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The New British Invasion (In Heels)
England is currently spinning out a new generation of hot female musical ingenues, who bare little resemblance to the girl troupes of yore (urphem....The Spice Girls?) or the behived Motown soulsters Duffy and Amy Winehouse (at least before rehab.)
LITTLE BOOTS
Rather, these girls are crafting bold, rebellious jams - using an arsenal of instruments, electronic gadgets, and/or vocal tricks to bait you hook, line, and sinker. Rather than play sweetly and softly, these gals have all got wit and a bit of seductive cheek to them so their tunes, whether pop, electro or folk-based, seem to be winking at you to come play....or come hither.....
In other words, if music industry ever had a glass cieling, these british babes are shattering it.
LA ROUX:
La Roux is a British electropop synth duo band made up of red-head pixie Elly Jackson and co-writer/co-producer Ben Langmaid. But it is Elly's voice that reins supreme in each track - slicing through the synths and hovering distinctly over the pulsing bass. It's little surprise they are signed to the uber-fly French Label Kitsune and UK's Polydor.
Recommended tracks: Quicksand, In For the Kill, Bulletproof (see video below)
Fun Facts: La Roux is French slang for "red-haired one" (although the actual French would be "La Rousse").
LITTLE BOOTS:
Named after the racy film Caligula directed by the infamous playboys Giancarlo Lui and Penthouse Magazine founder Bob Guccione, (i.e. Caligula means Little Boots in Latin), Victoria Hesketh (i.e. Little Boots) never purported to be too innocent. Little Boots' crisp, seductive electro-pop has an addictive gets-stuck-in-head-for-days quality - due to a creative melding of keyboard, piano, stylophone and the quirky electronic beatmaker the Tenori-on.
Recommended tracks: Stuck On
Fun Facts: At the NME awards party, Hesketh was caught on camera "snogging" with Florence Welch of Florence and The Machine (see below) in a nightclub. Victoria insists this was a one-time phenomenon (as well as insisting there's anything wrong with that...) Cheeky indeed!
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE:
Once the "“the weird girl at the back of the class”, Florence Welch of Florence And the Machine now is a Brit-award winning red-haired renegade, blessed with a cherubic voice that sounds as cute and innocent as Kate Nash. No worries, Florence balances her cute, romantic side with a fierce affinity to rock out loud.
Note: Her debut album, Lungs, hits the states July 7th (digital) and hits stores on October.
Recommended tracks: Kiss With A Fist, Dog Days Are over, Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up).
Fun Facts: She claims to have OCD, ADD — and dysmetria (i.e. inability to tell spatial distances.) Said Florence, "I mean, I couldn’t tell you if that wall is 5ft or 50ft away."
BAT FOR LASHES
Bat for Lashes is in fact sleek, stylish English musician Natasha Khan (born 25 October 1979) - who looks like Katie Holmes' sister (who wears feathers and glitter) but makes haunting, gypsy ballads that are are filled with dreamy lyrics, bells, glockenspiels, keyboard and delicate harp. Live she performs onstage with more instruments than you can pronounce...On paper, she's frequently compared to Björk, PJ Harvey, and Fiona Apple. Divine.
Recommended tracks: Glass, Priscella, Daniel
Fun Facts: You'd NEVER guess, but she used to be a nursery school teacher.
NEXT POST: MADONNA PAUL OAKENFOLD COLLABORATE (AGAIN)
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COMMENTS
“I love La Roux and the song is wicked! I am from the UKand i can say that the music in the charts at the moment is banging :) Still love Amy Wino though her music totally rocks!!!!!!!!!!”
