Whenever I see another of Lady Gaga‘s increasingly out-there stage shows or videos, two thoughts cut through the sick green fug in my mind.
The first one is usually incredulity that the public at large have accepted a pop star who is just so determinedly outré; and secondly, I wonder just how hard Fischerspooner must be kicking themselves, having pioneered the same camp-electro/showtime/weirdness shtick about ten years ago.
Fischerspooner knew they were ahead of the game, and had the misfortune of watching paler imitations emerge (geddit!?!) and attain the kind of success they deserved as Electro became the Noughties’ generic muso-monster that ate the charts, insipid and stylised to death.
Electro, then, is my least favourite ‘cool’ genre right now, and has been ever since the Ting Tings ruined the radio waves. Year Of The Tiger might now be wondering how they made it as today’s new band.
Well, it’s simple. Electro bands have usually done the bare minimum to create music: take average keyboard pop, tighten the drums, turn the treble up to 11 and paper over the cracks with big hair and ironic T-shirts.
Year Of The Tiger have spotted the creaking, dusty hollow inside of all this and have responded with Heart of Steel, a song that takes the electro blueprint and actually does something with it.
Year Of The Tiger // Heart of Steel
Eschewing the usual hi-tempo, hi-hat, hi-ball electro-drudge in favour of a plodding, building, heavy song has created a pop song with a warped sound that flirts with the weirder bits of, er, My Bloody Valentine.
It sounds incongruous, but it works, and by mixing these two sounds, Year of The Tiger have managed to squeeze new life out of a genre I thought dead, which deserves several nods of appreciation, at least.
Oh, and like every other good band that isn’t from Scandinavia, they’re from Brooklyn. Natch.
I think one day I’m going to have to visit Brooklyn to see just how it seems to have birthed a million bands. A million good bands. Although for some reason Year Of The Tiger remind me a bit of Britpop, which is pretty inexplicable.
Also, interesting link between Fischerspooner and Lady Gaga! Even though I have had minimal contact with Fischerspooner’s work, I can tell that this is a good call.
-saamFG
I’m also hoping for a trip to Brooklyn for the same reason, though I’m holding out on the vague hope that there’s a Brooklyn Indie Music Advisory Council who’ll fund my whole visit.
A slender hope, but you never know…
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