I'm the first to say
I'm a little bored of the surf trend. Sure I like Best Coast, Wavves, The Morning Benders, Hippies, The Drums... but the fact that the list is so long and could be so much longer is telling. For the dozens of new songs each week labelled "indie pop" at least half of them seem to be lo-fi surf. It's not a bad sound or anything, but how can anyone expect to stand out on that crowded retro-California wave?
Well, you could be French.
Very aware of the absurdity of a Parisian Beach Boys,
La Femme occasionally dons
berets and striped sweaters comme le stéréotype, and promotes with
posters of frogs and the Eiffel tower. Whether they're laughing with us or at us isn't clear.
What is clear is that it's the that attitude makes
Le Podium #1. Because--and I'm just gonna go ahead and say what we all know-- the French are magnificent at acting like assholes*. And it
so works here. Their irreverent brand treads the water between taking itself very seriously and not giving a damn about anything, somehow both sillier and sexier than the usual surf-pop offering.
None of that sunny, airy, hippie-dippy, "tasty waves and a cool buzz" stuff for La Femme--this is more "
Nous surfons. Fuck you."
Comment-on-dit "far out" en francais?
Buy
Le Podium #1 (EP)
from their
bandcamp.
Their
MySpace.
Their
Facebook
Their
website.
Their current single:
*I love assholes, for the record.
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