The Texas-Germany Connection

(thanks to my dad for the links)

We're on the radio in Texas! KOOP, 91.7 in Austin has been playing Noyfriend.

Also, apparently we're going down a storm in Germany, or at least according to the German Rolling Stone Messageboard. Sehr gutt!

kommen aus dem süden londons, sind vier damen (aaah...) und ihre musik gilt als eine mixtur aus den pipettes, kraftwerk, stereolab und jesus and mary chain.

I think that's good? Ja? I think I see the German for "Stereolab" in there. ;-)

Oh, and GreenPeaNess have said some Nice Things about Noyfriend's Krautrock Connection:

It's been pretty difficult to ignore the motorik beat's glorious return to indie-pop prominence, but it's certainly been possible; I honestly do like all those bands like the Early Years and Emperor Machine, but it's pretty much impossible to see any frivolity in their approach to music-making whatsoever, and in light of the way frivolity kinda sorta defines every action that I've ever taken I just don't find myself fiending for them. I'm only bringing this void up, of course, because the Shimura Curves seem to have swooped in to fill it quite nicely - Tom over at the wholly essential Indie MP3 characterized them as "the Pipettes fronting Kraftwerk", a description of such elegant accuracy that it practically puts me in literal pain to hang those quote marks around it. What's revelatory about the Curves (or at least "revelatory" in that gloriously ephemeral winding-down-summer sense), after all, is the way they're able to pick up threads of the motorik sound which, in the hands of a band more interested in righteousness than awesomeness, would probably end up sounding like study hall rather than recess; the organ on "Noyfriend", for instance, may basically only be distinct for the way it sustains itself, but it stands in such striking, warm opposition to the relentless urgency of the beat or the achingly bloodless intonation of the vocals that it pretty much had me cheering like a jackass to nobody in particular as much as any song I've heard since "Pull Shapes". I mean, there's your answer as to why this band sure feels remarkable - they're hardly the only people turning their hip40something cousins' record collections into something for the chi'ren, but damned if anyone else is doing it with these records, let alone doing it so ridiculously well. (Click here to buy The Kids At The Club, an outstanding recent collection of indie-pop released by How Does It Feel Records featuring "Noyfriend", directly from the label)