Hemme Fatale - “Peryglus Lucifer”
Hemme Fatale (they know that’s not the correct french, and they don’t care) are 2 girls and a guy from Cardiff that met while temping at a private agency. The three of them make up another one of those electro-pop bands that are all the rage at the moment, and they’re just as good as any of the others. Though the obvious and exaggerated 80s influences set them a little higher than the others (if that’s your thing, at least). My favourite part about these guys is how they describe themeselves on their MySpace page:
One day we hope to rescue Britney from her celebrity hell and take her down [W]etherspoons for a gas, but for now we’re just making some pop songs[.]
This song is the last song to be completed for their Silent Sleepover EP. It’s an excellent, bouncy track that features “fists in the air 80’s saxophone” and Aled Phillips of Kids in Glass Houses providing the male vocals.
The full EP and a remix of Modernaire’s “Fait Tes Jeux” are downloadable from their MySpace page. If you like what you hear, and happen to be a Cardiff local, you can catch them at the Hell’s Bent Festival, a 7-hour festival, on the 20th June.
Roxy Music - Do the Strand
I’m still not sure how to “do the Strand”. I gather that it’s some imaginary dance tied up with teenage rebellion that makes one’s body jerk around spastically yet gracefully to the urbane, glam rock sounds of Roxy Music.
This song might be from 1973 but it’s timeless in its ability to make us all dance like no one’s watching. And feel that we look really, really cool while doing so.
While most dance tracks repeat rehashed mantras like “Oh yeah, get down” over and over as if they offer the key to nirvana, Roxy frontman Bryan Ferry peppers the joyful absurdity of the song with intellectual references like “Mona Lisa” and “Lolita.” It’s like an education during perspiration or something. Most of Roxy Music’s songs are rooted in an avant garde approach to rock music, but this doesn’t make them less accessible.
Their music remains pleasurable on any listening level, and I consider them one of the greatest rock bands ever. Maybe you will (or do) too.
