hitswitchken

First of all yeah this is way more in the vein of The Kooks than anything else. In interviews I have read that they are really influenced by Arcade Fire, but I can't hear it in the music at all- but I do here the Smiths, and maybe James or the Cure in places. Overall It's good stuff, and the fact that they are so young makes it that more impressive, and being young will have nothing to do with making a second or a third record. It will probably have more to do with whether they have another set of songs that move people. I have heard they already have another record set for release this year. The band's debut This Colourful Life came out in the U.K. last week.

The smartest thing the band could do would be to ignore the U.S. all together and sell records in the U.K. Why those bands want to break here is beyond me. Touring is hard and expensive, those that do show up to shows don't dance and have fun (insert arms crossed pose), and people do not buy records here. Look at the Arctics- they sold millions in the U.K. and I think they barely cleared 100,000 in the States (correct me if my figures are off here.

In the U.K. this will probably sell tons of records. For whatever reason in the U.K they do not let "hype" kill a band. It seems to be only in America where we like to destroy bands before they can get there footing. Case in point: Black Kids. I mean imagine if we had blogs, and such when Radiohead first came out. We would have butchered them and we would have never had Kid A, OK Computer, or even In Rainbows. Not that Pablo Honey sucked that bad (not my favorite), but it was a young English band trying to find their footing. Thank God their was major label money there at the time, and as the story goes an influential DJ willing to start spinning Creep like mad in the States. No days major label money is tainted, and the execs are still idiots. The DJs are now bloggers, and it is up to people to give a band a bit of a break and let the band grow over a few records. These kids in Cajun Dance Party are good, and they could be great one day- only time will tell. Maybe they will sell enough in the U.K. that we will get another chance to dazzle us with brilliance. For now we have a pretty good record, and that used to be good enough. XL seems like a great home for a band at the moment, and they are signing up young talent, whose first records are good- Vampire Weekend, Cajun Dance Party, Adele- but more importantly these bands have potential to be great in the future. It seems like XL are positioning themselves to be the next important label- Thom York sure thinks so. So when the prophet spoke- its probably a good thing they listened.

So I have heard the entire Cajun Dance Party Record and I have heard the Bombay Bicycle Club eps and both are quite nice, and both have a chance to be around for a while. Cajun Dance Party has a handful of great songs to offer here- No Joanna, Amylase, Colourful Life. The Race, etc.

But then again what do Thom Yorke, and Bernard Butler (who produced Cajun Dance Party) know- since those two guys are accustomed to associating themselves with shit bands?

on Band To Watch: Cajun Dance Party at May 3, 2008 9:15 AM
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