	EL HIJO Canciones gringas CD-EP [nois060]

	TEX LA HOMA INTO TIMELESS SHADOWS CD-EP [nois 059]

	JUNE PANIC BELLYBUTTONLESS BOY CD-EP [nois 044]

	FROG EYES THE FUTURE IS INTER-DISCIPLINARY OR NOT AT ALL CD-EP [nois 055]

	XIU XIU TU MI PIACI CD-EP [nois058]

	MAQUILADORA THE GULF CD-EP [nois 057]

	TARA JANE O' NEIL A RAVELING CD-EP [nois 056]

	THIS SONG IS A MESS AND... MARBLE MOUTH CD-EP [nois 051]

	El Hijo La piel del oso CD-EP [nois053]

	Tartufi Trouble CD-EP [nois052]

	Darren Hayman Cortinaland CD-EP [nois050]

	WINDSOR FOR THE DERBY Confianza / Visiones CD-EP [nois048]

	BURD EARLY Falling Feather CD-EP [nois 046]

	APSE apse CD-EP [nois 047]

	Aroah En el patio interior mini CD [nois049]

	The Strugglers The Fair Store CD-EP [nois042]

	Xiu Xiu Fleshettes Cd-ep [nois045]

	Rivulets you've got your own Cd-ep [nois040] “You’ve Got Your Own” is a sensational EP featuring what is probably the most focused Rivulets to date: five compelling and emotional songs, stemming from a guitar with old wood reminiscences and haunted vocals bordering between whispers and agonic vibrations. The heartfelt emotion is accompanied by gorgeous vocal chorus reinforcements, airy suspended chords and the tense sonic storm of “Let It Go”, on which Nathan beats the hell out of a drumset in the best tradition of SWANS. Five all-new songs, which could be compared to those of Mark Hollis, Neil Halstead, Nick Drake, Richard Youngs, and the Cure (“shadow of a ghost”), all of which adhere to an astonishing expressiveness. Obliging nobility…

	The Clientele Ariadne Cd-ep [nois039]

	The Decemberists The Tain Cd-ep [nois038] You could label “The Tain” as an unpredictable composition. What’s more, unpredictable from various points of view: as if an EP with one only song, divided into five different movements, wasn’t original enough (even though it’s 18 minutes long), the piece is very loosely based on the Celtic mythology cycle of the same name. Most known in its translation by Irish poet Thomas Kinsella, the Tain (or Tain Bo Cualnge) tells of the Cattle Raid of Cooley, in which the noted witch-queen Maeb attempts to wrestle a Great White Bull from the clutches of a northern king. Their re-telling, however, is very abstract and not strange to the sensitivity (both musical and in terms of literature) of The Decemberists, which are a creative group rather than a music band in the strictest sense of the word. Stemming from a concept conceived by Colin Meloy, who was born in Helena (Montana)but moved to Portland, The Decemberists turned into a rock band by bringing together the talent of Rachel Blumberg (drums), Nate Query (bass guitar), Jenny Conlee (accordion and keyboards) and Chris Funk (electric guitar and pedal steel guitar). Guided by Meloy’s melodic instinct and narrative pulse (he does hold a degree in creative writing), the band’s first step is a five-song EP, with the suggestive title of “Five Songs”, released by themselves in 2001 and re-issued a year later, together with debut album “Castaways and Cutouts” by the Portland Hush label. Then, in 2003, fabulous and rebellious label Kill Rock Stars takes an interest in this peculiar group; it distributes their first LP internationally releases their second step, “Her Majesty The Decemberists”. They are widely acclaimed, and their pop streak leads to cliché comparisons with groups such as Belle & Sebastian (harmonic sensitivity) and Neutral Milk Hotel (healthy schizophrenia). But The Tain is also related to Built to Spill’s skill for rock-art or to Clem Snide’s slightly ironic traditional renewal. They always, however, maintain a beat of their own. As in “The Tain”, which are five songs in one. A hurricane that starts up with acoustic lament of porch music backed up by the muscley riff of rock’n’roll and wrapped in a cloak of celestial choirs and melodramatic chords, which takes advantage of a piano and seducing female vocals to recreate the best port cabaret, just before biting its tail and losing it amongst martial drum beats and ending with a return to the vitamin-overflowing guitars that conceived the piece. Unpredictable? Yes, thank you.

