Río De Enero (Original Soundtrack "Express")

Resistiré (Banda Sonora Original "Élite")

Resistiré (Original Soundtrack "Élite")

When J (LOS PLANETAS) urged his friend Ana Fernández-Villaverde, a painter up to then, to write her own songs, little did he imagine what he was starting. It was 2005 and she had bought her first guitar one year before.  Suddenly LA BIEN QUERIDA revealed herself as one of the brightest musicians to appear in recent Spanish indie-pop. Her demo, recorded in 2007 with the help of Horacio Nistal, made everyone who listened to it, and there were a lot of people who listened to it, fall in love with it. Her myspace page, with nearly 125,000 listens, is one of the most visited pages for a new artist. Her songs were simple things (with her on guitar and some minimal arrangements) but with a disarming beauty, fabulous poems about falling in love and out of love that follow the line of LOS PLANETAS without noise, the emotional intensity of SR CHINARRO without irony, the sweetness of LA BUENA VIDA or CLAUDINE LONGUET without the languor, the romanticism of FAMILY without the techno-pop costume. It was chosen best demo of the year by Mondo Sonoro and highlighted by Rockdelux. One of the most excited people was Antonio Luque (SR CHINARRO), who lent a hand as the band in a series of concerts in Madrid at the beginning of 2008.  The most popular girl ended up signing with Elefant, who finally have the privilege of releasing her first album.

“Romancero”, with 7 songs already known from the demo and 5 new songs, is one of the most awaited discs of recent years and it’s not exaggerating to say that it’s going to be one of the most important ones of the coming years. Ana went to David Rodríguez (BEEF), for the production, with the idea of distilling the marvelous production of LA ESTRELLA DE DAVID (David’s solo project) with clean sounds more fitting to the friendly environment of her melodies. The result is that Ana’s songs take on a unique artistic dimension with David’s inventive sound, and he shines like never before domesticated in the naturalistic beauty of Ana’s songs.

The album therefore has two sides: one the one side are Ana’s precious melodies, self-sufficient with their formidable lyrics, sincere declarations and mature reflections that reflect the always interesting and exciting paths of falling out of love, of frustration, of fear, the uncertainty and euphoria of love.  On the other hand you can also enjoy David’s superb work on the production and his personal arrangements, as peculiar and bizarre as ever. Always looking for the difference with the combination of such disparate elements that only he is able to imagine, but later they come together as if they were meant to be. And they have an admirable subtlety that doesn’t get in the way of the songs. It’s the vision of a privileged artist that ultimately increases the beauty of the songs in a surprisingly perfect fit and without taking away any protagonism from what is really important, which is Ana’s voice and lyrics.

In the end this all moves toward THE MAGNETIC FIELDS, not so much because of the sound but definitely because of the spirit, the quality and because of its personality. “Romancero” gets close to the level of “69 Love Songs” because it shares its dead-on combination of poetic sentiment and artistic individuality. They are songs that are dressed subtly eccentrically and originally without losing their ability to express feelings. And they do so in an intelligent, sincere and moving way. They are songs that drive into the heart and make a space in the head with apparently simple melodies, although the harmonies are not obvious at all and the arrangements even less so. It’s a work of art in its purest form, capable of communicating the most moving emotions through its beauty. Without a doubt, “Romancero” is a landmark album.

Romancero

Bendita

7 Medidas De Seguridad

Cuando Lo Intentas

De Momento Abril

Ya No

Ana Fernández-Villaverde’s musical career changed when she was recording her debut album, when David Rodríguez (BEEF, LA ESTRELLA DE DAVID) became something more important than a producer. LA BIEN QUERIDA’s third album is everything we could hope for as a result of their work together: she is in charge of the songs and he’s in charge of the sound. Talking to them gives the impression that they think they’ve made a very rough, dark album, with a sound that uses “the most innovative styles of the 70s, kraut-rock, post-punk, and the techno of KRAFTWERK and NEW ORDER’s”.

