Red Blooded Women consist of Carly, Liz and Candy. They took to the stage at the legendary venue The Water Rats the other night and immediately belted out their super sonic electronicpop with the Yazoo sampling Colour Me Dirty setting out their constitution. Red Blooded Women do not follow the rules. Not only did the audience hear some amazing pop but the band actually bounced around each other clearly raising a middle finger to any slur suggesting these girls were somehow cardboard cut-out fame academy popstars. They roared through the set like animals only interrupting the songs with stories ranging about chewing gum and promises of signing their new 7” single with delightful phallic imagery.
The banter was just as exciting as the performance itself. Perhaps they, unlike so many other new acts, have managed to reach that nirvana of a balance between achieving the right amount of chat along with performing the songs themselves. They don’t just stand-up and pose like mannequins. They have an attitude and can string a sentence beyond the stereotypical “hi everyone” and “this is the new song”. Red Blooded Women cut through the red tape that separates the audience and the music and become your best pals on a fierce night out. Perhaps with drinks on them.
This was to be expected though. Since watching Red Blooded Women early in the year I could see the girls certainly had a stage presence, belt out a note and really enjoy themselves. Anyone can have a good pop song. But its what they do with it that actually counts. The girls loaded up their poptastic tunes and spat them out at the audience. It seemed like a headrush through the best of the 1980s. Steve Strange and the Stock, Aitken and Waterman were paid the highest of tributes with the gloriously camp Keep Up The Attraction. Slick, dirty and slutty, the songs licked the best of Erasure, Bananarama and Kylie. However, putting comparisons aside I would like to say that by the time they performed the chillingly cold current single You Made Your Bed sound of Red Blooded Woman emerged.
And as such, they were amazing. As Can’t You See coursed through the veins you felt like they were transported from Taboo. 4 2 Nite, which appears on the E.P, begins with the statement ‘your not a superstar’ and is an ode to sexual power politics. Its deeply related to Kylie’s The One and Like A Drug and for this reason alone it’s a gem of a song.
It was the song Synthesizer that received the most applause. Fresh from wiggling the audiences bottoms to Keep up The Attraction Synthesizer recalls everything brilliant about the 1980’s but it isn’t over the top or ridiculous. It’s dripping with absolute catchiness and has a certain edge to it that could ensure its ticket into the mainstream. Speedy like Septembers Cry For You but with the heart of Michael Sembello's Maniac (Flashdance!), Synthesizer crosses the sounds of the 80’s, 90’s and 00s with dreamy chutzpah. The song uses a number of organic instruments as well as 80’s drum beats ensuring its not too this and not too that. It could be the song that could open doors for the band.
Its also a rather difficult to perform but Red Blooded Women truly do have some lungs on them. And, the girls do sing live. So much so that when there was a technical fault with Liz’s microphone, you simply didn’t hear her anymore. The wire lost its grip in the plug (don’t judge, we’ve all been there). Liz was left singing but you could distinctly hear a difference in the overall vocals. She was no longer coming through the sound system. Returning to the song Synthesizer though, witnessing Candy hitting those last high notes, the force of Red Blooded Women guaranteed the song the same glory as the iconic Blondie hit Atomic.
For Tonight, for us, this is what Red Blooded Women revealed. A band that didn’t play by the rules, challenging the greats in pop music and having a laugh at the same time. Yes, the songs are good. Really good. But with Liz, Carly and Candy at the helm the songs become so much more than what they are. They soar into iconic status, leave their rivals panting for more and nestle next to legendary pop songs of yesterday. This is what is most exciting about the act that is Red Blooded Women. Brilliant to mp3+cd but also out of this world live.
FOR YOU TONIGHT-Red Blooded Women Live
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5 comments:
"the blonde one" has the same tshirt that Sean Same Difference wears in his promo interview about the sun care range. Another reason Candy and the girls rock then! Hurrah
Carly is so adorable, I love her middle 8 in You Made Your Bed.
AMAZING. I simply cannot wait for more from these girls, I am absolutely in love with them and think they poop all over The Saturdays.
Are these girls signed yet? They sound brilliant.
Kudos on for including their actual names!
Doing a bit of a 're' to what Paul said - that shirt was part of H&M's summer line.
Josh
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