La Femme

One Liner: French-language indie pop
Wikipedia Genre: New wave, cold wave, krautrock, psychedelic punk, psychedelic pop, surf rock, yéyé
Spotify Says Similar To: Lescop and Juniore
Home: Biarritz, France

Poster Position: 16
Slot: ?

Thoughts: Man, I know I should be more worldly and cool, but when a band comes on that isn't in English, its like when I get a new disc from Netflix (yes, I still have the disc plan, I am 80 years old, get offa my lawn) and it is a subtitled flick that I must have put in my queue on someone else's recommendation, and now I'm stuck with this disc taking up my movie-watching space for 3 days and I either suffer through reading everything or I just send it back and feel defeated.  Although I will say that the Argentinean movie Wild Tales was pretty awesome.

Anyhoo, before I get to the band, what the hell are those genres that Wikipedia claims for this band? Well, I know what some of those terms mean, but let us do a touch of investigation here:

• New wave - "New wave moved away from smooth blues and rock and roll sounds to create pop music that incorporated electronic and experimental music, mod and disco. Initially new wave was similar to punk rock, before becoming a distinct genre."
• cold wave - "a French variant of post-punk music, primarily spread in France, South Belgium and Romandie," further described (with regard to Siouxsie & the Banshees) as "cold, machine-like and passionate at the same time."
• krautrock - "The term "krautrock" was originated by English-speaking music journalists as a humorous name for a diverse range of German bands whose music drew from sources such as psychedelic rock, the avant-garde, electronic music, funk, minimalism, jazz improvisation, and world music styles."
• psychedelic punk - has no definition on Wikipedia.
• psychedelic pop - "a pop music subgenre in which musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music are applied to pop songs. This includes "trippy" effects such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, sitars, backwards recording, and Beach Boys-style harmonies. "
• surf rock - "distinguished by reverb-drenched electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves," or, more accurately, like that one song from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack that everyone knows.
• yéyé - "a style of pop music that emerged from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal in the early 1960s. The term "yé-yé" was derived from the English term "yeah! yeah!", popularized by British beat music bands such as the Beatles."   MMMMkay.

I don't feel like I really know much more about those genres from those descriptions, well, maybe I get the "cold wave" description.  Anyway, I definitely hear the surf influence, the psych rock stuff, and the pop stuff in here, so we'll just go with it.  No clue what they are saying on any of these songs, so the level of analysis I can really do is nonexistent.  Two albums - 2013's Psycho Tropical Berlin (with boobs on the cover, so beware at work if pulling up on Spotify) and 2016's Mystere.  Their three most streamed songs all come from the older album, with the most listened to being "Sur la planche 2013" at 4.2 million streams.

Yeah, you get that new wave beat right there at the start, sounds like something that would be on the Ferris Bueller soundtrack, with a hint of the surf guitars (and kind of an R.E.M. in the 80's feel). According to google translate, the title of this song is "on plate."  Can you imagine if a band just sang "on plate" over and over like that song apparently does?  WHAT DOES IT MEAN?  Ooooh, and they do backwards sounds in that song, so this is totally psychedelic pop.  I actually kind of dig that groove, to be honest.

The most popular song from the newer album is "Ou va le monde," with 1.8 million streams. 

That title apparently means "or the world."  Now that tune has the surf rock guitar thing in full effect.  I'll say that these tunes are pretty good, but honestly, despite having taken three years of French in junior high and high school, these guys could be talking mad shit about me personally and I wouldn't know.

Recommend?  Probably not.