The album isn’t really as rugged as they make it sound, though it does feel completely different from LA BIEN QUERIDA’s past work. For example, the opening track is a solid techno, close to acid-house (“Arenas Movedizas”), which is lit up by Ana, sweet and robotic, intoning a spiraling melody that seems to invent a spaced-out flamenco. You could even say they take LOS PLANETAS’ experiment with interpreting flamenco through kraut-rock to the extreme. The result is fascinating because it maintains Ana’s magical, naïve serenity. “Hechicera” could pass for a folk-song from the mountains of Malaga, interpreted with a total kraut-rock assimilation, from KRAFTWERK to KLF, from SILVER APPLES to NEON INDIAN. Starting from a similar base, “Aurora” is like a flamenco song that exchanges the lament for Ana’s sweet fragility and keeps its ability to be chilling, above all when the guitars take the psychedelic flamenco to the orbits of space-rock.

Electronica appears in various forms, but always accompanied by guitars. “Carnaval” mixes dream-pop synthesizers with shoegaze guitars to perfection for an amazing song somewhere between TREMBLING BLUE STARS and WASHED OUT, but much more intense.  “A Veces Ni Eso” is an undisguised homage to NEW ORDER that precisely fuses several styles of their poppier sound into one incredible song that’s catchier than the common cold and more contagious than a top 40 hit. NEW ORDER show up once again on “Los Picos De Europa”, though this time they’re processed through a more current sound and closer to the urgent pop of THE RADIO DEPT. It’s a kind of fusion between dream-pop and techno-pop armed with the rich colors and rhythm created by David’s genius. “Pelea” is another song with catchy melodies that hits you right away.

The distance LA BIEN QUERIDA has traveled is clearest on two precious songs. “Luna Nueva” fits into her classic canon, but with a feeling of electronic pop. At the other end of the spectrum is “Más Fuerte Que Tú”, which shows she has mastered the most vanguard language in the techno-pop constellation, and that she can use it to make us fall even more in love with her than when she was recording her demos with an acoustic guitar. “Mil Veces” is another one that feels like one of her earlier songs, but halfway through it bursts into an explosion of lysergic techno with a storm of electronic noise that reinforces the intensity and the pain, living side by side with a dream-like ending that underlines the friendly tone of the album.

The thing is, is that the musical experimentation, as shocking as it may seem, is domesticated by Ana’s inscrutable charm and the beauty of her songs. It’s LA BIEN QUERIDA; the accessibility remains intact, the enormous ability to connect to our emotions and move us with their sensitivity and intelligent lyrics. But they’ve changed their style to give us an album that is as radical as it is poppy, as brave as it is captivating, and that creates a new musical universe. This is what art does; it moves forward, it invents, it emotes, three things this album achieves all at once.

Ceremonia

A Veces Ni Eso

In all the good horror movies there is a little twist at the end, a surprise that, when done with adequate creativity and elegance, can leave us frozen in our seats, with a twisted gesture and sunken eyes, amazed, unable to react. We can say that something similar happens with LA BIEN QUERIDA’s final touch to the release of the three limited-edition Maxi-Singles, “Premeditación”, “Nocturnidad” and “Alevosía”. The CD includes the songs from the three maxis and also reveals a cover that is the last piece to complete the fresco created to adorn these releases, and that shows us one of those geometric pieces of impossible perspectives. The final trick, the last move, the cherry on top of the indescribably-flavored sundae.

Having seen the songs that were separated onto the different vinyls like an ensemble, here we have a marvelous collection. The hit “Poderes Extraños” which opens the album with a powerful chorus and makes itself the king of paranormal territory for a metamusical discourse, and at the same time is tremendously suggestive and fun. The gritty textures of “El Origen Del Mundo”, one of the songs that best foreshadows the already well-known obsession of Ana Fernández-Villaverde with love and its fatality. This release, apart from being a huge help to all those who don’t have a record player, also helps achieve a a more sober and compact vision of a stage in LA BIEN QUERIDA’s career that is without a doubt going to leave a mark. The emotional abrasion of “Alta Tensión” and that “Ya no te quiero” leave us literally desolate. This is what terror is. The blender of influences that fits into “Disimulando”, with the support of Joe Crepúsculo and the ability of David and Ana to make room for all kinds of sounds.

