Mike Skinner is guest editing New Band of the Day this week. And for his first choice he's picked these French disco existentialists
Hometown: Reims, France.
The lineup: Guillaume and Benalways.
The background: The Shoes are one of the best bands we've heard all day. We're not being flippant or facetious when we say that. See, we discovered an amazing group of young hipsters from Nashville this morning. Trouble is, we can't tell you about them till next Monday because all this week the New Bands of the Day, though written as ever by the dashing bald fellow in the photo on the left, are being chosen by Mike Skinner, who has a full head of hair and isn't afraid to show it off as guest editor of guardian.co.uk/music. So, basically, we're doing the Shoes instead.
Luckily, Mr Skinner's first choice are pretty great and go some way towards taking our minds off our aforementioned Nashville discoveries. In fact, they do a similar line in 80s pop, only the Shoes are on more of a synth-duo tip, and we're guessing that the precision-tooled basslines and turbocharged beats are computer-generated rather than performed. Two guys from Reims in France, you can also detect in their music the influence of post-Daft Punk house and "French Touch" pop, as well as the retro-disco manners of Calvin Harris.
They've brought plenty of collaborators with them, though, having . remixed Primary 1, Marina and the Diamonds, Golden Silvers and Ladyhawke. Plus, they've produced tracks for Shakira (who, on her forthcoming album, is trying to raise her hipster profile as per Xtina and Britney with indie-ish or vogue-ish dance names). Now the well-connected pair have recorded an album with Gonzales, Esser, CocknBullKid, Wave Machines and others, who have added keyboards, vocals and percussion to their Lexxx-produced debut album, Crack My Bones.
It's an album of dark electro-pop that will appeal to fans of Pet Shops Boys and Hot Chip. Or remember the Beloved, that acid house-era duo who had hits such as The Sun Rising? That's who the Shoes remind us of, only with the smiley vibe replaced by a sense of sadness and loss. There's a track on the album that sums up the mood of Crack My Bones. It's a Human League-ish affair called Cliche and features ennui-laden lyrics such as, "There's nobody in the club ? I'm the only one who's dancin'", which is pure disco existentialism. There's even a song called Bored, for God's ? or Tennant's ? sake.
It's not all downbeat ? The Wolf Under the Moon recalls countless uptempo dance hits from 1984, and you could imagine Time to Dance being sung by the Kids from Fame ? but as ever with French musicians, it feels clever, if not clever-clever, pristinely packaged in inverted commas. As if that wasn't enticement enough, the arch anglophiles' artwork and press photos are courtesy of Gavin (This Is England) Watson while the video for recent single Stay the Same features our guest ed's favourite actor, Johnny Harris. And with tracks synched on Gossip Girl and the forthcoming Joel Schumacher film Twelve, the Shoes' future looks bright, which is handy, because they sound like they need cheering up.
The buzz: "Think a Gallic version of Calvin Harris and you won't be far off" ? The 405.
The truth: If the Shoes are any measure, Mike Skinner is going to be guardian.co.uk/music's best guest editor since Antony Hegarty.
Most likely to: Sound weary.
Least likely to: Wear out.
What to buy: The single Wastin' Time' is released by Southern Fried on 21 February, followed by the album Crack My Bones on 7 March.
File next to: Calvin Harris, Phoenix, the Beloved, Hot Chip.
Links: theshoesmusic.blogspot.com.
Tuesday's new band: RoxXxanne.
Noureen DeWulf Nicollette Sheridan Amber Heard Veronica Kay Mýa
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