WET LEG a girl band from the Isle of Wight on Domino Records

Only one song so far but what a calling card...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9jeJk2UHQ

pretty pretty pretty good.

Two Cool Rock Chicks Listening To Neu

very standard UK indie with slightly elevated presentation?

Not in my opinion. On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure why I like it so much. It feels assured and confident. I also find it very funny.

Learned a new word today!

Weird, but I think I need to hear more songs by them to contextualize it? On its own, I'm not too moved, but if I had a more rounded idea of what their vision is, I might be able to frame it differently. Does that make sense? Dunno.

Watched the video, enjoyed it, didn't think I needed to hear it more than once - but 6 Music keep playing it, and it turns out to bear up remarkably well to repeated listens. If I still compiled a personal chart, it would be number one.

Enjoyed the track - getting Dry Cleaning crossed with Petite Meller vibes.

I will regret that post within days

Makes me feel like Art Brut is back and coming from me that's a compliment

The YT is a neat side eye at #cottagecore, I guess.

Would you like us to assign someone to worry your mother?

On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure why I like it so much. It feels assured and confident. I also find it very funny.

Yes, I also really love it, and I think its sense of humour and playfulness is a huge part of it. There is so little new music that feels fun, or funny.

Perhaps the finest song about lying on french furniture since Plastic Bertrand.

wow, what is this contemporary drivel

are we already post-dry cleaning?

Not sure I'd use the word drivel but yeah idgi either

I kinda dig the song, but ever since I first heard it I haven’t been able to pinpoint the song it reminds of...until now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDdSQlCbJ90

omg yes

this is better than Dry Cleaning, imo

i'll give Dry Cleaning another chance tonight tho

I like the guitar more w/ Dry Cleaning but this is nice.

extraordinarily terrible band name

Weird, but I think I need to hear more songs by them to contextualize it? On its own, I'm not too moved, but if I had a more rounded idea of what their vision is, I might be able to frame it differently. Does that make sense? Dunno.

I kinda dig the song, but ever since I first heard it I haven’t been able to pinpoint the song it reminds of...until now:

extraordinarily terrible band name

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, July 19, 2021 9:23 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I will never get how groups of ostensibly creative people come up with the most banal and forgettable band names

unless this is a regional idiom or perhaps a pun I am not getting

So far, Level 42 still the best band from the Isle of Wight but I'm prepared to be proved wrong.

The video is necessary to get the whole sleepy eyed sarcasm across, but the attitude here is an ace distillation of a despairing humor of trying to get your life started in this broken summer. Maybe a totally one-off, but a potent one, like Vivian Goldman’s Launderette or Wet Dog’s Lower Leg, who may have inspired the band name. Stuck in my head for days.

Dry Cleaning isn’t working for me. Did get me to relisten to Algebra Suicide though.

Wet Leg - Chaise Longue (Live at O2 Academy, Oxford - 24/08/21)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAfHx1bpSck

geez i guess covid is over?

UK and US attitudes to Covid are very very different at this point, but Wet Leg do not appear to have a second song yet

I think both Wet Leggers are/have been associates of Plastic Mermaids who seem vaguely relevant to comrade imago's interests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3rIWOa55yc

Prefer my polyrhythmic synth textures when they're not underpinning some Coldplay bollocks ngl

Marveling at how short the blonde woman in the band is.

80% of adults in the UK double vaxxed, and people less beefy about showing vaccine status or rapid test to go to shows i guess... still know a lot of people hesitant to go to any though.

I liked the song the first couple times but do find it weird how they seem to be blowing up compared to all the other recent post-punk groups when they have one released song.

less chance to have bad songs if you only release one song

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/022/138/highresrollsafe.jpg

geez i guess covid is over?

Particularly in England, the vast majority do seem to think it is all over. Of course, everyone is going to catch Covid at some point so maybe going out to gigs / clubs is maybe just hastening the inevitable?

so wait they are playing shows despite only having one song? What do they do for the rest of the time onstage?

all night long all night long on the....

so this is out now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjpgJjdk52c

not loving it because it does kind of sound like a franz ferdinand song, but it's fun and thats okay

very standard UK indie with slightly elevated presentation?

― imago, Sunday, June 27, 2021 7:53 PM bookmarkflaglink

Hey, imago was right!

Should I be 'SPENDING TIME' with this band

Also, did a gen x'er write this? Buffalo 66 is a "you had to be there" 90s deep cut.