	Early Day Miners The Sonograph EP CD-EP [nois037]

	The Album Leaf Seal Beach cd-ep [nois036]

	Manta Ray Take a Look Cd-EP [nois033]

	Greg Weeks Slightly West Cd-EP [nois029] Greg Weeks is an acoustic folk musician whose definition of the genre has grown terribly askew. Rock and experimental elements infuse much of his nocturnal daydream tinkering, provoking musics which at times lull, challenge, and undermine his listeners and their expectations of what the disheveled singer-songwriter is all about. The Rochester (NY) native´s songs sound like lost chamber folk treasures of the late-'60s psychedelic era. Combining finger-picked guitar, Moog, Mellotron, harmonium, and string arrangements, he creates dense, thoughtful songs reminiscent of Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, and Tim Buckley. The new Acuarela EP is all continental drift and Morricone flash symphonics, unfurling fluidic-like under a darkening moon. Past efforts have struck dread in the hearts of the chamber-folk set, with _Awake Like Sleep_'s world weariness challenging the sun to shine each morning (and thankfully losing this stand-off). The dark and dreamy album evokes the haunting work of Nico and even pays homage to her sublime version of Jackson Browne's "These Days" with an opening song with the same title.

	Jacques Romantic cd-ep [nois025] Some guys are a bit hard to follow. Anthony Reynolds is that type. He is the man behind Jack, the fanatic of crooner aesthetics (check out those pictures of him: booze, seduction and sexuality used to wrap the line between grandiose and hilarious around his little finger!). While vigorously following the trail of classic French glamour he is a very unique frontman, just ask anyone present at the past Benicassim music festival and they will testify that the man just can’t hold still. Jack’s history, as they explain it in parts I, II and II, is diverse, so let’s try to keep it short. Their debut in long playing format was “Pioneer Soundtracks”, another addition to Too Pure’s impeccable catalog after several 7 inch releases, where they would have to face accusations of being no more than the new Scott Walker disciples. But determination triumphed, and their song “White Jazz” became a legend in it’s time, the year 1996. But then the band arrived at an impasse and Reynolds reinvented himself as Jacques. During the year 1997 the release of the 7 inch “Five Finger Discount” in collaboration with Kirk Lake, and the following LP “How to Make Love Volume I” both appeared on Setanta, thanks to Momus. But everything couldn’t be left to the hands of the (illegitimate?) brother, so the next year witnessed the birth of two new Jack albums on Too Pure: the EP “Lolita” and the LP “The Jazz Age”. The releases brought in a new crop of favorable reviews but did not improve the band’s relationship with the label. A new year arrived and the poorer relative (basically because of the number of band members) released the 7 inch “Faster than Beauty”. 2000 was celebrated with “Blue Party”, a new Jaques single as an advance on the Setanta release “To Stars”. But even such bustling activity couldn’t secure a firm relationship with the label and both marriages came to an end, Jack left Too Pure and Jacques parted with Setanta. But it’s never too late if you know where too look, and Mr. Reynolds seems like an expert at finding. While Elefant became home to a Jack single; “La Belle et la Discothèque” became the new Jack EP on… Acuarela! … and so the band ended it’s hyperactive year 2000. Two years later Jack disembark on Les Disques du Crépuscule, with the long player “The End of the Way It’s Always Been”, a record received with much warmth and respect. So now I ask myself, dizzy from turning from one side to the other, whatever happened to Jacques? And the answer is before my very eyes, he is here again. “Romantic” is the new EP by the project where Reynold’s leans closer to Scott and becomes more intimate, folkier and country tinged where Jack is grandiloquent and theatrical, very theatrical. Though the theater is here too: his south of the border reconstruction of Migala’s “Primera Parada”, with some vocals and new arrangements turn the song into a Lee Hazlewood goes to - Spaghetti Western homeland -Almería. Then he aims it at Lorca –is he portrayed on the record?- in “Serenade”, where acoustic beauty could be easily be linked to Ryan Adams. “All of me Loves a Little Piece of You” leads Reynolds dramatically, sick, to a bed of lowdown techno-pop charged with jumpy congas. “Winterpollen”, a collaboration with Richard Bell is a deliciously soft acoustic bit that is likely to become a true standard. “Theme from ‘Last Night in Tremorfa’”, is an instrumental piece that ends this limited edition cd with the lament of some faraway train rail. Rarely can so many faces unite on one the same side of a disc, and it’s even rarer for all of these to be so extraordinarily entertaining.

