LITTLE BOOTS LP

Had this on constant rotation for the last few weeks - anyone else got an opinion?

For me, it's very, very cute with some absolutely belting summer tunes: at its best it does indeed sound like the cream of early 80s rinky-dink synth pop, the kind of stuff Paul Morley once described as "the sound of two pocket calculators falling in love". No-one will give a shit about her in 18 months, of course, but pop's meant to be ephemeral innit.

The wistful lyrical conceits grate after a while, mind: I can't be the only person who finds retro-futurist nostalgia and lovelorn hymns to an analogue world aimed at an audience for whom anything pre-broadband is practically the Stone Age all a bit weird.

Still, as Al Jarvis has suggested from the start, you'd still stick yer plug in her socket. Etc.

ahh yes Victoria Hesketh from Blackpool,worth one for sure. i liked that single 'meddle'.heard album seems ok Busy girl,she is playing at about 20 festivals this summer

http://www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic

absolutely loved meddle. and her tenori-on. am just about over her now. don't think that latest single was anything special at all. plus, she's come out as being 'more of an oasis [than a blur] girl'. this counts against you very badly in my household.

i'm struggling with this whole revival business. dull as shit, mostly. saw a review of the ladyhawke album which gave it 4 stars and called it "a great slice of 80s pop." um, but it's not the 80s. if i want a great slice of 80s pop i'll listen to some bananarama.

i would like something new now, please.

and for the record, i would not shag her. too blonde for me.

El Jarvo wrote:

PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote: Had this on constant rotation for the last few weeks - anyone else got an opinion?

You've got faaaaaaar more patience than me. I gave most songs one quick airing then didn't revisit 'em.

I think Meddle's just genius but can't get to grips with most of the album. And the lyrics, they're just awful in places. That thing with Phil Oakey - "You're the night to my day, the left to my right ..." - who does she think she is? Barney?

You still would though.

Of course you would. And the lyrics are indeed dross for the most part. Apart from the one that goes "I loves me granny / But when Fradders licks me fanny / I don't care what Jarvis reckons / 'Cos Heaven it doth beckon"

Secret track. On my copy, at least.

I'm liking LA ROUX's debut more.And I hated GO IN FOR THE KILL when it first came out.

MONTY wrote: I'm liking LA ROUX's debut more.And I hated GO IN FOR THE KILL when it first came out.

god,she's an aggresive ugly looking girl is that

some depeche mode type stuff going on in that track aint there,so i can see why you would like it Monty,like little boots and the rest its probally only another 15 minutes of fame.

I really, really, really tried to like this. However, I couldn't take anymore, especially after my 15 year old sister (visiting my family) took to it and won't stop playing it. When she isn't trying to be the next big thing (like on New In Town) she sounds okay. If I was her I'd drop the producers/songwriters and focus a more diverse sounding second album- especially sonically. The only track I found myself really enjoying was the hidden track Hands, definitely my favorite track on the album. All this aside I was tempted to buy the vinyl because it's sparkly, but you know... that's just not enough these days.

La Roux is better, but not much. I can't listen to either of their albums that much. Musicians these days just don't make meaningful pop music, they try to hard and it ends up shallow and silly.

banshee wrote:

MONTY wrote: I'm liking LA ROUX's debut more.And I hated GO IN FOR THE KILL when it first came out.

god,she's an aggresive ugly looking girl is that

some depeche mode type stuff going on in that track aint there,so i can see why you would like it Monty,like little boots and the rest its probally only another 15 minutes of fame.

And apparently....La Roux's mum is WPC June Ackland out of THE BILL!!

Nope, she missed her last chance to impress me at Glastonbury and failed miserably. La Roux is slightly better. She did a reasonable performance of Bulletproof in the BBC garden at Glastonbury - all stripped down and understated but effective vocals. But for all her best efforts to be "80s" she's never gonna be Nik Kershaw is she

Surf Western wrote: I really, really, really tried to like this. However, I couldn't take anymore, especially after my 15 year old sister (visiting my family) took to it and won't stop playing it. When she isn't trying to be the next big thing (like on New In Town) she sounds okay. If I was her I'd drop the producers/songwriters and focus a more diverse sounding second album- especially sonically. The only track I found myself really enjoying was the hidden track Hands, definitely my favorite track on the album. All this aside I was tempted to buy the vinyl because it's sparkly, but you know... that's just not enough these days.

