The School

Loveless unbeliever [2010]

ER-1151 CD Digipak / LP

It’s finally here. The throne has been claimed. For years, all the fans of the best pop waited anxiously for that group that was going to occupy the space left between THE PIPETTES, LUCKY SOUL and BELLE & SEBASTIAN, heirs of the best pop from the sixties (THE SHIRELLES, THE RONETTES, THE SUPREMES...) and the best Scottish pop (CAMERA OBSCURA, BMX BANDITS...). But it’s finally here, “Loveless Unbeliever”, the debut album of THE SCHOOL. And the Cardiff band, after the singles “Let It Slip” and “All I Wanna Do”, with which they conquered the critics and the public half the world over, in addition to creating uncommonly high expectations, have shown us that they’re the perfect spearhead of a sound that, even today, continues to thrill us. Once again with the production of Ian Catt (SAINT ETIENNE, TREMBLING BLUE STARS, THE FIELD MICE, SHAMPOO, THE BOO RADLEYS…), they demonstrate their incredible ability with melodies and arrangements, releasing an album with more gems than a jewelry store, like “Valentine”, “Is He Really Coming Home”, “I Want You Back” and “Hoping and Praying”, songs that are uncontestable candidates to remain perennially in our stereos.

Release Date: May 2010

**There´s a limited edition of this album for vinyl lovers. [Red colour vinyl]
 

Let it slip [2008]

ER-373 CD-Single Digipak

Only some weeks after letting you know about this amazing new band from Cardiff and their wonderful debut single, “All I wanna do”, now it’s time to confirm the commotion and clamour their songs are creating amongst the music press and 50s girl-group fans. Rough Trade compares them to Kirsty McColl and CAMERA OBSCURA, Hipersonica to BELLE & SEBASTIAN and THE BEACH BOYS, New York newspaper The Village Voice turns them into a magical daydream of THE RONETTES, weblog Parallax View makes them single of the week and Pitchfork considers them relatives to Phil Spector‘s wall of sound. And let’s not forget about the two radio sessions the band has recorded for British BBC: the first one, last February, for Bethan Elfyn‘s show on Radio 1, and their second appearance live on the BBC by mid-March, this time for Marc Riley. After such enthusiastic reactions, we cannot do other than euphorically annouce that their second single, “Let it slip”, has been released. Born from the same sessions that resulted in “All I wanna do”, and with Ian Catt (SAINT ETIENNE, TREMBLING BLUE STARS, NOSOTRÄSH, THE FIELD MICE, SHAMPOO, THE BOO RADLEYS, Kahimi Karie) on production duties, this new single holds four delightful songs: “Let it slip” (which gives the single its name), “I don’t believe in love”, “I want you back” y “Shoulder”. But the best thing about this release is the way it reaffirms our already strong belief in the single format’s grandeur, especially when a band such as THE SCHOOL is able to record four songs that could very well be earth-shaking hits.

All I wanna do [2008]

ER-259 Single 7"

It may be possible that you may have never heard of them, but this is totally understandable they have only played four different concerts since signing to Elefant at the beginning of the summer of 2007. The fact is that this group of seven, led by the peppy Liz offers a well-rounded presentation (Amen to the delicious “Kiss You in the Snow” which came out on our holiday single!), where their handwriting marks are above and beyond excellent. More importantly, the pop tunes are filled with emotion. “All I Wanna Do” reminds us of CAMERA OBSCURA and embraces passion with the legacy of Phil Spector, with a chorus filled with moving romanticism and a song that grows with the intensity as each compass is played, embellishing the melancholy until it stops and it leaves you shivering. “Valentine” has something else in store for the listener, as it is on the other side of the single, with a tight chorus (a must to dance to!), an agile rhythm and Diana Ross thinking that THE SUPREMES never ended. An amazing B side! Another great work to add to the list of producer Ian Catt (SAINT ETIENNE, TREMBLING BLUE STARS, SHAMPOO, THE BOO RADLEYS, Kahimi Karie, THE FIELD MICE). Pitchfork, Plan B and Under the Radar have all spoken highly of them, comparing them to classic bands such as THE BEATLES, ELO and THE BEACH BOYS and more modern groups like SATURDAY LOOKS GOOD TO ME, BELLE & SEBASTIAN and LUCKY SOUL, among others.

