Photo credit: Teddy Fitzhugh

Ela Minus debuts new track "megapunk"

30th July 2020

Today, Colombia-born/raised and Brooklyn-based musician Ela Minus debuts her new single, “megapunk”. It follows “they told us it was hard, but they were wrong”, an invigorating single Minus released this spring that was recently remixed by Fort Romeau, DJ Python and buttechno.

“megapunk” is on the same motivating wavelength. It’s driven by an array of shifting instrumentation - blipping techno, a thumping drum beat, and Minus’ tempered vocals. Written last year and prescient given today’s progressive social movements, “megapunk” is defiant, and an encouraging reminder to surge forward, despite resistance: “you don’t want to understand // you’re choosing to lead us apart // but against all odds // you still won’t make us stop.”

Ela comments, “When I wrote this song last year, I was worried it would lose context if not released immediately. I could not have been more wrong. This is the perfect time to put this out. We have to keep going. Ánimo y fuerza.”

Watch the video for "megapunk" below.

Preceding her path of making electronic music, Ela drummed in a teenage hardcore band. She joined the band when she was just 12 and played with them for almost a decade. Then, Ela moved to the United States, where she attended Berklee College of Music and double-majored in jazz drumming and synthesizer design. This expansive background instilled in Ela a belief that we all have the power to change things, and as she delved deeper into her work with synthesizers, she saw a clear connection between the freedom of the DIY scene she grew up in and club culture.

Ela uses only hardware synthesizers to perform, write, produce and record. Her music exudes a vibrant warmth, and a stark, celebratory affirmation that our breaths aren't infinite.

Watch Ela Minus' Remezcla "Hardware" episode HERE

Praise for "they told us it was hard, but they were wrong":

"By the song’s intensifying conclusion, you realize that the title 'they told us it was hard, but they were wrong' should be taken seriously, that there is something life-affirming coursing through it. The colors haven’t changed by that point. Ela Minus just knows how to locate rejuvenation within them.” - Stereogum Best Songs of the Week

"‘they told us…’ features electronics built virtuosically to explode in dramatic yet grounded form.” - Remezcla

"her uplifting words become an intoxicating and empowering mantra when repeated over the song's whirring, celestial synths and throbbing beat.” - Gorilla Vs. Bear