La Roux - Quicksand EP Review
Posted by Marshall Slayton on 05.16.2009
M-M-My Poker Face. (Muh muh muh muh...)
1. Quicksand (Album Version)
2. Quicksand (Mad Decent Remix No. 1)
3. In For The Kill (Skream's Let's Get Ravey Remix)
La Roux is a new English synthpop duo featuring vocalist Eleanor Jackson (or Elly, if you’re familiar with her), and producer Ben Langmaid, who contributes to the writing. Their style is very 80’s in nature: throw in the soundtrack to “Beverly Hills Cop” while playing La Roux, and you’d never know they were made thirty years apart.
Their debut album will be released on June 29th, and the first single, “Quicksand,” has been floating around the interweb since last November. The Quicksand EP boosts the song along with two remixes.
The Universal Music Group seems to be pushing La Roux with enthusiasm since the popularity of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and “Just Dance.” Just take one listen to La Roux, and you’ll understand why Universal will search anywhere to ride the success of any radio hit.
Looks a lot like the opening credits of a James Bond movie, doesn’t it? (Or perhaps a “Come to the Caribbean!” commercial.) Even the music video feels manufactured by a corporate team of suits who are convinced they know how to tap the vein of the public.
Whereas Lady Gaga has upbeat music that fits in well with dance clubs, I can’t see La Roux doing the same. This is 100% yanked-off-the-conveyor-belt radio fodder, engineered and created with an eye on the charts.
“You think Lady Gaga is great? Well, we have the British answer for that!” Enter La Roux, stage right. Cue applause.
Even the remixes are tacky. The “Quicksand (Mad Decent Remix No. 1)” is a Madonna B-Side at best, and I kept waiting for Elly to shout, “And we are living in a material world! And I am a material girl!” Gotta love that 80’s banging-cans-with-spoons sound, though.
The other song, “In For The Kill (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey Remix),” doesn’t get ravey until the last minute, leaving us in low-key twilight music for four straight minutes. It’s like Portishead without any inspiration or heart. When things kick up and get interesting, the song begins a fade out. What a cheap shot. Ending us at the good part. Pffftt.
Let me put this simply: If Lady Gaga is Barack Obama, then La Roux is Michael Steele. If Madonna is “The Matrix,” then La Roux is “Swordfish.” And if Depeche Mode is a whole lobster, then La Roux is Sam's Club imitation crab meat.
See where I’m going with this?
The 411: Yes, people... it's a fake. You thought you were rich, but instead, you just dug up a whole bunch of fool's gold. La Roux is attempting to imitate 80's music of old while trying to ride the success of current female synthpop. It's the same music you can hear anywhere else on the radio. Only half-assed. Consider yourself warned.