The strength of a great song like “Ojalá Estuvieras Muerto” that opens the door to the debate between life and death of “Encadenados”, where a light halo of pop spirit gives us a second to catch our breath. “Carretera Secundaria” could be part of the soundtrack of a David Lynch movie, while that mix of melancholy, evocation, and tension of “Crepúsculo” would win itself a well-deserved spot in “Drive”. The music, always the music: deep down all this mystery was about this, like that pop marvel “Música Contemporánea”, another of the (many) big singles the album has (oh, does this album have big singles!). The spiraling journey of “Vueltas”, hypnotic, psychedelic, playful, and at the same time disturbing. “Geometría Existencial” brings the level of tension up even more. And then we get to the end, represented by “Muero De Amor”, a wonder of lyricism and emotion, precious and magical. There are no answers to look for. Our own feelings are there, and they are the answers that draw our questions.

Seen like this, everything that has ultimately given shape to “Premeditación, Nocturnidad y Alevosía”, LA BIEN QUERIDA’s fourth album, seems like a big game, a twisted plot that was perfectly planned right from the start. And maybe it was. The big question about the future is probably the most latent of all after the many we have asked ourselves throughout this journey, heralded by three sixes (the sixth of October, of January, and of March).

Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía

Muero De Amor

Ojalá Estuvieras Muerto

Poderes Extraños

The circle is closing. That triple EP promised great things. The reviews, the listeners’ reactions, and the positions on both Spanish and American music lists (Rockdelux, where it appeared in various categories, including listeners’ choice, song, video… ABC, Astredu Pop, Mindies, Notodo, Diario Crítica, América Económica, etc) all indicated such. The album was marked by three sixes – October 6th, 2014, January 6th, 2015, and March 6th, 2015, the release dates of each of the EPs – and by a series of audiovisuals directed by Juanma Carrillo which contained a very special mystery. The perfect plot, we even called it. And here is the squaring of the circle: “Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía” on DVD, with the three parts of the movie together, various videoclips, a making of, and a CD of remixes. Let’s take this step by step.

“Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía” is a complete work, conceived from multiple perspectives, beyond the excellence of the music. The different album covers (the three Maxi-Singles that went together, the impossible perspective of the final CD), the videos, the movie… All of these things make this final release necessary, and to make use of the loose pieces, of the documents that needed to be calmly enjoyed, in a complete format, for the multi-faceted visions that come from re-interpreting a work that will undoubtedly be talked about and remembered for a long time.

Putting all these pieces together now, we can see a group of children in Juanma Carrillo’s film who appear out of nowhere and slowly seduce everything around them into their power. It’s a metaphor about the purity and innocence of true love that inevitably turns into pain, playing ambiguously with the supernatural, with the way feelings can be unpredictable and uncontrollable. Accompanying this piece, on the DVD we can find videos of  “A Veces Ni Eso”, “Arenas Movedizas”, “Aurora”, “Luna Nueva”, “Hoy”,  “9.6”, “Corpus Christi”, “De Momento Abril”, and a “making of” from the film-recording process. A stunning, prodigious career is shown in a few minutes.