La Roux is better, but not much. I can't listen to either of their albums that much. Musicians these days just don't make meaningful pop music, they try to hard and it ends up shallow and silly.

Well, there you go. It seems that the whole of the United Kingdom is frigging themselves silly over the return of Albarn & Co.'s patented brand of would-be clever-clever shout-pop and I'm sitting here thinking that the La Roux album has more emotional depth than the entire Blur back catalogue combined.

I am pretty shallow, mind.

PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote:

I'm sitting here thinking that the La Roux album has more emotional depth than the entire Blur back catalogue combined.

how are you measuring 'emotional depth'? one might think damon's something of an insincere little shit while still finding 'to the end' desperately moving. what is it about la roux's work that has touched you?

incidentally, fact fans, la roux is the duo, not just the girl. s'like debbie harry/blondie, innit.

Lady Gaga is where its at

bloodynora wrote:

PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote:

I'm sitting here thinking that the La Roux album has more emotional depth than the entire Blur back catalogue combined.

how are you measuring 'emotional depth'? one might think damon's something of an insincere little shit while still finding 'to the end' desperately moving. what is it about la roux's work that has touched you?

incidentally, fact fans, la roux is the duo, not just the girl. s'like debbie harry/blondie, innit.

I measure 'emotional depth' with a ruler, obviously. The only thing that "To the End" moves in me is my bowels. Quite desperately, in fact.

I just find Blur hopelessly unlovable. The reason something like "This is a Low" stands out is because it's one of the rare moments that actually resonate and go beyond the usual we're-such-smart-arses bollocks. The ultimate example of this is the post-split-with-Justine "heartbreak" LP: a record that sounds like someone trying (and failing) to imagine what it would be like to love something other than your own fucking reflection. Even when he wrote a song about taking smack it still sounds like....a record by someone trying (and failing) to imagine what it might be like to take heroin.

Still, each to their own: one person's profoundly moving mid-90s popsters are another person's vacuous sub-art school posturing wankers, I guess. I do like the one that goes "WOO HOO!!!!!", though.

Bleugh's slower stuff irritated me more than the jokey stuff.

If you actually listen to it, forgetting all the emperor's new clothes shite that heralded each of their utterances, I think you'll see that the singer bellows like Brett Anderson's drunk uncle rather than singing the banal lyrics and his band are average at best. To The End isn't really a band song anyway. What is it, samples? An orchestra? A hurdy fucking gurdy?

Around the Bay of Biscay and back for tea? Shit.

Allbran has always struck me as a shit person to take drugs with. I bet him and Robbie Williams have spoiled dozens of perfectly good sessions with their stadium addictions and look-at-me elegant wastedness. I'm sure Alex James doesn't even need drugs to have the same effect.

I'm not familiar with any of the other bands mentioned, so can't offer comparison.

Hope this helps.

it's the comparison that interested me. i am still waiting to hear which of la roux's masterpieces speaks to anyone on an emotionally deep level. is it the one that goes "when we start making fires/we get ever so hot/ooh whether we like it or not"?

Yeah come on, "Doctor". What fascinating depth have you found within the ouevre of La Wotsit? They sound as deep as a greasy puddle to me.

bloodynora wrote: it's the comparison that interested me. i am still waiting to hear which of la roux's masterpieces speaks to anyone on an emotionally deep level. is it the one that goes "when we start making fires/we get ever so hot/ooh whether we like it or not"?

"City-dwellER, Succesful- fellER, Thought to himself 'woops I've got a lot of money'."

So emotional. So deep. It touches my soul.

Anyway, who THE FUCK wants music to talk to them on 'an emotionally deep level'??? Apart from angry sixth formers? Just make it sound good and try to get the singy bits to rhyme. That's all I ask.

like feller & dweller rhyme g?

how come nobody has mentioned florence in this thread yet anyway?

At my school one of the science teachers was called Mr Lister and he married a woman called Dr Proctor.

