Band To Watch: Cajun Dance Party
Seems like all our friends with tickets to ride across the Atlantic and back return buzzing about Cajun Dance Party, a band of five teenagers (ages 16-17) from London, gaining a name for packing in the punters and kicking out melodic spunk. They've left journos drawing wild comparisons (the Smiths, Belle & Sebastian, the Beatles) with just a few singles to their name, but in the process have caught of the ear of, less importantly, us, and more impressively, Thom Yorke, who according to NME told 'em to sign with XL. "He's like a prophet," says singer Danny Blumberg, "He said, 'Don't sign to a major,' so we didn't."
While they're working on the debut album that's sure to be hyped beyond all recognition later this year (Suede's Bernard Butler is producing at least one cut), this catchy track is doing the legwork for now.
Cajun Dance Party - "The Next Untouchable" (MP3)
While the garagey post-punk is in there, the kids look to bands like Arcade Fire over the Libertines or the new rave scene, which sounding as they do, is encouraging. For the States, for now, the 7" with b-side "Buttercups" is available only via Insound and Other Music. Cajun Dance Party's full-length debut is in the works, we'll get ya more of a listen when we can. "The Next Untouchable"'s video after the jump.
Posted at 1:02 PM in Band To Watch, MP3, Video
Tags: Cajun Dance Party
my friend recommended them to me a while back. They make good indie dance(?)music and the fact he has an accent makes the music more presh..you lot should check out the song AMYLASE.
Posted by: Jumpology at May 4, 2007 1:22 PM | ReplyScore = 0
I love the accent! It's like Beatles overtones on the beach. (Or do I still have too much Oasis stuck in my head from NME?) Anyway, this band is great. Definitely one to keep an eye on. Maybe I should Google them, and see what else I can come up with.
That dude has a lotta hair.
Posted by: Rochelle Nikita at May 4, 2007 1:34 PM | ReplyScore = 0
Hot Hot Heat?
Posted by: cafee at May 4, 2007 2:18 PM | ReplyScore = 0
A friend of mine made me a mix tape last year for my birthday and included a couple of their tracks on it. It wasn't long till I learned to skip their tracks. Didn't impress me at all.
I just feel sorry for kids in bands that get a load of hype surrounding them and don't get to make a second or third album. Get ready to sticker their albums with 'home alone syndrome'.
Posted by: Andrew at May 4, 2007 2:36 PM | ReplyScore = 0
Pretty tough climate out there when people are dissing 16 and 17 year olds. Jeeez - whataya gotta do to please people these days?
They sound promising to me and I wish them only the best of luck.
Posted by: dudeasincool at May 4, 2007 8:29 PM | ReplyScore = 0
thank you for turning me on to these cats. being that i'm known as "the cajun boy" in the blog world and on gawker, i feel it to be necessity to be aware of any indie rock band with the word "cajun" in it's name.
Posted by: the cajun boy at May 4, 2007 10:13 PM | ReplyScore = 0
"He's like a prophet."
I just threw up in my mouth.
No, wait. Danny just threw up in my ear.
Posted by: David at May 4, 2007 10:18 PM | ReplyScore = 0
"Pretty tough climate out there when people are dissing 16 and 17 year olds. Jeeez - whataya gotta do to please people these days?"
What, so people should automatically enjoy music made by them because they're kids?
Posted by: Andrew at May 5, 2007 9:46 AM | ReplyNot everyone loves the music of Smoosh. They are what? 10? 11? 12?
No one has "dissed" them anyway.
People don't have generic clones of everyone else's music taste you know. We don't all read pitchfork, the NME and here to tell us what we should think about music. Make up your own mind. Really not that hard.
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I heard of these guys quite awhile ago...entertaining stuff but not anything too impressive. I much prefer Bombay Bicycle Club, another indie British teen band but with more memorable melodies. CDP only caught my attention because of their name, actually. :)
Posted by: alexis at May 5, 2007 2:39 PM | ReplyScore = 0
I aint much sure they'll rock the music charts. Alesis is right, I'll prefer Bombay Bicycle's myself. but I wish'em good luck.
Posted by: Binit at May 8, 2007 7:03 PM | ReplyScore = 0
is that you luke pritchard?
Posted by: Bryant at November 3, 2007 11:23 PM | ReplyScore = 0
First of all yeah this is way more in the vein of The Kooks than anything else. In interviews I have read that they are really influenced by Arcade Fire, but I can't hear it in the music at all- but I do here the Smiths, and maybe James or the Cure in places. Overall It's good stuff, and the fact that they are so young makes it that more impressive, and being young will have nothing to do with making a second or a third record. It will probably have more to do with whether they have another set of songs that move people. I have heard they already have another record set for release this year. The band's debut This Colourful Life came out in the U.K. last week.
The smartest thing the band could do would be to ignore the U.S. all together and sell records in the U.K. Why those bands want to break here is beyond me. Touring is hard and expensive, those that do show up to shows don't dance and have fun (insert arms crossed pose), and people do not buy records here. Look at the Arctics- they sold millions in the U.K. and I think they barely cleared 100,000 in the States (correct me if my figures are off here.
In the U.K. this will probably sell tons of records. For whatever reason in the U.K they do not let "hype" kill a band. It seems to be only in America where we like to destroy bands before they can get there footing. Case in point: Black Kids. I mean imagine if we had blogs, and such when Radiohead first came out. We would have butchered them and we would have never had Kid A, OK Computer, or even In Rainbows. Not that Pablo Honey sucked that bad (not my favorite), but it was a young English band trying to find their footing. Thank God their was major label money there at the time, and as the story goes an influential DJ willing to start spinning Creep like mad in the States. No days major label money is tainted, and the execs are still idiots. The DJs are now bloggers, and it is up to people to give a band a bit of a break and let the band grow over a few records. These kids in Cajun Dance Party are good, and they could be great one day- only time will tell. Maybe they will sell enough in the U.K. that we will get another chance to dazzle us with brilliance. For now we have a pretty good record, and that used to be good enough. XL seems like a great home for a band at the moment, and they are signing up young talent, whose first records are good- Vampire Weekend, Cajun Dance Party, Adele- but more importantly these bands have potential to be great in the future. It seems like XL are positioning themselves to be the next important label- Thom York sure thinks so. So when the prophet spoke- its probably a good thing they listened.
So I have heard the entire Cajun Dance Party Record and I have heard the Bombay Bicycle Club eps and both are quite nice, and both have a chance to be around for a while. Cajun Dance Party has a handful of great songs to offer here- No Joanna, Amylase, Colourful Life. The Race, etc.
But then again what do Thom Yorke, and Bernard Butler (who produced Cajun Dance Party) know- since those two guys are accustomed to associating themselves with shit bands?
Posted by: hitswitchkenScore = 0