Cajun Dance Party

Let me introduce you to the charming Cajun Dance Party. One of London's most exciting new bands, they are about to be showcased on Steve Lamacq's esteemed Radio 1 show tonight, Lamacq Live.

"Floating around last summer (2005), Robbie, an acomplished international violinist decided to create a band in which he would strum a guitar and Daniel would sing. Max, a great lead guitarist was called upon to literally and physically evolve, like a pokemon, into a bassist and be in the band. Two drummers later, Will joined the band offering gifts of homemade crumpets and fruit cake. Vicky made the sound complete wih her fat Roland keyboard. Cajun Dance Party is our third and final band name after The New English Quintet and Colourful Life got scrapped simultaneously."

These 16 year olds (they only got their GCSE results the other week!) have been causing an A&R clamour as of late and understandably so, their blissfully crafted, joyous indie pop has shades of The Arcade Fire and The Strokes to mention but two. Influences range from Aphex Twin(?!) to The Mars Volta so perhaps expect some more eccentric anthems as the band develops.

A dedicated (i.e mental) fanbase has been built who witness their entertaining live performances, being particularly enamoured with frontman Danny, who seems to exhibit faux hyperactivity but manages to deliver his crisp vocals perfectly. They also won the same school Battle Of The Bands that Les Incompétents originally finished second in, then were victorious the year after (Fear Of Flying lost out that time around). Considering I helped set up the inaugural one, I'm pretty chuffed at the standard of talent that has come through.

I've only uploaded the one track today but either listen out on the Radio 1 website around right about now or check Cajun Dance Party's MySpace [link] to download more material. 'Colourful Life' is a dreamy, infectious pop ditty with a spellbinding little chorus - "So pick up the pace and enjoy the race, 'cos nothingness is nice. And feel the dance, and feel the mood. While you're munching on that slice." Like a less twee Belle & Sebastian, simply glorious. I'm pretty sure it's going to be released as a single on Way Out West records in the near future so look out for it.

Cajun Dance Party - Colourful Life

They're quite clearly having a ball, why don't we join them? Cajun Dance Party - too cool for school.

Late Of The Pier

Once in a while, a band appears that you just have to sit up and pay attention to. Because they seem quite insane. Nottingham's Late Of The Pier make eccentric music which is akin to Daft Punk and The Flaming Lips sitting together and watching the Sci-Fi channel in a mental asylum.

First came across these young lads at a Transparent [link] night on a stellar bill headlined by Les Incompétents. Very entertaining. The synth (or whatever it is) player was amazingly funny with his onstage dance moves, worth seeing this band for that alone. But the music stands up too, so much so that Diesel U-Music - famed for its unsigned awards, propelling the likes of Tom Vek and We Are Scientists into the mainstream - invited the band to play on their Finalists Tour in July.

'Very Wav Wet Wipes' starts off surprisingly calmly yet considerably trippy before evolving into a bit of a floorfiller. Out of nowhere comes a hip hop stylee breakdown and in turn, the tempo is brought down and eventually ends up sounding like a bit of an electro Strokes. No bad thing in my book. 'Broken' is more of a straight forward dancey number but has a bit of a haunting ending. Late Of The Pier's music is quite schizophrenic really but the idea of not knowing what will come next adds to the intrigue. Not to mention I have no clue what they're on about lyrically.

Late Of The Pier - Very Wav Wet Wipes
Late Of The Pier - Broken

Late Of The Pier play a handful of dates over the next few weeks, including tonight at the legendary Way Out West clubnight. See their MySpace for dates and other downloads [link].