In SOUND CHECK, we check in with some of our favorite musicians.
Parisian sextet LA FEMME washed over the Music Hall of Williamsburg last Friday with a zany set of surf rock that bordered on the cinematic. Founded in Biarritz, France by Sacha Got and Marlon Magnée, the band eventually settled in the capital city and grew to include members Clémence Quélennec, Nunez Von Ritter, Sam Lefevre, and Noé Delmas. Known for their shape-shifting hairdos, bombastic music videos, and eclectic fashion choices, these French chameleons’ sense of humor and rambunctiousness only enhance their beachy cool. Like a quirky squad of Blade Runner replicants, La Femme executes tunes with surgical precision and evokes waves of goofy garage rock mixed with James Bond (Connery, not Craig) stealth and charm.
La Femme is on their first North American tour since the release of their first studio album Psycho Tropical Berlin. Before the show, we chatted sci-fi movies, wearing sombreros on stage, and why clichés can be cool.
Will Nixon: Your music videos are wacky as hell. What films and filmmakers influenced them?
Nunez Von Ritter: A lot of porn movies. Gay porn.
Sam Lefevre: Movies with sex and violence. [Laughs]
Parisian sextet LA FEMME washed over the Music Hall of Williamsburg last Friday with a zany set of surf rock that bordered on the cinematic. Founded in Biarritz, France by Sacha Got and Marlon Magnée, the band eventually settled in the capital city and grew to include members Clémence Quélennec, Nunez Von Ritter, Sam Lefevre, and Noé Delmas. Known for their shape-shifting hairdos, bombastic music videos, and eclectic fashion choices, these French chameleons’ sense of humor and rambunctiousness only enhance their beachy cool. Like a quirky squad of Blade Runner replicants, La Femme executes tunes with surgical precision and evokes waves of goofy garage rock mixed with James Bond (Connery, not Craig) stealth and charm.
La Femme is on their first North American tour since the release of their first studio album Psycho Tropical Berlin. Before the show, we chatted sci-fi movies, wearing sombreros on stage, and why clichés can be cool.
Will Nixon: Your music videos are wacky as hell. What films and filmmakers influenced them?
Nunez Von Ritter: A lot of porn movies. Gay porn.
Sam Lefevre: Movies with sex and violence. [Laughs]
Sacha Got: No, but really: classic Hollywood, Harry Potter… We love good 60s, 70s, 80s movies, Westerns, Tarantino, Kubrick… What's the one with [hums “Flight of the Valkyries”]… Apocalypse Now! A movie is good with a love story, some violence, and some adventure, you know? Music is the same.
Who has directed your videos?
Sam Lefevre: President François Hollande! [Laughs]
Sacha Got: We direct everything ourselves. At the beginning we were making shorts with a cheap camera––filming little scenes of life. Now, we try other stuff with staged scenarios––like real movies, you know?
Clémence Quélennec: But a bunch of people help us with things like costumes and decoration.
Would you ever want to make movie soundtracks?
Sacha Got: Why not? We have tried. We have given our CD to [friends] in Hollywood. That would be cool because we love a good soundtrack. [Our stuff] is enhanced with image, with pictures. It’s kind of a soundtrack already, you know? We are big on introduction, on buildup, on atmosphere. It’s visual music.
A lot of critics compare your sound to science fiction.
Sacha Got: Why not? Music is hard to describe with words sometimes.
Any sci-fi influences you can think of?
Sacha Got: Star Wars. Definitely Blade Runner.
Sam Lefevre: And 2001: A Space Odyssey––the scene with the monolith and all the monkeys pointing and jumping and going “ooh ooh ooh!” And Dune.
Can you tell me about the cover art for Psycho Tropical Berlin?
Sacha Got: There’s a girl with white eyes. It’s a Belgian artist who did it, Elzo Durt. He makes visuals for Born Bad Records––a French rock label. At the beginning we wanted to make it ourselve
Who has directed your videos?
Sam Lefevre: President François Hollande! [Laughs]
Sacha Got: We direct everything ourselves. At the beginning we were making shorts with a cheap camera––filming little scenes of life. Now, we try other stuff with staged scenarios––like real movies, you know?
Clémence Quélennec: But a bunch of people help us with things like costumes and decoration.
Would you ever want to make movie soundtracks?
Sacha Got: Why not? We have tried. We have given our CD to [friends] in Hollywood. That would be cool because we love a good soundtrack. [Our stuff] is enhanced with image, with pictures. It’s kind of a soundtrack already, you know? We are big on introduction, on buildup, on atmosphere. It’s visual music.
A lot of critics compare your sound to science fiction.
Sacha Got: Why not? Music is hard to describe with words sometimes.
Any sci-fi influences you can think of?
Sacha Got: Star Wars. Definitely Blade Runner.
Sam Lefevre: And 2001: A Space Odyssey––the scene with the monolith and all the monkeys pointing and jumping and going “ooh ooh ooh!” And Dune.
Can you tell me about the cover art for Psycho Tropical Berlin?
Sacha Got: There’s a girl with white eyes. It’s a Belgian artist who did it, Elzo Durt. He makes visuals for Born Bad Records––a French rock label. At the beginning we wanted to make it ourselve