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.

VV.AA.

Happy New Year 2008

ER-372 CD-Single

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!

The new EP of SINGLE deepens even more the unexplored grounds which we caught glimpses of in the first two EP's and her fabulous debut album. The song which opens up the new EP is a strong statement of intent which inspired the name of the album "Pío Pío." A sampling symphony with Bollywood styles floating about, forming a multicolored collage from reshaping and mixing together a little bit of reggae, country, easy listening, including a brief reference of KRAFTWERK, creating impossible melodies and completely new rhythms. Along with the chirping of the piano of the star song, there are another three songs on this splendid CD-Single. "Té chino" is practically a lyrical tour de force and is a playful waltz between Teresa and her habitual collaborator on the piano, Rafael Guillermo (POP TOPS), "Cantiga para pedir dos tostoes," a cover of a song of the 70's by the Portuguese singer, José Mário Branco. The frenetic and psychedelic version counts on the collaboration of Rafael Guillermo, again on the piano, and ANTI on background vocals. Finally, “Los Muebles” is a poetic and an aggressive song, as well; experimental, showing the endless restlessness and curiosity of this one and only musical project: it shows a Teresa converted into an Iberian Yoko Ono whaling out poems of the Argentinean writer, Julio Cortazar, with the counterpart of the serene and warm voice of Jose Anitua (ex CANCER MOON), who collaborated on “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi,” the last song on the last album of LE MANS.

And we still haven't touched on the cover art, the spectacular photography where Teresa's image is displayed as a bird-woman, a princess of disappeared civilizations that lived in trees and dominated with the skill of silver work. Once again, the photo, as well as the helmet that Teresa has on is the master work of Javier Aramburu.

Many months have passed ever since HELEN LOVE was signed onto Elefant Records and put out their first single on our label and the endless waiting for the arrival of new songs has been far too long for the group’s fans. We have anxiously awaited for this moment and are finally able to announce the release of the new single, a splendid and explosive appetizer of the imminent brand-new album, “It’s My Club and I will Play what I want to, “ the fifth album of their musical journey, which will be out at the beginning of 2008. Is there any better way to start out the new year?

“It’s My Club” (the new single and the tune which will open their full-length) is an absolute hit and a declaration of principles which perfectly define the spirit of HELEN LOVE; Bubblegum-indie-punk-rock-disco fast and catchy; a boundless night dancing under the stars until sunrise in a dreamy club with amazing dance floors, gigantic video screens (with the RAMONES live in 1976, of course), laser rays, strobe lights, multicolour light shows and the best pick of music, courtesy of our hostess Helen, just to enjoy the magnetism to the fullest on a great summer night in a special Club. Two exclusive songs are also included on this special limited edition single; “Boots On” with a tribute of the classic late 70s song “Video Killed the Radio Star” by THE BUGGLES and “Jennifer Hanley” a rock star which every adolescent kid on the planet dreams of. In short, three excellent songs of pure punk-pop which demonstrate the exclusive and singular universe of HELEN LOVE, an authentic pop feast, a colourful world of eternal youth.

After the release of "The last holy writer" (the sixth album by TREMBLING BLUE STARS), the stand alone "Exploring the shadows" EP features, as always, many previously unreleased tracks. On its CD format you will find four exclusive songs that were recorded as part of the album sessions, and were treated with as much care and given as much time.
The lead song, the sunny and melodic "Beautiful blank", is sung by Beth Arzy. In the form of an infectious, radio-friendly guitar pop song, it tells of an Edie Sedgwick-esque character and is titled after a phrase in Andy Warhol's book "From A To B". Bobby takes the lead vocal on another upbeat guitar pop track, "As easy as being alone", which goes back to the more melancholic and dreamy indie-pop style we have learnt to love from him.
The CD-EP is complete with the introspection meets experimentation of "Outside looking elsewhere", and the more experimental pastures of "And then silence", with its gloomy atmosphere and reverberated vocals. This last song ends up so abruptly ("and then silence") that you can't help but press 'play' and start again. And then again, and again. You're under the spell of the best pop music.

"Tears for affairs" is the fourth song taken as a single from the highly praised third album by CAMERA OBSCURA. Along with the title track, the CD-single format includes one new, previously unreleased track: "The last song", as well as a brand new video of “Lloyd, I´m ready to be heartbroken”, directed by Victoria Bergsman (THE CONCRETES, TAKEN BY TREES) and filmed by Blair Young, the man behind most of the band’s videos; the clip features artwork by François Marry, French designer and musician living in England.

We can find some on this new EP that adds up to COOPER's already brilliant list of small format records. Four songs that follow up from the previous one from the very cover, with Catherine Deneuve starring again, and introducing the band's new drummer, Nacho García (WINNERYS).