And finally, the CD of remixes, with personal visions from some of the most well-known national artists. SVPER add a wall of sound to the hit “Muero De Amor” (which was at the top of numerous song of the year lists, as well as video of the year). LOS PILOTOS (Banin and Florent, from LOS PLANETAS) and COAXIAL are in charge of “Geometría Existencial”, in the key of dream-pop. Aaron Rux deconstructs “Vueltas”; Alejandro Martínez-Kinski puts an amazing spin on “Música Contemporánea”, turning it into a flamenco-style rumba; RUSSIAN RED and DJ Lloret deform “Crepúsculo” and give it a broken techno-pop touch. TULSA and BETACAM are in charge of “Carretera Secundaria”, and they give it a touch of Steve Reich with mysterious breaths of arpeggios. Dani Ites takes over “Encadenados”, showing off that NEW ORDER-y base line, but then pushing it further with synth-pop; and YUNG BEEF infects “Ojalá Estuvieras Muerto” with auto-tune. Joe Crepúsculo is his usual bizarre self with “Disimulando”, somewhere between Bollywood and Knight Rider”, while Nacho Canut brings the tablas out to shine with “Alta Tensión”, making a true dance-floor version. LE PARODY let go on “El Origen Del Mundo”, and leave the final round-up to the two faces of “Poderes Extraños”: the disturbing version with echoes of DEPECHE MODE from TRIÁNGULO DE AMOR BIZARRO (Versión Piroquinética), and on the other hand, the colorful disco-dance version by Álex Casanova (Versión Crioquinética).

This release definitively closes the circle of a work of art that we can now say with no hesitation will be unrepeatable. And we are left with one question: How far will Ana Fernández-Villaverde and David Rodríguez be able to go? We can’t wait to tell you.

Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía (Remixes)

Muero De Amor (Svper Remix)

Every time we begin to listen to a new LA BIEN QUERIDA album, we are faced with the question of what we are going to find this time, because we know that it’s going to be something completely new and different from what we have heard up to now. The title of this new release is “Fuego” (fire, in Spanish), which corresponds to the south, to red, to summer, to the heart - the fire of passion, of love and hate, the fire of the spirit and intuition.

It was difficult to think about this album after the masterpiece that was “Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía”. But the creative universe of LA BIEN QUERIDA is immense and is used to having to outdo itself, handling a wide range of references and enjoying the process of erasing musical and lyrical limits. And “Fuego” is a kind of self-reconfiguration, a rediscovery, because musically there is a bit of everything we already know, but transgressed: the purity and insolence of “Romancero”, the Latin and tropical fusion of “Fiesta”, the electronic force of “Ceremonia” and the mournful darkness of “Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía”. This is all represented on the incredible album cover photo by Pablo Zamora,with the artistic direction of Pepe Leal and most of all an idea from Ana herself based on the “Things Organized Neatly” movement. The photo shows her surrounded by instruments, pencils, paintbrushes, albums, and everything that has led to the creation of her own universe.

Ana explains it so well: “The melancholy that seeps out of my songs always includes a positive side that has allowed me to rely heavily on life, and this album more than ever shows that positive side. I have tried to see the bright side, the glass half-full. This album talks about the desire that defends life, pleasure self-fulfillment, freedom. The process of living through our desires, which are not dark or confusing but light and clear”.

The sacred fire of guilty desires, incomprehensible feelings, of the irrational and the vital. The fire that burns in every note of this album, determined to never burn out. “Fuego” feels like a moment of reflection, of acceptance and reconfiguration, an infinite, limitless look ahead. This is a new step in a journey toward making Ana Fernández-Villaverde’s songs the journey of our lives, told through emotions and feelings.

Fuego

Los Jardines De Marzo

Recompensarte (feat. Los Planetas & Muchachito)

7 Días Juntos (feat. Joan Miquel Oliver)

Dinamita

After have made that trilogy that was “Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía”, and her last album, “Fuego”, it should not come as a surprise that the sixth album of Ana Fernández-Villaverde‘s career is called “Brujería”. But the game of mirrors is radical. Because, “Brujería” is probably the most open and direct about emotions, where the songs touch tangentially on the mystery to dive in more deeply lyrically and epically. It is an album about love, brutal and raw, without metaphors, as is her style. Darkness and light, and each song leads unequivocally into the next.

“Love and falling in love with something or someone is full of witchcraft. When we fall in love we feel like we are under a spell cast by the object of our affection. The effect is similar to a highly addictive drug; it creates strong ties in our mind between pleasure and the thing we desire” Ana says. Titles like “La Verdad”, “¿Qué?”, “Te Quiero”, “La Fuerza” and “Miedo” make a point of this direct and impressive concept, which is challenging at times.

