTALS.

A vinyl single that will delight fans of THE SCHOOL, THE PIPETTES and THE CARROTS, and that shows its taste for the Mad Men esthetic, and that shows off the collection of sugary melodies and delicious choruses.
 

Video-clip of "Tell Me Why" on sale on iTunes
 

 

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KNICKERS "My Baby's Just A Baby"

New Adventures In Pop 020

SINGLE 7" [Red Colour Vinyl] [Limited Edition]  •  Includes a free digital MP3 download [320 kbps]

TRACKLIST: 01. My Baby’s Just A Baby (But I Love Him So) 02. Are You Ready Girl? 03. A Thousand Ways 04. Darling

They barely have three concerts under their belt, but the garage rock ‘n roll with sixties-styled melodies and psychedelic pop from this London-based quintet led by Simon (who was the front man of the marvelous THE LOVES in their time) have completely and irremediably won us over. With Sarah’s powerful and versatile voice in the lead, KNICKERS are releasing an EP with four solid songs, one of which is the huge hit, “My Baby’s Just A Baby (But I Love Him So)” with its rock n’ roll echoes, pushed on by the hallucinogenic synthesizer accents. It’s followed by “Are You Ready Girl?” (a cover of a Dave Davies song from the 60s that was originally thought of as a solo album for the integral member of THE KINKS, but which was never released until decades later on an album of oddities), a song that moves things in a different direction to show its tendencies toward the velvety soul of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. “A Thousand Ways” begins and it seems like a THE BYRDS’ song but it winds up sounding like BELLE & SEBASTIAN decided to play some Northern Soul. The result? Colorful and emotional like few others. However, “Darling” leans toward the sweetest girl-group sound, twisted by distorted guitars and aggressive, dirty drums. It gets stuck in our ears with no hope of ever getting it out of our heads.

They are four very different styles, perfectly strung together, and united by a great melodic base that shows this group’s incredible ability with addictive melodies. It makes us think that KNICKERS are probably one of the groups from the current British scene who can reach the farthest, since any one of the songs included on this red-vinyl single that serves as their debut could be title tracks for the single and could fill the radio waves. Their name says it all.
 

Video-clip of "My Baby’s Just A Baby (But I Love Him So)" on sale on iTunes

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RENALDO & CLARA "Lilà"

New Adventures In Pop 021

SINGLE 7" [Orange Colour Vinyl] [Limited Edition]  •  Includes a free digital MP3 download [320 kbps]

TRACKLIST: 01. Lilà 02. D. 03. Al Final De Les Mans 04. La Mandra

Clara Viñalsobsession with Bob Dylan is displayed loud and clear in the name she gave her group, and which the man from Duluth used as a title to a movie of his that worked as a collage filmed during the tour that followed “Blood on The Tracks” and “Desire”. Their songs have already been enjoyed in Cataluña over the last few years, but this single makes it clear that the group is going to go farther than that. Their music has matured at a frightening speed, offering new artists and nuances that have enriched their intimate and detail-oriented musical discourse.

“Lilà” moves lazily between the roots that helped LE MANS’ “Saudade” blossom, with lines that hide scratches behind the sweetness of their caresses. “D.” insists on the more intimate musical facet of RENALDO & CLARA with bossa harmonies and bucolic evocations of emotional landscapes. “Al Final De Les Mans” introduces the drums and sharpens the rhythm with stylized pop, the elegance that characterizes their melodies, and biting lyrics like: “Entre els barrots veig el que hi ha / ungles afilades al final de les mans” (Between the bars I see what there is / Filed nails at the end of hands). To wrap things up “La Mandra” is an instrumental piece that proves the precious delicateness of this delicious song-writer who grew up on the shores of the Segre River, which fills her songs with naturalness and excitement, with that trumpet that owes so much to Burt Bacharach.

A limited-edition orange-color vinyl full of bravery and honesty, far from the previously known formulas, this is a single that displays it principle assets in a personal and unmistakable musical discourse that fills the songs and lyrics, giving shape to a crystal palace protected by an armor of dense vegetation: it seems fragile, but it could never be beat. 
 

Video-clip of "Lilà" on sale on iTunes