"Canción de viernes" opens the EP with the classic COOPER sound, self-referencing their own repertoire as in songs like "Vértigo" or "Nudo en la garganta" (in fact the repetition of words from these songs is absolutely conscious). "Mi diario" is about emotional instability -a secret to keep, hidden from the rest-, in a power pop style. "Steph" is a precious song, poetic and very moving, with a different sound to the band's previous efforts: as if SHAZAM would play a BEATLES song with Evan Dando. If anything. The last song (the last one?), "Flea market", is a comeback to Alex's anglophile roots, a danceable instrumental number lead by Carlo Coupé's marvelous organ. With this guest musician COOPER travel to places where they could meet THE SMALL FACES, JAMES TAYLOR QUARTET or, of course, Alex's previous band LOS FLECHAZOS.

"If looks could kill" is the third song taken as a single from the highly praised third album by CAMERA OBSCURA, an album composed of melodic pop jewels from the first to the very last song.
Along with the title track, destined to be danced to death in the best pop music clubs due to its unstoppable Motown beat and the Phil Spector-esque sound, the CD-Single format includes two new, previously unreleased tracks: "Hands up baby" (a duet written and sung by Kenny McKeeve with Tracyanne Campbell's vocal counterpoint, recorded during the same Swedish sessions as the album, which shows the couple as a Scottish version of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra on a cloudy day) and the very recent song called "Alaska", a new track that was recorded on the last weekend of October by Paul Savage (THE DELGADOS) at Glasgow's Chem 19 studios (where Vashti Bunyan, TRASH CAN SINATRAS, Scout Niblett or TEENAGE FANCLUB have recorded, among others).

"Días de cine" is pop music on a big screen; almost fifteen minutes filled with hummable melodies, infectious rhythms and dreamy lyrics with the feeling of being alone in the darkness of a projection room: the disposable magic of the best pop music, condensed in its most natural format. "Días de cine" ("Cinema days", the name referring to an excellent late-night Spanish TV show) is the common title for these four three-minute pop songs, due to the references to cinema we find in the titles of the three original songs COOPER bring us in this new delivery. As usual, all comes in small doses of tasty guitar pop, wrapped in an elegant cover artwork featuring two guest stars like actress Catherine Deneuve and her ex husband, fashion photographer David Bailey.
The record opens with the song "El sur", that links to the poetic second movie from the short filmography by Spanish cult director Víctor Erice. Coming after "El sur" we find a mid tempo with guitars that could belong to the best moments by TEENAGE FANCLUB; the song is called "Rainman", referring to the movie starred by Dustin Hoffman in 1988. "Un día de furia", finally, is named after the Spanish translation of "Falling down", the explosive 1992 film starring Michael Douglas, and on it we find -as usual in COOPER's aesthetic universe- other mentions to pop culture as a painting by pop artist Robert Rauschenberg that hangs from the main character's room wall.
As a bonus track, COOPER end this fantastic EP with a cover version of "Where I find my heaven", a guitar pop classic from the 90's by American band GIGOLO AUNTS, which COOPER make their own with taste and skill.

Second single taken from "Let's get out of this country", the record that confirms CAMERA OBSCURA as one of the most important bands of the moment. The sweetness in Tracyanne Campbell appeals to all kinds of crowds, and the Glasgow band have achieved on this third album a timeless sound of their own, which sounds classic and makes you dream with moments you haven't lived. What else can you ask from a good pop song?
"Let's get out of this country" is the title track on the third album, and is also the main song on this single. A sunny, classic pop song which, as the rest of the album, was recorded in Sweden under the production of Jari Haapalainen (producer of such gems as THE CONCRETES or Ed Harcourt). Along with this song, the CD-single features two new tracks: "Lemon juice and paper cuts", evocative mid-tempo, lead by piano and organ, and "Return to send her", with a country-style guitar that is the perfect counterpoint to Tracyanne's vocal melody.

At least we can see fulfilled one of our dreams: releasing an exclusive HELEN LOVE single on Elefant Records. They are one of the bands who have better used the pop aesthetics and the fascination we all have for the colourful icons in pop culture, and we love them for that. We are also going to seal this relationship with a single in two formats: CD-single and 7" vinyl (pop music's own format), both in limited editions and luxury packagings (CD on digipack and pink coloured vinyl).

HELEN LOVE have come up with three wonderful songs for this single: infectious bubblegum-pop for fun and all-night dancing. "Junk shop discotheque" is a glam-rock, punk-pop bomb with a disco flavour and vocoder vocals (with echoes of Suzi Quatro, DENIM and LA CASA AZUL), which will fill up dancefloors all over the globe. Even more frantic dancing is found on the remix of "Debbie loves Joey" (a love story between Debbie Harry and Joey Ramone, the original version of which appeared on the "The bubblegumkillers" EP, which was released on American label Sympathy For The Record Industry), whilst "Shut your mouth", the third song that completes this fantastic single, is a powerful melodic, guitar-pop pill.

The cover on the single is by Punk Boy Jamie (who is usually behind the band's characteristic artwork and their website, too), and the three songs have been mastered by Xavier Alarcón to guarantee you the best possible sound.