	The Zephyrs The Love That Will Guide You Back Home cd-ep [nois024] From out of the half light (and Edinburgh) come the Zephyrs, a band set to redefine one's idea of truthfully great music. This is the sound of malcontents crafting songs of such beauty it brings a tear to the eye; sweet country music ingrained with a desolate Scottish spirit. Some history. Brothers Stuart and David Nicol are the founding fathers. They drew inspiration from their dad hammering out country LPs on the stereo throughout their childhood. They would fight to get hold of his acoustic guitar and along the way they learned to play. They forged a unique sound. "When The Sky Comes Down It Comes Down On Your Head", their second album after the limited release of "It's OK Not To Say Anything", achieved the kind of magic that one can barely stand to witness. Natural and consistent it embraces the past (folk and country scents, arpeggios, and pedal steel), a gathering of exquisite references (the sound layers of Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine), and a total control of the dynamics of their songs (the sadcore pause, the slow reflection). All spiced by the wise and innocent tranquillity of the lyrics and some inspired contributions from Rachel Goswell (Mojave 3), Adele Bethel (Arab Strap) and Sean O' Hagan (High Llamas). "The love that will guide you back home" EP (recorded exclusively for Acuarela) features a remix of "I came for that" by Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai) and a new recording of "Obeyessekere" (both songs off their sold-out first album), together with two previously unreleased songs. With only a small budget the tracks were recorded in Stuart´s bedroom and mixed by their friend Michael Brennan in his spare room. The resultant recordings are pretty, intimate and spontaneous. They start out by wrapping us in a thin and almost angelic warmness (crossed arpeggios, voices like Neil Young floating on a sea of reverb, short ribbons that don't seem strange because they are in just the right place), showing sensitivity in three home-made nostalgic doses full of ethereal choruses. Until on the fourth and last chain in the link they give us six minutes of ambient, spacious music winding itself up to a storm in the most logical, gradual and necessary way. Here are four more steps for a band in a state of grace. "Music that transplants cello, brass and drum loops to thar wide-open spaces" The Face. "Ragged, shimmering psychedelia working in perfect harmony" NME

	Sr. Chinarro La tapia de perejil cd-ep [nois027] Just a couple of months before finishing the recording of Sr. Chinarro’s sixth album, Antonio Luque giave us the last chapter of his EP trilogy, that started with “La pena máxima” (2000) and was followed by “La casa encima” (2001). Five songs with enigmatic titles, like “25 W de una idea”, “Equivale a 0, 58 L”, and “Fusibles 3 M”. A twisted comeback, in which he plays all the instruments. The sound of this EP seems to be the product of Luque’s brain interferences, lame emotions, choked feelings, and headless sensations. This time the lyrics refer to popular characters like Superman, and Betty la fea (the cinderella of a Colombian soap opera), and to real and imaginary places of the most clichéd Andalucía. And when you think you are about to have a hint of a smile, the predominance of keyboards over the guitars and the hangman chords leaves you exhausted, overwhelmed, wondering what’s going on, wondering what has happened.

