Here is a new Elefant compilation: 25 songs including songs taken from our newest releases, juicy advances from forthcoming records that will cause a commotion during the following months (CAMERA OBSCURA, LE MANS, LA CASA AZUL), and, of course, more than one unreleased treat for collectors and pop lovers in general (ANA D, ENTRE RÍOS, NOSOTRÄSH, COOPER, METRO, LES TRÈS BIEN ENESEMBLE and NIZA). From acoustic pop to naïve electronics, from sixties beats to avant-garde experiments; an exciting combination of very well-known names. Here are these 25 reasons to be happy:
01-NOSOTRÄSH "Arte"
06-NOSOTRÄSH "Mejor"
Taken from ER-1091 "Popemas" CD
NOSOTRÄSH have created a risky, incredibly special album: twenty short songs that preserve the melodic immediacy and usual freshness of this girl band, but that also reveal new facets (acoustic moods, sound games) thanks to an imaginative, exquisite production signed by Ibon Errazkin. A giant leap forward full of small great songs featuring lyrics that combine sensitiveness with irony in a quite unique way.
02-CAMERA OBSCURA "Teenager"
17-CAMERA OBSCURA "A sisters social agony"
Taken from ER-1104 "Underachievers please try..." LP/CD
The new album of this Scottish band features the virtues of their successful debut album and announces a new stage full of great achievements and unforgettable moments. With good taste and hard work, CAMERA OBSCURA have reached an enviable cult status that is getting closer and closer to massive. Little by little, CAMERA OBSCURA's songs conquer the audience little by little with each new listen: we're in front of an example of classic pop with that "special thing" so difficult to define. Would it be Tracyanne's vocals? Or maybe the wide range of influencies covering from vocal girl-groups from the fifties to sixties soft-pop or country pop? Or maybe it's simply that songs like "Teenager" are merely perfect?. CAMERA OBSCURA know how to reach the hearts with sweet melodies intelligently dressed with delicate arrangements and bittersweet lyrics.
03-LE MANS "Buenos días, corazón"
Advance from ER-1112 "Aquí vivía yo" CD Reissue.
At the end of the year we'll reissue the fourth and last album of this band from San Sebastián. LE MANS' swansong is also one of the key albums to understand the best Spanish pop ever. Worldwide known, LE MANS won the hearts of the whole planet and managed to be the most international act in our small label. Their songs were released in half the world (Japan, Usa, Argentina, México, Germany, Uk, France...) and they still are a reference for the best international pop. With "Aquí vivía yo", LE MANS reached their highest peak, an album full of astonishing song structures, Majestic arrangements, exquisite samplers and lyrics filled with the romanticism, fragility and melancholy of its small day-to-day stories of love, unrequited love, boredom and weariness. All these qualities are present in LE MANS since the days of AVENTURAS DE KIRLIAN. But they were never displayed in such a transparent and definite form. The result is one of the best albums (if not the best) coming from Spain in many years (decades?).
04-KAMAMURI: ANA D "Andrómeda"
UNRELEASED.
This is the new project of ANA D with Sergio Fernández, who had already accompanied Ana during her last U.S. tour. The great melodic space diva, more magnetic and wavier than ever, transmitting from her satellite again, she delights our senses with this husky , cosmic delicatessen . It's impossible not to surrender to her charms. A chilling, nimble, moving new song by ANA D.
05-ENTRE RÍOS "Si hoy"
Taken from ER-1103 "Sal" CD
Second album of this Argentinian threesome. Electronics are getting more and more important in the band's creative methods, and the result is an album with a wide range of registers, covering from wavy melodies and delicate pop landscapes, to clearly electronic and avant-garde languages. ENTRE RÍOS have created a record of emotional-electronic music, but always stepping on pop grounds and without losing that dreamy language featured in the band's debut "Idioma suave". They are among MUM, LE MANS, BJÖRK, ST ETIENNE, KOMEIT, LALI PUNA, DNTEL...
