NEW RELEASE ON THE NEW ADVENTURES IN POP COLLECTION: Wild Balbina, El Palacio De Linares, YouDoMeToo [September 2012]

Here at Elefant, we have always believed in the importance of supporting new bands so that the independent scene grows from a strong, solid foundation, which in turn allows it to have a healthy future. That’s why, against all odds, we are still releasing new singles on our New Adventures in Pop collection, which opened the way for PAPA TOPO and GUATAFÁN a couple of years ago. This new release brings us the amazing Brazilian group YOUDOMETOO, with their playful melodies, the pop energy of EL PALACIO DE LINARES (somewhere between THE FEELIES and PATRULLERO MANCUSO), and the pop-punk effervescence of the Galician band WILD BALBINA.

YOUDOMETOO
 

Nat De Abreuand Luna May met on a social network in 2011, and decided that a country as big as Brazil shouldn’t be an obstacle for them to meet and begin making music. In that first meeting, they made “Heart Skips a Beat”, the song that opens their Elefant Records debut, and which they recorded a video for themselves. The video lets us in on all of the duo’s peculiarities: an imaginary world, taken from a Todd Solondz movie, spontaneity and unpredictability, playful pop, recycled and hand-made instruments, unusual clothes that seem to be taken out of a fable, and infinite smiles. “Love Holds My Hands” is like Pascal Comelade was pushed back toward childhood by Regina Spektor or Kimya Dawson, as if COCO ROSIE had finally discovered that toys are for playing and having fun, not experimenting. A marvelous chorus, which once again demonstrates this duo’s incomparable capacity to makes songs that knock the wind out of us. “Rainbow’s End” continues to use love as an engine for excitement and happiness, and it’s yet another one of those solid songs that you just can’t resist singing at the top of your lungs, with the duo accentuating the contrasting play of their voices, taking it to sublime levels. To close, “Leaving You” uses Pacman as a metaphor to explain growing up, leaving childhood behind, acquiring responsibilities, with truly marvelous lyrics which could have worked perfectly as the music for the end of “Toy Story 3”, and which defines them as perfect composers of unforgettable pop melodies. They are without a doubt a band to watch, from a country that promises big news soon, thanks to new recording technologies.

“While he was writing his own songs, she was writing poetry. In love with photography, she created her stories while he drew his thoughts on the walls of his room. He sang enclosed in a small closet and she, alone, played midnight concerts on the stairs of the building where she lived. She played the imaginary drums while he made his own instruments… She made very different things all the same and the same things very different… until they met and realized that together they could be one, but double. Together now, they are two people, two personalities, two voices, and, more than that, a shared dream: *YouDoMeToo*”
 

WILD BALBINA

WILD BABINA begin to take shape in Vigo with Antía Figueiras and Marta González, who, after going through the conservatory together and forming a friendship, decided to begin writing songs in their house while putting Wim Wenders and Marisol movies on in the background. The project never took off because they needed a drummer. Until Guille V. Zapata (who they new because he played in the group MUNICH) signed up to give them a hand and give some shape to their songs. These songs have the urgent pop-punk of THE SHOP ASSISTANTS, MABO TAXI and HELEN LOVE, and they were finally recorded in a session this past April in the Manu Sanz studios (FANTASMAGE, INDOMITOS…).

“Eat Tacos”, the opening track of this 7” limited edition single that serves as their debut, is good proof of the Galician trio’s sound: irreverent lyrics and speedy guitars that move between the force of TIGER TRAP, BLACK TAMBOURINE and TALULAH GOSH, and the Riot Grrrl spirit of BIKINI KILL and BRATMOBILE. “So Kind”, adds a spaghetti western touch to those reverberating choruses that fit WILD BABINA’s unbridled songs fantastically. “Spit Your Love” has a beyond-perfect chorus, crunchy but ascending from pop, as if THE BEATLES had decided not to leave their garage and had put an unbridled Yoko Ono as the front woman. But to close, “Surfin’” stands out from the other songs by accentuating the sixtie’s spirit, like THE SCHOOL without the arrangements reviewed by David Lynch and his disturbing dreaminess. 

In addition to this, WILD BABINA also has a feminist and cultural fanzine that Marta and Antía put out: Typical Girls.

EL PALACIO DE LINARES

EL PALACIO DE LINARES went through a few changes in their line-up before arriving at their current line-up, with Gonzalo Marcos, Mariví Hernández (from Granada) and Ángel Román (from Zamora). The three of them have been working on this project together for over a year now, diving head first into the world of pop. This culminated in some sessions in Martín Perarnau’s studio in April, where they made this 7” that is going to introduce them to society.

We can hear, in their music, THE GO BETWEENS’ type of pop, THE FEELIES’ fast energy, and Charly Misterio’s LOS CARAMELO’s amazed pop. In fact, “Himalaya” has echoes of YO LA TENGO at their most innocent, with a vocal style that could belong to ZOQUILLOS, while dealing with the eternal theme of what could have been but never was. “Las Tres Gargantas” is a moment to let loose in a song that celebrates the disturbed pop of PATRULLERO MANCUSO, with surrealistic lyrics on par with the group from Villaviciosa de Odón. “Rojo Higado” is a great treasure – based on a poem by Lucrecio Martínez Molna, it contains a riff that Grant McLennan or Glenn Mercer would have been proud to be the author of, and a vocal line that awakens the spirit of Sergio Algora as the front man for EL NIÑO GUSANO. The single closes with “Franco Belga”, a song with a sixties’ spirit, with crooner echoes and a fun irreverence, full of irony, in this mix-up written as if the music were a fight between Roy Orbison and Ruth Vacaciones. Without a doubt, they’re great.