CONCERT REVIEW: La Roux/Francis & The Lights – 9:30 Club – 11/10/2010

This was the show that almost didn’t happen.

In a plot so comically riddled with errors it could only come from Shakespeare, Wednesday’s highly anticipated La Roux show at the 9:30 Club was rescheduled twice: first, because of winter’s blizzards of epic proportions; second, because of front woman Elly Jackson’s struggles with bronchitis. A show, by the time it finally happened, was almost a full calendar year from when the sold out crowd had purchased their tickets.

It was the giant, gilded jacquard jacket-wearing hipster elephant in the room, and immediately addressed by Jackson at the beginning of her band’s set. And with that out of the way, she set out to show the audience just how apologetic she was.

It’s fun to imagine how the show would have been received if it had actually occurred nine months ago. That would’ve been, of course, in the few months directly proceeding the release of La Roux’s self-titled debut, but also before the summer of “Bulletproof,” which absolutely dominated top 40 radio: so, in a bit of a lull period. The long wait also allowed her fans to really live with the music, to know the lyrics inside and out, to add La Roux to their life soundtracks, to build up a mythos around Elly; keep in mind, the show was sold out by last December. In many ways, this crowd was probably the most dedicated and the most connected out of any La Roux encountered on their US tours.

But still, “why aren’t people dancing?”

It was a question overheard multiple times throughout the night. From a performance standpoint, I found Elly charming and engaging — emotional where she needed to be, encouraging crowd participation where she needed to do so, charismatic rock star where she needed to be. (Yes, seriously.) Could her vocals have been clearer? Definitely, but then, I’ve never been to a show where the sound was perfect. Could she have been more into the crowd? Of course. A little more eye contact and acknowledgement of the crowd in the balcony would’ve made the show fantastic. But, La Roux’s still new. Elly’s still in the process of coming into herself as a performer and a pop star. And DC audiences aren’t known to be particularly energetic anyway.

I wouldn’t say that she or the songs don’t connect more than her fans want to do something the songs won’t let them do: dance. Just because a song is moderately- to fast-paced doesn’t automatically make it dance worthy. La Roux’s songs are definitely inspired by 80s pop music, but they’re also — save two exceptions — undanceable, and intensely so.

LA’s Far East Movement, who were announced as a second opener weeks ago but weren’t in attendance, would’ve been the perfect segue to La Roux. Say what you will but “Like a G6” is pure, undeniable fun, and could have warmed up the crowd more than the freak funk of actual openers Francis and the Lights. Reminiscent of a highly electronic Simon and Garfunkel (or Prince gone folk), the New York-based band was awkward and off-putting, proving that while hipsters have every right to make music, not all of them should perform it in public. I liked their songs and their sound, but lead singer and keyboardist Francis Starlite’s spastic “dancing” and guitarist Jake Rabinbach’s practiced indifference make me never want to see them in concert ever again. Ever.

And they definitely did not want to make me dance.

If there was one moment that did inspire the kind of goofy, unbridled dancing that make pop music great, it was during “Bulletproof,” which was saved for the encore. That’s it. Just that one moment of pop bliss. It’s fine to sing songs about love and loss, but if you’re setting out to make pop music — dance music — you need to have more than one song that makes people really want to dance. It’s a major a problem, and one that I hope can be fixed immediately. “Bulletproof” was the moment that made me believe in La Roux, and I don’t want them to fail. They don’t deserve to.

Wednesday’s show proved that La Roux still has a long way to go, but it’s a promising start. The building blocks are there.

And at least the damned thing happened.

S*** I’m Digging This Week: Tinie Tempah and La Roux Edition

If unaware of who the UK’s next big breakout star is in the US, there’s not just one, there’s two. Yes, we’re aware of La Roux’s Eleanor Jackson. We’ll get to her in a bit. The bigger star in my opinion, 21 year old emcee Tinie Tempah.

http://player.vimeo.com/video/11842347

Tinie Tempah – Frisky from Tim Brown on Vimeo.

