Video: Pegasvs - "Brillar"

As soon as Pegasvs’ gorgeous vinyl hit our door, we felt like it needed to be in a gold mosaic frame (after a few dozen spins of course). With almost half of 2012 behind us, Pegasvs’ debut album is still the most accomplished record we’ve heard this year. Up to now, the band had kept a minimalistic aesthetic approach but, with the vigilance of transgressive production house CANADA, they’ve stretched their crescendos to gleaming visual hues. When we called Sergio and Luciana a pair of Renaissance artists, these images are close to what we had in mind. “Brillar” (a melody with flying wings) evokes a sci-fi saga where knights hold the guard but relinquish to a woman’s beauty. As audacious as it is ambitious, this clip has a spectral poise from bone to skin–a colossal awakening achieved through an immaculate valiance.

Video: Alex Anwandter - "Cómo puedes vivir contigo mismo?"

Continuing the cycle of the passionately awe-inspiring Rebeldes, Chilean pop genius Alex Anwandter keeps taking giant steps and sets the ideal template for this upcoming summer with the official release of colossal second single, “Cómo puedes vivir contigo mismo?” The track, which made its way onto our best songs of 2011 list, feels like the next logical promotional choice in a record replete with hits. Its accompanying video is a faithful tribute to Jennie Livingston’s legendary documentary about ball culture in New York during the '80s, Paris Is Burning. With a present day bar in Santiago de Chile as the setting, the second visual installment from the artist's label, 5AM, gracefully pays homage to this transcendent work, both in style and spirit (including a mini heart-throbbing testimony that could’ve been extracted from the film itself). A fervent defender of gay rights, Anwandter reintroduces a valuable document of the LGBT community and cinema with the excellent production we’ve come to expect from him. Download the single and remixes from Rebolledo and Tony Gallardo & DJ Nombre Apellido at Anwandter's website. http://www.alexanwandter.com/

Matilda Manzana – "Pez Espada"

Matilda Manzana’s brand of fragile tropigaze has always flirted with pop music. But the past year, as seen in his recent collaborations and left-field, often brilliant covers, prove that things are getting pretty serious. This courtship is especially evident in the new single from his upcoming album Conjuntos Cartográficos. “Pez Espada” is a song that indeed recalls a visit under the sea. A swim right along the ocean floor, where marine life dances and the sun’s light rays are refracted into beautiful patterns. Between the drums (courtesy of Tony Gallardo) and the kazoos, Óscar Rodríguez builds up a soundscape that hints at something fantastic but ends just before exploring what it is. Like any glimpse underwater, it lasts only until the need for air takes over and one is forced to leave.

♫♫♫ "Pez Espada"

Video: SraSrSra - "Putos Señora"

As the ongoing stream of intriguing releases by bands from northern Spain doesn’t seem to stop, Discotéca Océano’s own minimal (in every possible way) punk duo SraSrSra dropped the first video for their upcoming LP Puchao. While most Spanish mediums have been describing it as a spoof-like homage to cine quinqui (a subgenre of crime film that emerged in Spain in the late '70s and '80s), those living on the eastern side of the Atlantic, and born after 1985, might think more of a sort of Captain Ahab doing their own Starsky & Hutch remake. Compressing a baiting series of shenanigans in their less-than-two-minute clip (funniest ones have to be the laser-firing woman and the lone subtitled frame), the song and its video start to reveal themselves not only as the visceral experience one would expect from garage or punk rock, but rather as something far more intriguing and uncommon: conflating the genre’s bare musical structures and stripped-down instrumentations into plain visual and lyrical absurdity.

Los Claveles - "Estafas"

How excited are we to present the new single of Los Claveles? Well, considering they delivered the best song of 2011, yes, we are very excited. The stakes are high for any band that crafts an instant classic, but it’s especially remarkable when it comes from a band that has yet to release a debut album. Over the past four years the Madrid rockers have released a handful of singles, splits, and EPs, making a memorable repertoire with discrete resources. The time has come for Los Claveles to make the big step—releasing a proper full-length album with proper production values and, in the meantime, moving their craft from outbursts of novelty to referential.

“Estafas” is Los Claveles’ first promotional single off their forthcoming debut album, Mesetario (out via Gramaciones Grabofonicas in June, and on presale now). The band makes a few statements in this song. First, the development of a pristine production—they sound less nostalgic, but it’s a smart move as the glaze is accessible enough to push them into the elite of Spanish indie rockers. The other obvious extension is in the band’s approach to form—Los Claveles releasing a song that’s four minutes and a half speaks of a band that’s ready for the maximization of their scope. “Estafas” is a purification piece that slathers aural beauty with measure and clarity. Los Claveles are still string fetishists, and for that we’re eternally grateful.

♫♫♫ "Estafas"