This is an elaborate album, conceptual but accessible, because we have all felt like we were under the spell of something or someone. Ana takes a giant leap in composition, lyrics and harmonic progressions. “Brujería” makes it clear that we are looking at her best work to date, a collecting of stunning, heartbreaking songs that are classic and modern at the same time, that position her alongside the great composers of our times in this country. The sonic design is careful and precise with the production work of Carlos René (AXOLOTES MEXICANOS), a sonic universe that reminds us of the different artists of recent eras: NEW ORDER and THE CURE, but also LANA DEL REY, M83, BEACH HOUSE and CIGARRETTES AFTER SEX. DEPECHE MODE and KRAFTWERK. Synthesizers and strings to transmit the mystery and the magic.

The cover art, based on a photo taken by Pablo Zamora, is inspired by the legendary cover of “Midnight Creeper” by the American saxophonist Lou Donaldson (Blue Note, 1968). It is an album with close ties to witchcraft and magic; each song is related to a spell. Everything is designed by Mario Rivière (whom Ana knows from of the book covers from “La Felguera” publishers) and is a combination of illustrations, with drawings of the spells - one for each song - that can be practiced at the alter that is included in the physical release of the album (vinyl and CD format). With gold ink and red vinyl, the album packaging itself is a work of art.

And yes, there are new stellar collaborations. Juan Pedrayes (CAROLINA DURANTE, AXOLOTES MEXICANOS) on drums; guitars by Mario del Valle (CAROLINA DURANTE, AXOLOTES MEXICANOS), and Lucas Vidaur (AXOLOTES MEXICANOS, CONFETI DE ODIO); Lucía Palacio is on cello and Esther Muñoz is on violins. And of course, David Rodríguez (LA ESTRELLA DE DAVID) sings on “Déjame Entrar” and plays the guitar on “Déjame Entrar”, “Me Envenenas” and “¿Qué?”; J (LOS PLANETAS) sings on “Domingo Escarlata” and “La Fuerza”, and Diego Ibáñez (CAROLINA DURANTE) also sings on “¿Qué?”.

“Brujería” has its origins in the book “Fossil Angels” by Allan Moore which says that: “Art is magic and magic is art”. Writing is a magical act of invocation and alchemical transformation in action. Duchamp, Blake, Baudelaire, Kandinski, Lautréamont, Mondrian, Dalí, Picasso… They were all connected with the work of mystics and occultists. “Brujería” is an album that shines in its conception as a whole and that’s how it needs to be listening to. Moving, wrenching, and universal; it is impossible not to fall under its spell.

Brujería

La Fuerza (feat. Los Planetas)

Morderte

Domingo Escarlata (feat. Los Planetas)

Nubes Negras

Me Envenenas

Miedo

¿Qué? (feat. Diego Ibáñez)

Déjame Entrar (feat. La Estrella De David)

Te Quiero

La Verdad

Intro: Hechizo Protector

Un Gatito

LA BIEN QUERIDA has gone from being one of Spanish pop’s biggest promises to being one of the most amazing realities that has hit the national panorama in years. “Romancero” has been acclaimed in all the press, earning covers of various publications (EP3, Mondo Sonoro, Plástica and El Obrero Digital), various praise and elegies, selected as one of the best albums of the year. Ana Fernández-Villaverde has already made her way across half of Spain as well as to a few other festivals (Primavera Sound, FIB, Contempopranea, South Pop Isla Cristina, etc.).

Here at Elefant we are continuing on with this incredible phenomenon with the release of a single called “9.6”, one of the most talked about songs because of the surprising disco-pop that the song gives us after those 45 seconds of acoustic introduction, meaning one of the compositions that has mutated the most from its original conception to its final result on the disc (this CD includes the demo version recorded at Ana’s house more than two years ago now). So the two remixes included on this new single celebrate this marked evolution: the remix by Guille Milkyway emits a sweet Motown only to finish in an amazing rhythmic game with a new and different musical conception, while the HIDROGENESSE remix takes the track much more boldly and brazenly and plays a fun game with the lyrics.

