Customer Reviews

Trash, Rats and Microphones

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Imagine sitting in a New York City underground nightclub, gorging yourself on sugary drinks and lots of vintage new wave. Then you lose yourself in the party around you, exhausting yourself in a blur of color and insane dancing

That, my friends, more or less sums up the debut album by Heloise and the Savoir Faire, which turns out to be a polished and colorful little creation called "Trash Rats and Microphones." This fledgling band belts out a solid string of electro-rock, saturated in brilliant color, glitz and raucous energy that don't stop until the music does. And I get the feeling they're even better live.

It kicks off with a bang -- "Illusion" is a gloriously chaotic tangle of new-wavy synth and spurting riffs. And the lyrics sort of indicate what the mood is supposed to be: "You're feeling hot tonight/cause your body looks so good you should be dancin' all night!... I'll keep on dancing baby, yeah yeah/sell it sell it sell it sister, stories to tell!" Heloise Williams drawls in her throaty, smooth voice.

And fear not, for they don't slow down at all after that.

Instead, Williams and Co. segue smoothly into the funky, finger-snapping new-wave of "Members Only," where Williams cranks up the charm and the danger ("If you come into our area/we'll put you to the rest/cuz we're M-E-M-B-E-R-S... members only!"), and follow it up with the driving riffs and sinuous keyboard of "Pick'N'Choose."

And with that, Heloise and the Savoir Faire seem to have chosen their sound -- driving rock'n'roll blended with wild, raucous, colorful electronica. As the album goes on, they present us with stompy dance tunes, blippy powerpop, electro-rock splattered with fragmented Mariachi, and some deliciously wild, raucous dancepop with just enough griminess around the edges. The closest thing they have to a "slow song" would be the sprightly electronic poppiness of "Canadian Changs."

In fact, it really blossoms right at the end with the deliciously dirty-minded, electro-punk rhythms of "Givin' U the Bizness" (which uses "burn a DVD" as a sexual euphemism... never mind). But after the maddened Casiotone undulations of "Odyle," I was left with one overhanging thought: Wait, it can't be over yet!

Heloise and the Savoir Faire have been getting a lot of buzz around blogs and underground music circles. But word-of-mouth can't really prepare you for just how dynamic, energetic and wild their music is -- this band soaks their music in vintage keyboards, sex, booze, glamour and more than a hint of party-time hedonism. You might actually wake up with a hangover after hearing this.

And the entire album is driven along by Heloise Williams herself -- she sounds like a mildly deranged Debbie Harry. Same kind of smooth, strong vocals, but with more yelping, yowling, cooing, punky squeals, and a focus on sex and rock'n'roll. And a wealth of sexy double-entendres. Let's just say that you'll never see office supplies or Memorial Day quite the same way again.

But Heloise's charisma wouldn't make this album good, if the music weren't also brilliant. And the band turns out some pretty astounding instrumentals -- everything is led by the fast-moving, grimy-edged riffs and lots of twisting, new-wavey keyboard, with the occasional blips and bubbles. Rounding off their sound: rapid-fire drums, and blasts of triumphant brass here and there.

Heloise and the Savoir Faire are definitely worth the buzz. "Trash Rats and Microphones" is a triumphant debut, brimming over with the kind of energy and charisma you just can't fake.

I bought this CD along with another one of the same genre, but from a significantly more well known artist. This CD has so far gotten MUCH more playtime! Unexpectedly, I love this music!

It's sort of a blend of disco, electronic, and maybe punk. Heloise is a great singer with lots of power. In my opinion, this is what pop music SHOULD sound like, or maybe if mainstream pop was for children, this is pop for adults. The lyrics are creative and unusual. The baselines are sick, exotic. This would be great music to play at a wild crazy dance party provided the audience is open minded enough to appreciate something off the beaten path.

My favorite songs so far are:

#2 - "Members Only" which is about exclusive dance clubs "Ooo Ahhh; Members only; Jackets, nice asses, and backstage passes!"
#3 - "Pick 'N' Choose" beautiful synth sounds garnished with smooth sexy vocals with fits of punk
#4 - "Datsun 280Z" which is about driving a sports car from the 1970's
#8 - "On Fuego" Which is about partying hard in a spring break/beach type atmosphere, and it has some similarities to The B-52's music.
#12 - "Odyle" where Heloise pulls out all the stops with her singing

And the other songs on the CD are absolutely not throw-aways - you might like different ones.

I recommend buying this.

I would jump on an opportunity to see this band live!

Heloise and The Savoir Faire are most fun and radical;Punk, funk, electronic dance and pop. The best of all my favorite music...all tied up into two hot ladies and one fiery dancer!

Knowing the band for a while, I'm so happy to see them whip out their... album.
You can enjoy this awesome music, but seeing it live only improves the experience.

XoXo

i remember seeing heloise when i was 15 in the hay barn at goddard college in plainfield vermont! she was singing with a crazy jam band whose name always seems at the tip of my tongue until i need it... like right now. anyway, she's come a long way, baby! come back to vt more often, helly! we luv ya big time.

Heloise and the Savoir Faire's "Trash,Rats and Microphones" is one of the most apt-titled albums ever. It describes the album's hodge-podge and trashiness. It's self-deprecating,because it's not that good. It's a mash-up of synth-pop,dance,and punk rock--more like an unloving arranged marriage that results in messed-up progeny. For experimental rock/dance,what's amazing is its utter blandness. The songs melt into each other,sounding the same. Heloise comes across as a bored and boring Cyndi Lauper,Goldfrapp without the fun,a literally straight version of Beth Ditto without the soul (Heloise married her boyfriend recently)

"Trash" begins with "Illusions"--again,very apt. It's bland disco. There's better disco in the Bee Gees' take on the Fab Four in this cinematic masterpiece Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band The second song, "Pick and Choose",is the strongest. Why? Because it's interesting. "Downtown" makes the Petula Clark version sound compelling and passionate in comparison. "Memorial Day" has a shout-out to Kid Rock. "Taking Care of Bizness" uses computers as a metaphor for sex;well,it could've worked with the Cylon/human love affairs in Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series [Blu-ray] But then again,Bear McReary has something Heloise doesn't--talent. "On Fuego" is a lame attempt at salsa dance/disco. "Canadian Changs" makes one long for the singing skills of William Shatner The Transformed Man The entire album suffers from pretentiousness. Like the prophets of Baal who thought they could call down fire upon Mount Carmel,Heloise and her group has pretensions of being musical,of being gay icons,of somehow wedding disco to punk (a union that is an abomination)

"Trash" sounds a lot like the bland dance pop that plays at clothing stores. Nothing distinctive about it. It would work as ambient music,but it's not interesting. In New York City, there were two dance pop divas with devoted LGBT followings,with aspirations to artiness... and one won... her name is Lady GaGa. GaGa can pen a guilty pleasure dance song that's suitably memorable. She even has talent.

When it comes to campiness, there are singers/groups preferable to Heloise:
El Baile Aleman
Yellow Fever
And when it comes to ethereal dance pop,there's Ringo Starr-recommended Bat for Lashes: Two Suns
If one must have a diva,there's always Madonna,Cyndi Lauper,and Lady GaGa.