WEST END GIRLS – Domino Dancing (Columbia)
Posted: January 11th, 2006, by Marceline SmithI think I’ve found my favourite band of 2006 already. Is there any way this could be better? Two teenage Swedish girls covering Pet Shop Boys songs in an electropop style. Not only would the PSBs approve of this, it’s almost surprising they aren’t behind it. The styling is perfect – all very futurist industrial. The video for Domino Dancing has them wandering morosely through corridors sporting silver spraypainted hardhats and their press photos are all modern architecture, leather and dogs. So in concept it’s brilliant, in musical reality it’s even better – Pet Shop Boys crossed with Robyn and tATu. Domino Dancing itself is a very odd choice for a debut (their cover of West End Girls, also awesome, is out next), not being one of the PSB’s more well-known singles but I’d forgotten how good it is. There’s something heartbreaking and poignant about the young female heavily accented vocals replacing Neil Tennant’s English reserve, adding even more layers of ambiguity to the song. And the handclaps are the best thing I’ve heard so far this year. I cannot wait for the album (please have Heart on it, and I Want A Dog).
Marceline Smith
Marceline is the fierce, terrifying force behind diskant.net, laughing with disdain as she fires sharpened blades of sarcasm in all directions. Based in Scotland, her lexicon consists of words such as 'jings', 'aboot' and 'aye': our trained voice analysts are yet to decipher some of the relentless stream of genius uttered on a twenty-four hour basis. Marceline's hobbies include working too much and going out in bad weather.
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