Now THAT'S deep.

bloodynora wrote: it's the comparison that interested me. i am still waiting to hear which of la roux's masterpieces speaks to anyone on an emotionally deep level. is it the one that goes "when we start making fires/we get ever so hot/ooh whether we like it or not"?

I didn't say La Roux were 'emotionally deep'; I said their record has more emotional depth than Blur's entire oeuvre. Relative innit. More importantly, why quote the lyrics? This is a New Order website, after all.

GlasVegas wrote:

bloodynora wrote: it's the comparison that interested me. i am still waiting to hear which of la roux's masterpieces speaks to anyone on an emotionally deep level. is it the one that goes "when we start making fires/we get ever so hot/ooh whether we like it or not"?

"City-dwellER, Succesful- fellER, Thought to himself 'woops I've got a lot of money'."

So emotional. So deep. It touches my soul.

Anyway, who THE FUCK wants music to talk to them on 'an emotionally deep level'??? Apart from angry sixth formers? Just make it sound good and try to get the singy bits to rhyme. That's all I ask.

good heavens! i'm not arguing that blur are deep. i think they're consummate showmen, which is about as far from emotional depth as you can get. i'm not even arguing that music ought to be emotionally deep (although i'm REALLY tempted to start doing so. i've got a LOT of work i'm trying to avoid).

i was just a little tickled by the original statement about la roux/blur/the now infamous emotional depth as a way of measuring musical worth.

or did you not read that bit and skip straight to the end? NO. i refuse to believe it.

He must have read my post cos he nicked my best word

PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote:

bloodynora wrote: it's the comparison that interested me. i am still waiting to hear which of la roux's masterpieces speaks to anyone on an emotionally deep level. is it the one that goes "when we start making fires/we get ever so hot/ooh whether we like it or not"?

I didn't say La Roux were 'emotionally deep'; I said their record has more emotional depth than Blur's entire oeuvre. Relative innit. More importantly, why quote the lyrics? This is a New Order website, after all.

yes, i was simply debating the relative merits. we've both suggested potentially 'deep' or affecting blur songs. i just wondered where la roux compare. i didn't make the comparison.

I find her voice wildly affective. It doesn't matter what words she's singing.* And, yes, the retro-futurist technology floats my boat as well.

* - see also: Liz Cocteau; Harriet Wheeler; her from Low; her from (the much missed) Saloon; Feist; Mara Carlyle; A Girl Called Eddie; her from Broadcast; (I could go on......)

Diamond 383 wrote: At my school one of the science teachers was called Mr Lister and he married a woman called Dr Proctor.

Now THAT'S deep.

At my school we had a biology teacher called Mr Woodcock.We called him Splinterballs.

He was'nt married or anything deep like that,mind.

PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote: I find her voice wildly affective. It doesn't matter what words she's singing.* And, yes, the retro-futurist technology floats my boat as well.

* - see also: Liz Cocteau; Harriet Wheeler; her from Low; her from (the much missed) Saloon; Feist; Mara Carlyle; A Girl Called Eddie; her from Broadcast; (I could go on......)

i find her voice wildly squawky.

but you have made an excellent point, backed up with liz fraser, which of course is the clincher in ANY discussion.

thank you for clarifying. it's the blur strings and things what generally do it for me. and the fact i want to jizz all over coxon's tits.

I suppose, then, that one person's annoying squawk is another's ethereal yelp of orgasmic delight. My spunk is going nowhere near Coxon's man-boobs, however.

PETER COATES'S BELATED REDEMPTION wrote: I find her voice wildly affective. It doesn't matter what words she's singing.* And, yes, the retro-futurist technology floats my boat as well.

* - see also: Liz Cocteau; Harriet Wheeler; her from Low; her from (the much missed) Saloon; Feist; Mara Carlyle; A Girl Called Eddie; her from Broadcast; (I could go on......)

that'd be mrs sparhawk - mimi parker, but surely it's more their voices in harmony than just hers?

always thought harriet sung a bit like she had her mouth full. of plums.

Yeah, Harriet was a bit posh. But you know what they say about posh lasses, fnarr fnarr etc. (Weren't The Sundays from round Bristol, Dave? Or they met at Bristol Uni or somesuch?)

Quite how Mimi sounds so lovely when she's married to that miserable cunt I'll never know.