WEEKEND VIDEO
Buddy Holly once said: “If anyone asks you what kind of music you play, tell him ‘pop.’ Don’t tell him ‘rock n roll’ or they won’t even let you in the hotel.” Much has changed since Buddy Holly’s day. The pop stigma is king now. Music fans have been harshly judging new popular artists for decades, now the backlash just comes quicker than a tweet. Add the English electro-pop singer Little Boots (Victoria Hesketh) to the fray. It remains to be seen whether the self-professed “synth geek” is the true savior of pop music’s credibility or will just be the next in line for the guillotine after consumers finish executing a glut of limp-wristed “indie” acts. Little Boots started her 2008 playing Human League covers in her pajamas to legions of YouTube fans, but soon finished the year in a flurry. A spate of successful singles like “Stuck on Repeat,” an appearance on Later…With Jools Holland and team-ups with Joe Goddard (Hot Chip) and Greg Kurstin (The Bird and the Bee) got the hype machine working overtime.
If you haven’t heard about Hesketh by now you will soon enough. She sings electronic disco music for the Facebook generation, utilizing synths, the Japanese instrument Tenori-on, piano and the stylophone. The title to the Blackpool singer’s debut album, Hands, is seemingly in reference to Hesketh’s DIY style onstage. The album was produced by Kurstin and features breakout single, “New in Town,“ and a remix by The Golden Filter. Also, Little Boots’ sleepy-eyed “Don’t You Want Me” home session sees its fruits with “Symmetry,” a duet with The Human League’s frontman Philip Oakey. The singer continues to toe the line between pop sheen and dark lyricism, a nod to her Caligula-referencing moniker.
loving this a lot