Finally, the release contains the video-clip made specifically for the song, directed by Luis Cerveró (one of the most important and innovative directors, responsible for video-clips for LOS PLANETAS, Christina Rosenvinge, LA ESTRELLA DE DAVID and Joe Crepúsculo). Cerveró takes full advantage of the song’s tone to give the video an air of clear eighties nostalgia and irony; Ana is incredible; David Rodríguez and Joe Crepúsculo shine with her like authentic italo-disco stars, simulating a live television performance, in the style of how it was done in the 80s. The final touch is the choreography that pays homage to Ballet Zoon and Valerio Lazarav, who recently passed away. There is no doubt that this year is “the year” of LA BIEN QUERIDA and 2010 promises even more to come!!!

9.6 (Versiones)

9.6 (En Casa De Ana)

9.6 (French Hot Dog)

9.6 (Milkyway Dreamy Mix)

Here at Elefant Records we were sure that LA BIEN QUERIDA’s new album was going to be a total celebration. Anyone who doubted that Ana Fernández-Villaverde could repeat the huge surprise that “Romancero” was with “Fiesta” have forgotten their lapse and are now elegizing the new album. And those who have already heard the new album are as crazy about it as we are. At Rockdelux, where “Fiesta” is the album of the month, Nando Cruz says that the album “certifies that the debut album was the beginning of one of the most admirable projects of our time”. On the website Je Ne Sais Pop, they affirm that LA BIEN QUERIDA “has worked on and been more careful with the lyrics, and while they are more complex now they still maintain their capacity to be so personal and intimate that we can identify with them from the very first listen”. And those are just a few examples of the album’s incredible reception both from fans and specialized critics.

We’re celebrating this success with the release of a limited-edition red-vinyl single (which will also have its corresponding digital release) that has one of the most outstanding and attention-getting songs of the album as its star, “Queridos Tamarindos”. The song is one of those on which Ana, now in the midst of tropical rhythms, once again shows us that almost no one beats her when it comes to speaking clearly and beautifully about matters of the heart. This song is accompanied by two previously unreleased oddities. The first is “No Es Terrestre”, dressed up by David Rodríguez (once again the producer for her new songs) with evanescent synthesizers and guitars rescued from the eighties. The other song, “Diferente”, is a small perversion of those summer songs, as the chorus lets us know: “en vacaciones todo es diferente” (on vacation, everything is different). And to top off this already marvellous gift to her fans, the album cover is a collage made by Ana herself, which hides an homage to the cover of THE CURE’s “Boys Don’t Cry”, one of her favourite groups.

Queridos Tamarindos

Diferente

No Es Terrestre

Yo No Soy Esa

With just a demo, Ana Fernández-Villaverde captivated thousands of music lovers. The songs start with a simple principle but also with a disarming beauty, fabulous poetry about falling in and out of love that remind us of Los Planetas but without the noise, Sr. Chinarro but without the irony, the sweetness of Le Mans, the bared feelings of The Magnetic Fields or the romanticism of Family. More than 150.000 listens on her Myspace led to first "Romancero" and then "Fiesta" being widely acclaimed albums in Spain, always supported by the production work of David Rodríguez (La Estrella de David, Beef).

"Ceremonia" is completely different from past works. A dark album, with a sound that uses the most innovative styles of the 70s, kraut-rock, post-punk, and the techno of Kraftwerk and New Order.

"Premeditación, Nocturnidad Y Alevosía" is clearly influenced by The Cure or OMD, but also by Chromatics, M83 or Franco Battiato.

"Fuego" is the most stylistically diverse of all the albums because musically there is a bit of everything we already know, but transgressed.

"Brujería" is the  sixth album. It is out in September 2019. This time the game of mirrors is radical. Because is probably the most open and direct about emotions, where the songs touch tangentially on the mystery to dive in more deeply lyrically and epically. It is an album about love, brutal and raw, without metaphors, as is her style. Darkness and light, and each song leads unequivocally into the next.

La Bien Querida

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