Instant Pop Thrills

Rachael Neiman on Hotpants Romance

Hotpants Romance - Lucky 6 Demo EP 

Hotpants Romance are a Manchester-based three-piece comprising Laura, Lowri and Kate, and certainly one of those bands I can see having a polarising effect on audiences. To me they sound utterly amazing whereas I know others would describe their sound as a cacophony, but those people are all probably too busy listening to GYBE, and, anyway, they aren’t writing this review. So, ahem, I can tell you that Hotpants Romance are utterly fabulous and scarily close to Pop perfection.

I suppose it shouldn’t really be possible to cram so much noisy Pop goodness into a short six song EP, but the band manage it with considerable panache. The songs on offer here are short, sharp blasts of pure bubblegum heaven, embodying all of the elements that make this type of DIY so charming and addictive, and thoroughly explaining why I’d rather listen to this kind of thing for days on end than listen to five seconds of earnest post rock. Just because someone is an accomplished musician doesn’t necessarily mean they make music that’s remotely worth listening to!

Hotpants Romance could (thankfully) hardly be described as “accomplished musicians”, sounding all the better for it. As they proudly state, their recipe for success is little more than “three girls! three years! three chords!” and it’s hard to see what more they could need. They sound like they’re having a lot of fun, and are defying us not to join in. They meld their unerring ability to write a great tune with lyrics about dancing, sunbathing, sweets and, er… hotpants. Opener ‘Hotpants, No Chance’ is a guaranteed floor-filler at the indie-disco of my dreams, and ‘Shake Baby Shake’ (not a cover of the Lush song) is as fine a slab of slithering beauty as you’ll hear all year with its discordant vocals and irresistible melody. ‘Sugar Dip’ is their delightfully cheeky tribute to Bis and ‘It’s A Heatwave’ is a fabulous retro pop tune a la The Ramones. So, there you have it, if you want some instant Pop thrills it would be difficult to do better than to visit this here link
www.hotpantsromance.com

© 2007 Rachael Neiman

Rachael Neiman presents a regular show on Dandelion Radio and runs the Cherryade label from deepest Blackpool, boasting releases from The Bobby McGees and Tiger MCs.

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