Limited edition [Pink Vinyl]

Yo, también [Me too] [2009]

ER-1147 CD Digipak

“Yo, También” [Me too] is the full length film debut of Álvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro and it is one of the projects we have been involved in this past year with “Elefant Music Supervision”, a project that has been taking shape over time and that has the singular goal of helping and collaborating on audiovisual projects of all types, and to give musical supervision from Elefant that would help the creators’ find the perfect music for their work. Álvaro and Antonio’s recent visit to the San Sebastian Film Festival was a total success, two Silver Conches, for Best Actor for Pablo Pineda and for Best Actress for Lola Dueñas. Lola Dueñas (a renowned and prestigious actress, winner of a Goya for her role in Alejandro Amenábar’s movie “Mar Adentro” (The Sea Inside) and nominated for Pedro Almodóvar’s “Volver”), recently stated in an interview, “When I finish a movie, I forget about it, but I’d never experienced before putting on the music from the soundtrack, like this time”. The music plays such an important role in the movie and the musical selection turned out to be so varied and enriching. Guille Milkyway (LA CASA AZUL) was responsible for creating small musical brushstrokes especially for the movie. The soundtrack is atypical with simple, bare pieces, based on emotionally charged piano melodies that can just as easily express the greatest happiness as they can sink into the deepest sadness and frustration. Guille was also in charge of the movie’s theme song, a 70s style rumba, “Yo, También”, somewhere along the lines of the first recordings by LAS GRECAS or LOS AMAYA, but with that magical touch that our great master’s compositions are full of. There is a lot of music in the movie, as much music as there are characters and situations. Quiet moments, sweet, quotidian, romantic, sad, exciting, fun, crazy, partying, totally out of control… there is music to fit every moment and all together it makes a perfect soundtrack for understanding the movie. Guille’s rumba and MANZANITA’s “Te amaré” give that Spanish touch to the movie, which takes place mostly in Sevilla, but the soundtrack also has the delicate songs of Wales’ THE SCHOOL, the magnetism of CAMERA OBSCURA, the Italian romanticism of GIORGIO TUMA and FITNESS FOREVER, the delicacy of BMX BANDITS, the timeless folk-pop of Nick Garrie and RÓZSÄK and the strength and rhythm of LA CASA AZUL, SOUVENIR, BEEF, and THE GENTLE PEOPLE, among others.

Happy New Year 2008 [2007]

ER-258 Single 7" [sold out]

We have also put out a limited edition white vinyl of our holiday single!!

Happy New Year 2008 [2007]

ER-372 CD-Single [sold out]

To celebrate the holidays, we have finally made our long-awaited wish come true by creating a festive holiday Single to give away to our mates!

With this single we would like to give thanks to everyone who has helped us througout the years, especially fans of the label, without their help none of this would be imposible. A special single with songs which will make us forget all the hard times and help us ring in the New Year with bells and whistles. This single will be freely given to anyone who purchases an Elefant order which exceeds 20 euros. For those of you who would like to have more copies to give as holiday gifts to friends and ring in the New Year, there is also the option to buy it at a reduced price.

Four songs from the latest signed Elefant artists. The most recent one, THE SCHOOL, a project of 8 restless musicians from Cardiff which put out their first song precisely on this single. Last September, they packed their bags and moved off to London to record, under the guidance of Ian Catt, seven delicious songs which will be put out in two singles at the beginning of the year, a sweet and exquisite carol with a very 50’s holiday pop feel to it. Caitlin and Sauna [they are only 6 years old!], our kids HELEN LOVE show their adoration of Joey Ramone is more alive than ever and continues throughout the generations, they create a snowman out of Joey Ramone and this way, Santa Claus won’t have any problems finding them!! Absolutely adorable! CORAZÓN inspires us with their brilliant, sad and melancholic carol highlighted with rural folk strokes, providing an authentic flavour of Christmas. Carlos and Nando are placing the final touches to their new and highly anticipated album, an album  which includes the production of Ibon Errazkin, practically guaranteeing a classic spot in the Elefant catalogue. To culminate the single, Nicole and P, our friends from Hong Kong, wanted to celebrate the holidays in a special way; they always mention their friends in their songs, so it is of no surprise that the protagonists are the recently married Por and Mach to the happy Newlyweds!