A few years back, when Stylus stalked the land of the living, a small core of our writers banded around Souvenir’s brilliant, 64–a Stereolab meets Fujiya & Miyagi, meets Annie amalgam of surf guitars, chromatic keyboards, and sultry vocals. Or Little Boots, before Victoria Hesketh was a gleam in Atlantic Records’ coffers. The ever-discerning Dom Passantino, even wrote a Stylus Recommends review of the record, which finished in my 2007 top 20.
Two years later, the Pamplona-based duo have returned with Drums, Sex, and Dance, their ode to three of the finest things in existence (ostensibly, adding “food” would’ve been unwieldy, and conjured nightmarish visions of George Costanza, in flagrante delicto, with pastrami sandwich). The group hew closely to their winning formula, which could seem stale were not for their impeccable song-writing skills and preternatural poppiness. Produced tastefully and with an eye towards timeliness, growing tired of Souvenir is like growing weary of drums, sex and dance.
Buy: Souvenir-Drums, Sex, and Dance
Download:
MP3: Souvenir-“Ta Machine”
MP3: Souvenir-“Drums, Sex, and Dance
From Souvenir-64