	Emak Bakia Un Cuerpo Extraño cd-ep [nois030] There are people with a personal universe. With ideas so clear that we can't talk about a collage, but a blend. Natural and effective. Eclecticism signs, self-criticism and eagerness to better themselves. Emak Bakia's work had something of this. Seriousness, perspective and commitment. Knowledge of their self boundaries and foreign discoveries. Emak Bakia is a violin pegbox with a hair shrub that pulls itself away. A strange movie. A Man Ray's gift. An almost untranslatable Basque expression, that oscillates between the tranquillity, peace and the feminine (without knowing which are the limits that we will draw from such terms). Emak Bakia was a genuine "bedroom project" that Abel Hernández and Coque Yturriaga assembled together in five years during their artistic stages and musical activity with Migala, the most popular indie Spanish band outside Spain. It was also an intentions melting pot, from the gloomy abstraction of Third Eye foundation to the smoke of Lee Scratch Perry, through the most interesting European cinema from the past century. Those Emak Bakia, gave birth to two albums, "Jane" and "Después" (published in 1999 and 2000), and also to a song that was included in the "Acuarela Songs" compilation, that made more than one person shout: "That's the song of the year, for God's sake! A few weeks ago, during their concert at the Primavera Sound Festival, they gave us the hint of what Emak Bakia is now. A new history, that with the official addition of David Fernández (the superb drummer of Aroah), has become a trio. A band that runs away from the studio work, from those sonorous documents, fruits of the accumulation and the superimposition of tracks, to lean with more freedom to explore than before in a labour of test - performance, in more organic exercises, that are based more than anything, in the instruments that they can play in live shows. A band that wants to multiply their frequencies and is hunger for being onstage. In that festival show (and in the one a few days after in the VPRO radio, in Amsterdam) they played the new songs of "Un Cuerpo Extraño", their new CD-EP, where Thalia Zedek and Miguel Marín (ex-Piano Magic) are collaborating. Puzzles with the body of a song. Of course, according to their own standards. Songs, because we can identify a melodic guide, a guitar, lyrics (all of them in English). A pop sense, that in their hands, ends referring to themselves. Because if we add Zedek´s raw voice, which melts in a microelectronic cloak, to a scraped guitar, that acts as a guide for hyperactive drums that remind of the rhythmic exuberance of Long Fin Killie, and it makes sense, we are talking about their own trademark. They start martial and dark (Abel's voice more throaty this time), and continue ceremonial and lighted, then they aim to tension, sadness and tender lies, to end with cathedral monstrosity. Everything in order. Two new songs and two remakes, that makes us wonder what we will have after. After what? After the current Emak Bakia. Oh, of course.

	Tara Jane O´Neil The Joy Of... cd-ep [nois031] Alter playing the bass with Rodan, pioneers of post-rock and post-hardcore, Tara has formed bands like The Sonora Pine and Retsin (with the writer Cynthia Nelson), and has colaborated with Sebadoh, Papa M, Come, Low and Ida. Her two solo albums "In the Sun Lines" (2001) and "Peregrine" (2000) have a mixture of rural sounds, pop, tropicana and melodies that remind of Joni Mitchell, Brian Eno and Dusty Springfield, always under the cloak of Tara's magnetism, also present in one of the songs of the "Acuarela Songs" compilation. Now, in the 4 songs of "The Joy Of..." the charming songwriter gives us her warmest and experimental side: post-folk, phrases that go straight to the heart, an undercover cover and an instrumental piece that has a bit of Insides/Seefeel and loads of isolationism. At the end, something is crystal clear: her guitar burns in less than 19 minutes and then she composes with splinters and ashes.