07-NIZA "Jamás te he olvidado"
UNRELEASED
Cosmopolitan savoir-faire from this two piece from Madrid, formed by Roberto and Silvia. Her whispering vocals feature day-to-day emotions served in a silver tray at a French cafe, with Claudine Longet y Jeanette sitting on a close table. The song is from the same sessions as the songs in their debut album "Canciones de temporada", produced by Ian Catt, a familiar name in the sessions of ST ETIENNE, TREMBLING BLUE STARS, ANOTHER SUNNY DAY or SHAMPOO.
08-LA CASA AZUL "En noches como las de hoy"
14-LA CASA AZUL "Vamos a volar"
ADVANCE FROM ER-1107 "Tan simple como el amor" LP/CD
Finally, here's the long-awaited long play by LA CASA AZUL.
Sunshine-pop producer Guille Milkyway found in the five members of LA CASA AZUL the perfect performers for his sunny melodies that mix the spirit of 60's A&M productions with 70's disco music and 90's most refreshing europop. Perfect pop artisans, we're talking about pop full of small details in the shape of arrangements, LA CASA AZUL have the knack to catch you at the first listen with their songs, making you play the main role in so many stories dreamt by all of us, where the main ingredients are love, happiness, friendship or even anger.
09-VACACIONES "No me digas que me quieres"
Taken from ER-1085 "Sonreír" LP/CD
If VACACIONES' early singles showed many points of interest, their long-awaited debut album reveal them as excellent instant pop composers, mixing sixties and the most charming indie pop: guitar pop, female vocals, tons of energy, teenage anthems. The final touch is given by the right production, signed by Carlos Hernández and the band in the studios LOS PLANETAS have in Granada. Vinyl version features an extra track and a sleeve different to the CD.
10-COOPER "Sin respiración"
UNRELEASED
Another unreleased track for our compilation; Alejandro Díez tele-transport us to the glorious days of his previous band LOS FLECHAZOS, with superb lyrics about teenage rebellion. After the release of his excellent debut album and his shocking live sets, COOPER has reached the first line as one of the biggest names in Spanish pop.
11-JUNIPER MOON "Sólo una sonrisa"
Taken from ER-1097 "El resto de mi vida" CD
Debut album from this five piece from Ponferrada, Spain. Punk-pop with female vocals, unforgettable choruses and tons of teenage energy. One of the funniest, freshest debuts in this decade, for fans of RAMONES, SHOP ASSISTANTS, STROKES, FASTBACKS...
12-TENDER TRAP "¿Cómo te llamas?"
ADVANCE FROM ER-354 "¿Cómo te llamas?" CD-Single
Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey played main roles in some of the best moments in eighties and nineties pop: TALULAH GOSH, HEAVENLY, MARINE RESEARCH... Now they come back -accompanied by Dj Downfall- with their new project TENDER TRAP. Imaginative pop with punk attitude featuring Amelia's unmistakable vocals.This new song, which has already been played live in Spain, has become an instant hit even before being released. An exquisite vocal duet with Lupe (PIPAS) which is also the first bilingual (Spanish-English) song of the band. A real treat for all their Spanish followers.
13-LA MONJA ENANA "Amor cuántico"
Taken from ER-347 " Un cadáver que abre un ojo" CD-Single
"Amor cuántico" tells the romance between two scientist which thickens due to the problems related to quantic mechanics. After a single of the week in "Melody Maker, a Russian tour and another tour around all Spain with EL AVIADOR DRO and L-KAN ("¡Qué mutada!") LA MONJA ENANA come back with their futuristic, bubbling techno and five new songs, included in their long-awaited new CD-Single.
15-ENTRE RÍOS "Un poco de sed"
UNRELEASED
Another treat for Elefant and ENTRE RÍOS fans, "Un poco de sed" is a track that could have been part of the Argentinian threesome second album: pop and electronics go hand in hand in an exceptional way in one of the most direct and ellaborated songs by this band.
