La Roux - 'In For The Kill'
It seems apt to be listening to this now, as it's , and people all over the country are raiding the dressing-up box. Why, from my seat, as I write this, I can see a room full of ±«Óãtv employees who are dressed up in '80s clothing. I have already personally witnessed excessive back-combing, leg-warmers, ridiculous shoulder-pads and pushed up suit jacket sleeves. Hell, someone's even wearing a pencil moustache!
So, even though La Roux is not attempting to do anything funny for money (on this song at any rate, for all I know she may have spent yesterday sitting in a bath of cold beans and clutching a sponsorship form), her music - which could not be more '80s if was covered in hairspray and smelled of Um Bongo (they drink it in the Congo) - is entirely appropriate to the strange sights which are dancing before my very eyes.
In a way, it seems a shame that electropop like this will always conjure up mental images of the 'early '80s. At the time, it was the Sound Of The Future, now it is the Sound Of The Past (even though the people making it are essentially trying to recreate that forward-looking robo-joy), which means it has never quite managed to be the Sound Of The Now.
(. It's like Blade Runner meets Top Gear.)
And yet, that shivery juxtaposition of tick-tock clockwork electronica with passionate, frail, all-too-human vocals is one of the greatest pleasures pop music has ever thrown up. Nothing ironic or camp about it, nothing retro or silly. Ask Robyn, all you need to do is break your own heart while something which does not care ticks away in the background. Instant goosebumps...or, as a dear friend of mine calls them, "hoosepooples".
Plus, the best electropop always sounds a little bit homemade, a smidge rough around the edges, and Mademoiselle Roux has captured this perfectly. The flyaway pop melody takes her unvarnished wail slightly out of her comfortable singing range, so you can hear the strain as she sings, and that's sometimes a very nice sound. Not always though (Johnny Borrell, I am looking at you).
In summary, DO give money to , but DON'T confuse pop brilliance with self-mocking irony. 'K?
Download: Out now
CD Released: March 16th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comment number 1.
At 18th Mar 2009, thranjax wrote:Youtube he say "This video is not available in your country". Have I moved without knowing it? I am in England. I think. There was that tornado and now some pointy shoes sticking out from under the house.
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Comment number 2.
At 21st Mar 2009, spirit wrote:This song is poor on so many many levels.......... this does not show progression from the 80s..... this does not stand anywhere near soft cell.... yazoo.... pet shop boys etc
Everything about this song is poor..... it will not be a hit.
Do not start me on the backing music...
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Comment number 3.
At 22nd Mar 2009, spirit wrote:WOW this song is number 11....I did not see that coming.. the backing sounds like a bontempi keyboard at an 80s wedding!
Oh well thats what music great ,differing tastes and personal opinion etc... her vocals are growing on me as well.... oh no now I AM HUMMING THE CHORUS.... that comment yesterday was a little hasty.... still don't like the backing though sounds like early HUMAN LEAGUE around 1979..... mind you I liked them...... fight it spirit fight it ..........
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Comment number 4.
At 25th Mar 2009, spirit wrote:oh and miss roux looks gorgeous in the vid ! wow ! still sounds like a bontempi keyboard though !
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Comment number 5.
At 26th Mar 2009, thranjax wrote:Yes, but it is still not available in my country.
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Comment number 6.
At 5th Apr 2009, spirit wrote:OK this song is now number 7 !!!
It has grown on me a little and I can see why its a hit... its like the saying do not judge a song on first listen....... you must let it seep into the fabric of your life and then make an opinion.... I was too hasty.....
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