	Flow Artes Marcianas cd-ep [nois026] Flow are back. After a long tour in Spain that was interrupted by an unfortunate van accident, the band releases a four track Ep as an appetizer of their forthcoming new album. Two years away from their sparkling and sunny “Sensazione”, they are aiming for a new direction, the blend of pop and electronic music. "Tenemos la fiesta", the opening track, is an ironic song with traces of Astrud and Carlos Berlanga. "Un verano abstracto" is a beautiful piano driven song of love and despair. "Artes marcianas" is a way-too-nice instrumental track, that captures the essence of the so called indie tech. A perfect and round pop melody that floats in electronic soft loops, somewhere between Lali Puna and Her space holiday. A must have music kit for your bedroom atmosphere, sonic devices to dance and dream in the same box.

	The Clientele Lost Weekend cd-ep [nois020] The London quartet formed halfway through 1997 and has released a steady stream of singles, compilation contributions, and mini-EPs since then. The A Fading Summer EP on March Records collected some of those, and 2001's gorgeous 13-song Suburban Light full-length on Merge collected most of the rest. The Clientele's dreamy torpor will undoubtedly remind some of Galaxie 500, but their overall mood is a bit less whimsical, a bit more fey. They too owe a debt to the arty avant-garde '70s rock of Television and The Velvet Underground, but they owe an even greater debt to the bouncy melodic pop of the late '60s, recalling everyone from The Beatles to Tommy James and the Shondells to Simon and Garfunkel to The Lovin' Spoonful to The Byrds. Nostalgic though their music is, however, The Clientele unquestionably have a distinctive approach, effortlessly building a pleasant, floating, insulated little world you get lost in right away. It's not a bad place to be. Since the release of Suburban Light, The Clientele has stayed busy, touring extensively throughout both the U.S. and Europe. Recording their five-track 2002 Lost Weekend EP (Acuarela), according to the band inspired by the poetics of a hangover, was an arduous process involving considerably re-recording and cutting, but the output is pure magic. There are only three conventional songs here (plus one ambient track and one instrumental piano-based track), but the material is as tenebrously lovely as anything the group has done before.

	Ian Crause Head over heels cd-ep [nois023] Second single penned by the genius of Ian Crause, ex-leader of Disco Inferno, recorded exclusively for Acuarela. "Head over Heels" (Acuarela, 2002) means three excellent and addictive pieces of pop with technology used only to outline the compositions. Further down the road their creator had taken years before, tightening around his fixation for New Order/Joy Division but in a more personal way, with his voice more present and a brighter production. The single seems to confirm Ian Crause's return to musical activity, called for by bands like Hood or Piano Magic. This time his return might be for good.

	Sr. Chinarro La casa encima cd-ep [nois018]

	Retsin Moon money moon cd-ep [nois022] This unassuming outfit began playing cockeyed folk along the lines of Palace, Freakwater, and Ida in the first half of the 1990s. Though Appalachia is culturally and geographically miles away from the Old World, the Madrid-based label Acuarela saw something that sparked their interest and issued "Moon Money Moon" in the states and abroad. This is Retsin's fifth disc and finds Tara Jane O'Neil Cynthia Nelson covering some of the same ground as on previous releases. Acoustic guitar, banjo, and accordian accompany Retsin's eerily constructed melodies. The songs wax primaeval gothic evoking the Carter Family (without the fundamentalist preachments) and have a certain naive quality about them not unlike the Shaggs. All the tunes seem to be recorded with devices as primitive as the genre itself. These elements make for an unsteady, wintery, and dark EP.

	Mus Aida cd-ep [drl116cd]

	Mus Aida mx [drl116lp]

	Sodastream In between times cd-ep [nois021] Formed from the ashes of two Perth bands, Lunacy and Thermos Cardy in 1997, Sodastream released records on Aquamudvuv, Pickled Egg, Bad Jazz, Tugboat,.... and toured around the world. "In between Times" is exclusively on Acuarela and features 4 unreleased songs in the vein of Nick Drake, early Belle and Sebastian and Love.