For four years, his hustle and grind through UK’s underground earned him a great deal of critical acclaim. However, in maximizing his ability to embrace both a clean cut appeal and mainstream electro pop, he’s able to claim everything Americans tend to have loved in urban pop in the last decade. His Nigerian descent and R & B flavor plays well to those who embraced Akon because of the vocal inflection of his Senegalese ancestry tinged his vocals. As well, in embracing electro and dance sounds, he’ll have the same advantage that most recently Usher has grabbed and ridden to pop success. And in being a clean cut brother unafraid of button down shirts, tuxedo jackets and slim cut jeans, the comparisons to being a UK Drake are obvious. His debut album Disc-Overy dropped on October 1st with ridiculous fanfare surrounding it. He’s had four number one singles in 2010 spanning three different UK charts, pop, R & B and dance. With powerhouses Parlophone and yes, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation now behind him, and a year of playing every major UK festival and being Rihanna’s opener on her European tour, his time has come. Tracks on the album come from producer/singer on the rise Labrinth, who has signed with Simon Cowell (the first non TV winner to do so) as a producer, not as a vocalist, Ishi, and yes, the Swedish House Mafia who conjure magic as they did for Kid Sister’s “Right Hand Hi” for Tempah’s “Miami 2 Ibiza.”

Tinie Tempah is the truth. Get familiar.
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La Roux – In For the Kill
http://mediaservices.myspace.com/services/media/embed.aspx/m=106738490,t=1,mt=video
LA ROUX | MySpace Music Videos

La Roux’s American invasion is the story of the boy who cried wolf so many times that the people didn’t care until the wolf came and devoured the town. With each consecutive push back of La Roux’s debut US tour, Ellie Jackson’s vocals didn’t develop fans, they developed STANS. With each passing month, La Roux’s US tour has become what will be the second coming of the British invasion for Gaga’s gays, indie pop chicks, hipsters holding on to their dying days and mainstream suburban moms who just love great songwriting. All of these elements were taken VERY closely into accounting with the release of the re-imaged video for the yes, Americanized image of La Roux. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/qeMFqkcPYcg?fs=1&hl=en_US

Earlier this year Rusko set up shop in the US with a new look that took him from being a UK dubstep DJ who didn’t give a fuck or shit about what he looked like to being a ROCK STAR, replete with a guitar for the shoot of “Woo Boost,” who yes, didn’t give a fuck or shit about what he looked like. Eleanor Jackson, the vocalist of the La Roux project has gone from a indie dance pop singer driving a Toyota into literally being Annie Lennox. The look fits La Roux’s pop hit straight out of 1983, as in being an androgynous voyeur of sex, heartbreak and agony, she’s edgy, unusual and has a fan base carved out by both sound and image. This new vision for the pop star is a victory, and with an entirely sold out to the last seat in the house US tour, the meld of talent and marketing will succeed as it always does.

In 1983, the two biggest breakout pop superstars were Madonna and Annie Lennox. In 2011, there’s a slick music marketer who’s like you to think that the two biggest pop superstars in the world are Lady Gaga and Eleanor Jackson. I think that guy is worth every cent he’s being paid.

Unforgettable, Vol. 18: La Roux – La Roux

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill painted a music scene reflective of urban culture on the brink of a new millennium; eleven years later we – as a culture and creative class – have evolved and devolved from that reality. We have since found our souls in the synthetic, and were given our new sonic aesthetic with an anthemic 2009 soundtrack of our virtual reality.

Enter La Roux. La Roux is music that reaches beyond sound, into the mood and mindset of an apathetically passionate generation. Literally, “La Roux” is founded upon adamant ambiguity, fusing the masculine “Le Roux” and the feminine “Le Rousse” to mean “The Red-Headed One.” “That One” would be none other than the Annie Lennox-esque frontwoman Elly Jackson. Jackson’s pale features beneath a fiery red coif depict brilliantly the sonic aesthetic of a colourless coloured culture.

The album opens with “In for the Kill,” an anthemic track reflecting the era in script, sound, and sentiment. Beneath: the cold synth, drum machine loops, and systematic keyboarding; above: Jackson’s piercing tone crooning coldly “I’m going in for the kill, I’m doing it for a thrill; oh, I’m hoping you’ll understand, and not let go of my hand.” On one hand the declarative “going in for the kill,” on the other: the obscure motive “doing it for the thrill.” We live fast, we die young – for no other reason than we can, and we have no sense of any other way. Yet even with that definition, our miserable hipster hearts still need company of another hand. The definition and the uncertainty, the independence and the codependence, La Roux lives in the ambiguous and juxtaposed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lVaWYkKOdY&hl=en_US&fs=1

