Friday, November 03, 2006

Once & Never Again


Song: Once & Never Again
Artist: The Long Blondes
Album: Someone to Drive You Home







The five-piece The Long Blondes are from Sheffield, England and formed in 2005. They are a fun mix of new-wave and rock & roll and will no doubt be described as Blondie meets The Pretenders. Seems like any female fronted new new-wave band that comes out is compared to Blondie but this one really fits. Their debut, “Someone to Drive You Home” came out this summer in the UK on Rough Trade. They have yet to sign a deal here in the states.

I’ve been listening to this record for about a week and it has really stuck with me. They have a retro 50’s vibe to their style, which is a little annoying given the 40’s influenced Puppini Sisters and Pipettes, but maybe this is just a natural response to the more flesh is MORE FLESH shown on today’s pop stars. If this is behind the reason I am all for it… I love the femme fatal on the cover, sexy yet covered up!

“Once & Never Again” takes that 50’s vibe, adds a little Franz Ferdinand, and mixes in the new wave for a Go-Go’s-like rockin’ good time. I didn’t know which song to specifically highlight so I checked out what the singles were, played them down and then really didn’t know what to do. The songs are varied, which means the album doesn’t seem like one really long song (a-la the Pipettes.) I am strongly recommending looking into their stuff, it is very very good.

Enjoy.

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