16-METRO "Sun"
UNRELEASED
A delightful surprise coming from Japan: A two piece formed by Yuka (she; vocals and piano) and Shinsuke (he; guitar, bass, programming, backing vocals) recreating the most ethereal and elegant sounds of the sixties. A real exquisite thing, with some sexy lassitude supplied by Yuka's vocals. METRO had already released a single in our club and they will come back with a long-awaited debut album pretty soon.
18-IBON ERRAZKIN "Sunday sahara spain"
Taken from ER-1102 "Escuela de arte" CD
Second solo album by the always unpredictable and brilliant Ibon Errazkin (ex-LE MANS and producer of the latest albums by Carlos Berlanga, NOSOTRÄSH and ANA D). Instrumental pieces full of sounds, emotions and pop sensibility. The confirmation of all that was suggested in his debut album, but going beyond: this album features brilliant pop moments and a much more careful and detailed production. Tracks that surprise the audience at first and enrapture them in the subsequent listenings. The sleeve picture and design is signed by Javier Aramburu, who has created all his sleeves since AVENTURAS DE KIRLIAN.
19-NOSOTRÄSH "Tanga"
UNRELEASED
"Tanga" is a "Popema" that was kept waiting for the release of this
compilation; short but moving, with marine cabaret moods, is a new display of the ECLECTICISMO that characterizes the band's latest album. Produced by Ibon errazkin, "Tanga" was recorded in the same sessions of the songs included the extra tracks "Gloria/Corazón colilla", the first single taken from their successful "Popemas".
20-LE MANS "Catástrofe nº 17" ADELANTO
ADVANCE FROM ER-1105 "Catástrofe nº17" CD
"Catástrofe nº 17" is the compilation all the band fans were waiting for. An album that compiles all the singles released by the band throughout their career, released between 1995 and 1998; some of them had been deleted some time ago; some other were only available in vinyl versions; excellent songs that will delight their less early rising fans.
21-ME ENVENENO DE AZULES "Es fiel"
Taken from ER-1087 "1968" LP/CD
This song was included in their debut album"1968", which was highly praised by music press; acoustic, simple, shy folk-pop. The band's influences range from the sixties (Burt Bacharach, THE BEATLES, LOS ANGELES, bossa nova) to contemporaries such as BELLE AND SEBASTIAN or KINGS OF CONVENIENCE; influences always covered by a great personality, carefully crafted arrangements and delightful vocals.
22-LES TRES BIEN ENSEMBLE "En attendant Rascolnikov"
UNRELEASED DEMO
After two excellent singles Suzette and company come back with a demo of one of their new songs, as an advance of their forthcoming debut album. They are still in love with sixties French pop, bossa-nova and American soul pop from the fifties, without forgetting their beloved master Serge Gainsbourg and their muse Françoise Hardy.
23-COOPER "747"
Taken from ER-349 "747" CD-Single
After a successful debut album COOPER come back with four new songs: "Yo sé lo que te pasa", "Lejos", "747" and "Hoy no"; All of them excellent, they all could be the main song in the single, they all feature an instant chorus excellently crafted and lyrics and melodies that could only be signed by Alejandro Díez.
24-NIZA "Parasol"
Taken from ER-1098 "Canciones de temporada" CD
Another display of the exquisite talent of this two piece from Madrid.
"Parasol" will be the first single taken from their brand new debut album "Canciones de temporada", which was recorded in Granada and mixed in London, produced by Ian Catt, one of the most respected producers in UK.
25-FAMILY "El bello verano"
Taken from ER-1109 "Un soplo en el corazón" CD Reissue
Coinciding with its tenth anniversary, we reissue one of the key albums in the history of Elefant. FAMILY is a classic name in the history of Spanish pop; and this status is reached with a single album, a timeless record to laugh and cry to; an example of good taste in 14 unforgettable songs. You are still in time to live it.