The second track, “Tigerlily,” finds Jackson’s vocals playing off themselves – aggressive tones throughout the verses: “They can sell it all they want, but you cannot agree; I don’t like the taste of their morality. You’ll find your bread and your butter where you fake it, and put your face in the gutter of a snake pit,” interspersed with the lighter demeanor through the chorus: “And in the crush of the dark, I’ll be your light in the mist; I can see you burning with desire for a kiss – Psychobabble all upon your lips.” The underlying drum n bass beat is a heavy parallel to the quick staccato snares and splashes of synth. “Tigerlily” is the dictating force in the album’s direction; it is hard and soft, aggressive and passive. As Jackson coldly states “our communication is telepathy,” it is as much a reflection of the artist as it is their audience. In an age where banter is everywhere, the only way to truly communicate, express, and connect is perhaps without any words at all.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Iwg6tFr1ZSY&hl=en_US&fs=1

La Roux is a love album at its core. It draws on the truest, sincerest emotion from the vantage of products of an electronic world. What makes this album so beautiful, so true, and genuine is its stark snapshot of our reality – our virtual reality. La Roux serenades synthetically through “Colourless Colour,” a track as indicative of star-crossed lovers as it is a cultural portraiture. The listener is immersed in arcade sounds, as Jackson croons of failed love games, “we wanted to play but we had nothing left to play for… colourless colour, once in fashion soon to be scene.” Culture is a la mode, culture is of the fashion: and love is the new denim – rock and republic rhythmically reunited.

La Roux is a masterpiece of vortex pop music. The album dwells in the artistry of juxtaposition. Even with the synthesizers on overhaul, there is no overbearing barrage of artificiality distorting the listening experience. The vocals, though airy and elevated at times, exude a sense of passionate apathy, so indicative of any given millennial. La Roux eases the listener in with familiar eighties and early nineties club beats, but never loses focus on their place as artists to create something authentic and uniquely theirs.

The group’s signature sound can only be described as Synthetic Soul; because for all of the shallow production layers, and beneath Jackson’s tinny tonality, is sheer cold soul. She opens each track delicate, but deliberate, almost reading from a script the story of her life. The synthesized beats repeat systematically and lull the listener into a state of pseudo-hypnosis. The key is that each track is in a constant state of ascension. The vocals and beats ride in rhythmic tandem. La Roux’s production is like a bakery with the tracks as sonic treats. The songs are production pastries, steadily adding one deliciously thin digital layer of sound over the next. Jackson’s vocals build throughout each track as well. While she starts monotone, she transitions into a more soulful place, often crooning the final bridges with her staple soprano improv riffs. Electronic music is soulless no more.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Qg1dYfnpW3k&hl=en_US&fs=1

Merged dichotomies find themselves nestled in La Roux’s prose as much as it does the production, and the style of the surface is equally balanced by the substance within the social vantage. “I’m walking on a broken roof, while I’m looking at the sky,” is “I’m Not Your Toy”‘s justified juxtaposition of a culture caught between an ingrained sense of perpetual progress, and lack of concern or comprehension of the past. While those who forget history are doomed to forget it, we’re the new-new and we have Kevlar, this time we’ll be bulletproof, “Burning bridges shore to shore, I’ll break away from something more; I’m not to not to love until it’s cheap.” Our attention spans only go so far – namely, ten years or so – and our past has been marred by eight years of wizards behind curtains we never knew existed. Our culture is doused in uncertainty and skepticism – towards and from “the past.” So, we burn bridges to said past, we look ahead and focus on the only thing we know to be true – or so we’re told: love. Capitalism is the greatest love story, and as such love is the new currency – true love is loving until it’s cheap.

La Roux is a ride; it is a night out on the hills or any hometown. It begins in the familiar pre-game preparation place, then moves you to the club/lounge/bar, and by the third quarter of the collection La Roux drops off into a quieter place – like a walk of shame before any shameful act has occurred. All of this is to say that La Roux is exactly what Jackson says it is. It dwells in the now, that colourless colour of the “early nineties décor, it was a day for” that was “once in fashion and soon to be rediscovered” – in the immediate history of Generation ADHD. Yet and still La Roux gets that the “now” is eternally becoming “then” so they might as well make the most of here and flesh out the fleeting.

http://www.youtube.com/v/CazhoE1TyWI&hl=en_US&fs=1

At the end of the day, great pop captures and encapsulates the culture as it is at its core; it provides the most authentic reflection of wherever it is. In a modern world of artificiality, La Roux somehow gives human depth to a most vapid of cultural eras: “My reflections are protection, they will keep me from destruction; my directions are distractions, when you’re ready, come into the light.” Music is a drug, it is something used to alter a current state of being; just because the world is burning around us, doesn’t mean we have to be cynical. In a society that equates sanity with sterility, it is a diamond in the rough that manages to capture the style and substance beneath the sound mind: enter La Roux – unforgettable.

