THE VIRGINS - THE VIRGINSThe Virgins are the latest "sex, drugs & rock 'n' roll" band to stagger from
New York, and also one of
NME's tips for 2009. It's fairly obvious why, without even listening to their album. They look like a dangerous, party boy, "lock-up-your-daughters"-type gang, and God knows that there's been a lack of one in music for a while (I don't count
Towers Of London because...well they were shit). But when you bring the music into it, then they're deserving of a ones-to-watch tag.
The band used to be a bog-standard garage rock band like a million others in New York after
The Strokes broke through, but all of a sudden they've transformed into a disco-pop band, with Nile Rodgers-esque guitar being a major part of most tracks. Sort of a Strokes you can actually dance to. First track
"She's Expensive" is a carbon copy of
Elvis Costello,
"Rich Girls" could be
The Teenagers if they were American and
"Fernando Pando"'s guitars sound like
The Clash in their ska mode.
But enough comparing them to other bands.
The Virgins are good enough to stand out on their own. Their sound walks the tightrope between funky indie rock, and straight-up camp disco pop (I get the irony of straight up and camp in the same sentence) and you can imagine it soundtracking all the parties that the cool kids go to (the five tracks from their debut EP has already soundtracked an episode of
Gossip Girl). So yeah, check them out and prepare to get your groove on. God I'm cool....
ESSENTIAL TRACKS: "She's Expensive", "One Week Of Danger", "Rich Girls", "Hey Hey Girl", "Radio Christiane", "Love Is Colder Than Death".
7/10