	Bitter Springs Stop the world cd-ep [nois017] Resolutely self-determining, The Bitter Springs have been writing, recording, and performing their music for more than 20 years. 4 albums and 6 singles along the line - recorded for the highly regarded VESPERTINE, DISHY, WURLITZER JUKEBOX and, ahem, ACUARELA- the Springs' prolific song writing and emphatic recording, accompanied by critical acclaim, continues... Chesty coughs, crumpled duvets and terminal trips to the vet. Yes, for Bitter Springs, it's all about living the dream. Five men who seem to have spent more than a few quiet evenings in with disenchantment, they are unsurprisingly still a bit touchy about their 'noble failures' tag. This new exclusive EP on Acuarela (after the praised “Best Bakers on the island” of late 2000) speaks of squalid, chilly dressing rooms, carbon monoxide poisoning from hired rivers, the worrying creep of time and an admirably stubborn refusal to give it up. Belonging to that tenderly blokeish subgenus who see life half through the bottom of a glass and half through grime-tinted spectacles, on the new songs of “Stop the world” they manage that trick of hitting little epiphanies on the gum-spotted pavements.

	Aroah Cuando termines con todo, habrá terminado contigo cd-ep [nois013] After opening for For Stars, Migala, and Tristeza and participating in the recording of “Arde” (Migala) the half Spanish, half North-American Irene R. Tremblay - Aroah – finally delivered her debut Cd-ep titled “When you finish with everything it will have finished with you”. It featured 6 classics songs with an “uncanny atmosphere”, produced and mixed by Abel and Coque of Migala and Emak Bakia: “"Fade", "Come Home", "Mi sitio está aquí", "320", "Recuerdos" and "Eder, Simone". Singing both in Spanish and English, the 20 years old sonic songwriter blends personal issues with inventive arrangements and folk-like guitars, in the vein of Catpower, Will Oldham, Joni Mitchell or Sleater-Kinney.

	Spokane Close Quarters cd-ep [nois016]

	Viva las Vegas / Chris Brokaw spit EP split cd-ep [nois019] After playing both drums and guitar in some of the most influential bands of the \'90s (Codeine and Come, as well as the Steve Wynn band, The Willard Grant Conspiracy, Pullman, and The New Year), Chris Brokaw now makes his solo debut on a split ep co-released with Acuarela Records that also features Spain\'s Viva Las Vegas. \"Bricks,\" a tour-de-force clocking in at less than four minutes, is the dire tale of one man\'s dark journey splendidly delivered by Brokaw\'s artless vocals and Crazy Horse guitars, with assistance on the bittersweet \"li-da-di\" chorus courtesy of longtime collaborator Thalia Zedek. \"La Playa\" is a ruminative Fahey-ish instrumental that grows lovelier with every listen. Viva las Vegas is the band formed by José Luis Aguado and Frank Rudow, singer and percussionist respectively of Manta Ray, one of Spain\'s most inspired and critically acclaimed independent bands. There\'s plenty of post-something (see Royal Trux, Come, Sunny Day Real Estate, or Modest Mouse) here, with a feel that\'s noticeably European a la Mr. Gainsbourg. But in spite of its conceptually brainy origins, this is truly music that touches the heart.

	For Stars Airline People cd-ep [nois014]

	Jack La belle et la discotheque cd-ep [noi010]

	Sr. Chinarro La pena máxima cd-ep [nois008]

	Flow Sindy, mi amor cd-ep [nois007] Before their album "Sensazione" was released, Flow opened for Los Planetas (the most popular indie group in Spain) Sebadoh and Marine Research with notable success, and published the single "Sindy, mi Amor". Its launch marked their return to the music scene after an absence of several years and their amicable break with Elefant.

	Mus Zuna cd-ep [nois002] First Mus release in 1997, still under the influence of trip-hop, post-pop and soundtracks, which will appeal to fans of Stereolab or Pram.

	Revolution 9 Now that your lover has gone cd-ep [nois001] John Moore was once drummer in the Jesus and Mary Chain and now plays guitar and write songs in Black Box Recorder with Luke Haines of The Auteurs . This was his 3rd solo, Spanish only release.