MIXTAPE REVIEW: Major Lazer x La Roux "Lazerproof"

DOWNLOAD MIXTAPE HERE

When all is said and done, Major Lazer’s singular influence will be doing for extending dancehall’s reach what Bob Marley’s Legend did for making reggae a suburbanite and mall friendly musical art form. Latest material from the camp of Diplo and Switch, the Lazerproof mixtape takes the most remixed album of 2009, La Roux’s eponymous debut, and dips it in luscious dubplates, dancehall melodies and as well, a plethora of familiar sounds. The result not only proves that La Roux’s Eleanor Jackson has one of the most singular, powerful and emotive voices of this generation, but that Diplo and Switch are teacher’s pet level students of dancehall. If Guns Don’t Kill People, Lazers Do was the first semester final, Lazerproof is the final exam, the most sonically audacious dancehall release in quite some time. The twin devils in any project like this are in the execution and details, both of which are handled with technical superiority creating a release that is simply excellent.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZmcS7FO0Guw&hl=en_US&fs=1&

The easiest way to classify this mixtape is to state that it’s a case of Diplo and Switch saying “game recognize game” to a slew of top producers, DJs and remixers. Kicking off the collection is this site’s 2009 DC Song of the Year, the Nouveau Riche crew’s own Nacey with brilliant string man Matthew Hemerlein creating through a remix an acute understanding of the pain of a broken heart. Nacey’s very slight Dirty South deviation sets the table nicely for such winning as Drake’s “Houstonatlantavegas” blended with “Pains” and “Keep it Fascinating” taking the Major Lazer electro contribution and re-crafting it is a dancehall banger awash in Eleanor Jackson’s soothing vocals. Ever really needed to hear Candi Redd’s souther banger “Independent” over a dubbed out take on La Roux’s original “In for the Kill?” Well, it’s here, and it works VERY well.

Skream’s unbelievable “Going In For the Kill” remix is remixed here too and dubstep with dubplates always works when well executed, and this is not an exception to the rule. The true champion sound here is the “I’m Not Your Lemonade” (Heroes n Villans Remix) which involves a number of things that have proven to be excellent in the past twelve months surprisingly meshing well together. Bangladesh’s synths and 808 on “Lemonade” mixed with Major Lazer dub, La Roux’s “I’m Not Your Toy”and Gucci’s “Lemonade” sixteen somehow co-mingle and angle towards excellence.

Reflecting, Diplo has always had a great imagination when it comes to creating a mix that approximates exact images of female pop stars. M.I.A. and Santigold both benefited greatly from Diplo’s sonic opulence and creativity. This mix is the next generation of that craftwork, taking his own concept, and imaging an artist through its eyes. It’s a logical evolution, one performed with expected precision.

COP/DON’T COP THIS MIXTAPE

LeninsTomb presents… The Verge

Welcome to The Verge: a column dedicated to music on the edge of a breakthrough. Last time, I profiled two rising female-fronted indie rock bands, the Dum Dum Girls and Screaming Females. Now, it’s time to replace those guitars with synths.

A lookbook is used by fashionistas to showcase a particular designer or style. Minneapolis band Lookbook is a duo that showcase a particular style of electronic music that is equal parts dream pop and synth pop.

Grant Cutler (synths) and Maggie Morrison (vocals) fit the mold of similar outfits like La Roux, Beach House, and the Knife, combining a chanteuse with a male partner behind the boards. Like those groups, their sound owes much to 1980s electro pop of all stripes, with sweeping synth strings, metallic drum machine beats, and effect-laden vocals.