More than 50.000 copies sold to this moment are good prove of CAMERA OBSCURA's ascending career. The first single out from the new album, "Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken", is a country soul track with a fantastic ending part where Tracyanne manages to sing up to six choruses! As for the exclusive B-sides, "Phil and Don" (a tribute to the EVERLY BROTHERS?) is a country duet with great guitar work and some harmonica thrown in for good luck. And "Roman holiday" has a bossanova beat and a vibraphone arrangement that give it the perfect stylish touch for a song too good to be just a B-side. If these are their B-sides, imagine how good is the album!
The band recorded the album track in Sweden with the help of producer Jari Haapalainen (Ed Harcourt, THE CONCRETES) and a great team of people with whom they've worked in the country's best studios: some of the string musicians have recently toured with Brian Wilson or Arthur Lee & LOVE; the song was recorded in the same studios where Neneh Cherry or Robyn have previously recorded, and it was mixed at the same place used by THE MAGIC NUMBERS or Per Gessle from ROXETTE fame. Among the contributors to these songs we find Victoria Bergsman from THE CONCRETES, singer-songwriter Brita Persson or members of Swedish pop bands such as THE TOURETTES, LAAKSO or SPEEDMARKET AVENUE.

After that wonderful surprise that was "Honey", her debut, SINGLE is back with three new songs featuring intelligent lyrics and a leftfield production, full of imagination, in a pop context. In our opinion, the top of the pop lists everywhere should be full with songs like "El amor en fuga", an inspired combination of electronic and acoustic pieces that wrap the most elegant melody we have heard this year. The songs is a cover version of the original theme written by Alain Souchon and Laurent Voulzy for the movie by François Truffaut (“L’amour en fuite" (Love on the run), 1979), but SINGLE has made it her own with an approach that seems unthinkable in other pop crooners that don't have her taste and her lack of prejudices. Noone would say this is a sound collage, though, because it is much more than that: it's modern pop music.
The two fantastic songs that follow on this single ("Llévame a dormir" and "Su recuerdo") are halfway between country and pop, always with SINGLE's personal seal. "Llévame a dormir" reminds of Phil Ochs' recordings on the A&M label and, in "Su recuerdo" (the song that closes the record, besides giving it its title), the piano played by Antonio Galvañ from Spanish band PARADE is specially outstanding, along with the country pop melody in the best Bobbie Gentry style.
Ibon Errazkin is still supervising all from the back, as a musician, producer and composer, and the precious artwork is once more conceived by Spanish cult designer Javier Aramburu, who has collaborated with Teresa and Ibon in all their projects since LE MANS.

CD-single featuring two new songs by LA CASA AZUL, two new pop gems in technicolour (“Viva [un poco más] el amor” and “Debería plantearme cambiar” ), plus the title song, taken from the album ("Como un fan") and a wonderful cover version of an original track by Spanish cult pop band FAMILY, plus the videoclips of "Superguay" and "Como un fan", two teenage pop explosions directed by Domingo González.
"Viva (un poco más) el amor" starts reminding of Brian Wilson's teenage symphonies, but it soon takes a different path with the typical frantic rhythm of LA CASA AZUL's best songs. "Debería plantearme cambiar" is more upbeat from the beginning, and takes us to the best moments of Motown soul, the old hits sung by THE SUPREMES or THE FOUR TOPS. In the bridge leading to the chorus they sound more than ever like the ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA, nowe can really say that Guille has found "el secreto de Jeff Lynne" (the title of one of their songs). "Viaje a los sueños polares" is the uptempo cover version, in a nippon club-pop style, that they did a few years ago for the tribute to FAMILY album. A fantastically energetic easy listening tune that seems directly out from the mind of Yasuharu Konishi (PIZZICATO FIVE). "Como un fan", last but not least (especially being the title to the record), is a classicly cut pop song, talking about love and despair with a lot of pop icon namedropping, from Barça (the uber popular soccer team in Barcelona) and THE CLASH to Billy Joel or BEN FOLDS FIVE.
To make it a completely satisfactory pop experience, we have included two of the band's videoclips, containing the true essence of the sunshine pop and bubblegum aesthetics and lifestyles that we love so much. With such music as the contained on this single, the world can be such a beautiful place to enjoy.

"Bathed in blue" is the second single taken from the TREMBLING BLUE STARS's fifth long player, "The seven autumn flowers", although after checking the amount of new material they have added we must better talk about a new EP that goes perfectly along with the main album's sweetness and dreamy soundscapes. "Bathed in blue" is not your average single taken from an album, it's much more than that. The song they took from the album has been remixed, improved and even extended, and along with these two versions of the main track we find four totally new, previously unreleased songs, which make us hold our breath whilst mentioning BIRDIE, SLOWDIVE and THE CURE. With such references and this length, it is clear that we're talking about something bigger than just a single. We're talking about a record with a personality of its own. Bobby Wratten is feeling inspired, let's enjoy it.