Lookbook’s first EP, I Fear You, My Darkness, was self-released in late 2008. As the title suggests, the band covers dark sonic and lyrical territory. The EPs five songs find the pair brooding over atmospheric soundscapes; it’s more new age than new wave. The highlight is definitely the seven minute “Steal the Night,” an epic that evokes the emotional tone of Patti Smith’s similarly-titled “Because of the Night.”

http://www.lala.com/external/flash/SingleSongWidget.swf

Steal the Night – Lookbook

In 2009, Lookbook released their full-length record Wild At Heart. While I Fear You, My Darkness feels cathartic, Wild At Heart allows the band to expand and enrich their sound. The songs are more upbeat and danceable, but darkness and vulnerability remain just below the surface. Morrison’s vocals are sharper and less dreamy, somewhere between Karen O and Cyndi Lauper. The album opens with “Over and Over,” which builds for nearly the entire length of the song to a pounding, crashing climax.

http://www.youtube.com/v/hTV2XSE99ag&hl=en_US&fs=1&

Throughout Wild at Heart, Cutler’s beats command you to dance to songs full of shimmering keys and electronic chirps. Morrison is charismatic on the mic, with stylized, flowing verses and full-throated choruses. And for a style that is not necessarily novel, I think the duo captures and modernizes 80s synth pop better than some of their contemporaries; Wild at Heart compares favorably to It’s Blitz!, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s foray into similar ground.

If 1980s revival is the fashion, Lookbook is the guide to the style.

MARCUS DOWLING’S YEAR END AWARDS – DMV SONG OF THE YEAR

DMV Song of the Year: La Roux – Bulletproof (Nacey Remix) f/ Matt Hemerlein

Nominees: Wale “Chillin;” Don Juan “Lookie Looky;” DJ Class “I’m the Shit;” Mullyman “Bmore Go Harder;” Tabi Bonney “Jet Setter;” Diamond District “Streets Won’t Let Me Chill;” Party Bros “Ooh Bay Bay”

It was a superlative year for the Capital City and it’s northern and southern neighbors. Between Wale opening up doors to exposure for DC not seen since the days of Chuck Brown’s “Bustin Loose” or the Blackbyrds’ “Rock Creek Park,” or the Diamond District album opening the eyes of the underground, or even Don Juan getting signed to Jive on the strength of his single “Lookie Looky,” it was a banner year for DC. Look north, and in Baltimore, DJ Class’ “I’m the Shit” was the nation’s party anthem for the first half of the year, and Mullyman went “harder than Baltimore” thanks to a Jay-Z sample in “Bmore Go Harder” to a modicum of mainstream success.

But to find the real gem of creativity from the DMV this year, you have to look out of the realm of hip hop, and into the club, and maybe even overseas to England, and the voice of British electro pop band La Roux’s Eleanor Jackson. La Roux’s eponymous debut album is the odd musical case of 2009. Number one across the board overseas, but addled with substandard production that really doesn’t play to Jackson’s plaintive, wondrous wail, the true strength of the group. English dubstep maestros Skream and Foamo created remixes for La Roux tracks that actually heightened their race to the top of the international charts, but, the standalone remix of any La Roux track that is best, and ultimately one of the best remixes of anything heard anywhere all year, goes to the Nouveau Riche crew’s rising production mind Nacey, and his turn of “Bulletproof” from a midtempo dance pop ode to strength in the face of being unlucky in love to a trance like string ballad that evokes only the most powerful of emotions from the listener.

Nacey’s “Bulletproof” remix should be on re-releases of the La Roux album. It’s that strong. It’s a production that if you hear it at the right time at the right place, evokes strong recollections for any man or woman of being in that exact moment, that exact place, that exact frame of mind. Matt Hemerlein’s violin and Nacey’s own piano playing takes “Bulletproof” from just being an exemplary piece of songwriting to being the precise capture of an essence, mood and moment on a track. Lyrics like “I won’t let you turn around/and tell me now I’m much too proud/to walk away from something when it’s dead,” when accompanied by Nacey’s production work emanate from the speaker to reside in your heart, and immediately set forth to loosening heart strings.

In 2009, the DMV was all about producing work to meet expected norms of the industry. We’re attempting as an area to de-localize ourselves and aim toward something easily understood and appreciated by national and international ears. Wale’s “Chillin'” turns down the go go and features Lady Gaga on the hook. Don Juan’s “Lookie Looky” is a typical Southern banger with an intensely catchy chorus. DJ Class made Baltimore club pop accessible. But Nacey’s “Bulletproof?” Completely unexpected. Warm, frightening, heartwrenching and tear-jerking in the same track. Eleanor Jackson has never been presented better on a record. Her tears over lost love do not go to waste here. Sometimes, in a bed of roses, you have to reward the lone four leaf clover for being unique, beautiful and ultimately worthwhile.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZmcS7FO0Guw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01