The Undertones would like their lobster bibs back.

https://images.eil.com/large_image/THE_UNDERTONES_HYPNOTISED%2B%2B%2BLOBSTER%2B-%2BEX-742797.jpg

Literally everything has to be a 90s reference now

Also, did a gen x'er write this? Buffalo 66 is a "you had to be there" 90s deep cut.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever)

I found the lyrics to 'Chaise Longue' pretty cringe and that stopped me liking it but the line about B66 perfectly captures the sort of That Fucking Guy this song is about, I really like it.

Like, it is Cinema Guy who talks non-stop about '70s cinema, especially the "edgy shit", except updated. The '90s were 30 years ago, it's so totally the same thing for their generation.

Makes sense

I find this mildly more palatable but also less interesting than Chaise Longue

I think I've worked out the reason Chaise Longue annoys me is because the opening lines are almost identical to 'Pulled Up' by Talking Heads

Fell down a Vincent Gallo rabbit hole for a bit after watching. His website is really something. Not a good something, obv.

I actually watched The Brown Bunny for the first time last week. Thought it was a terrible self-indulgent mess until the ending, now have very mixed feelings about it, there is a nugget of something really good in there, but the cinematography was very poorly done.

Still love Buffalo 66 but no desire to check out anything else Gallo-related.

this song is horrendous

i love "chaise lounge", just think the way they built that song is great, just kinda simple but really effective songwriting. this new one i'm less sold on but i think they're pretty interesting

This is fun and mostly forgettable.

Damn was hoping i’d get to start the thread about this band.

I love them of course.

This live version of Chaise Longue that came out last week got a decent chuckle out of me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8FELWZcmZw

Whatever they do with their career, I'm just eternally grateful to them for speaking the words chaise longue out loud because I've been running around calling it a chase lounge for eternity. I feel very continental now.

hah, that has endeared me to them (and the song) a fair bit I must say

that was good fun

New song really really really not at the level of Chaise Longue

I wonder how much people would be talking about these two songs if they were the new singles by, like, the Breeders or Warpaint or even Dry Cleaning. I really fail to hear what's supposed to be so special about this beyond "whoa, new thing!"

+1 for "not getting it at all"

I imagine people my age would be talking about the funny new Breeders single a lot, people the age of the band Wet Leg would probably just tell their parents that band they like has a new funny song.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/wet-leg-named-ambassadors-for-independent-venue-week-2022-3080853

this band has released TWO SONGS

I get that they feel like a new exciting and distinct proposition in the greater "UK indie" landscape but this is odd.

Every generation needs its “Where’s me Jumper?”

They will get really sick of doing it when the touring kicks in.

'Smoko' was surely this generation's Where's Me Jumper?. Maybe there's an allocation for one per hemisphere.

Sometimes elevated presentation is enough

i don't mind this band or these songs, but this is otm:

I wonder how much people would be talking about these two songs if they were the new singles by, like, the Breeders or Warpaint or even Dry Cleaning. I really fail to hear what's supposed to be so special about this beyond "whoa, new thing!"

― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, October 12, 2021 9:54 AM (two weeks ago)

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/oct/30/wet-leg-omeara-london-review

According to the band, they formed at the top of a ferris wheel, drunk, after a 2019 Idles festival set.

Chambers and Teasdale might have named themselves after a loss of bladder control – there is a wicked ick factor to a lot of their lyrics – but “wet leg” could equally describe the ejaculatory critical response to them.

I assumed the latter, but am curious myself.

Or maybe she just spilled her diet coke

Wet Dream has grown on me, I hope there's a live video coming from the festival above.

"Why does band X get this attention but not band Y" is such a dead end to go down. The Breeders had a platinum record (almost) 30 years ago, Warpaint is big, not hard to imagine why this version of sprechgesang is more approachable than Dry Cleaning (or Billy Nomates or Lithics or etc.).

Dry Cleaning haven't, to my knowledge, done anything close to as immediate or as catchy as this one. I totally get why it's popular although yeah I also don't think it's THAT remarkable beyond a certain amount of strange novelty. It's a juggernaut though, isn't it? I'm getting it advertised to heavily on social and I'm going to guess that most non-rock music fans I know are aware of it.

it's not like we're paying huge amounts of attention to what's otherwise going on in British indie music either

Really want to hear Kim Deal singing Chaise Longue now.

And now I want to hear Black Francis singing it.

[screaming:] Would ya like us to assign someone ta buttah ya muffin?
[four bars of asthmatic wheezing]

I mean "UMass" and "Chaise Longue" make kind of a good A-side/B-side "I Went To College And It Was OK" record

Trying to sleep but I've got this mashed up in my head with Beez In The Trap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB3PJwPMHzQ

OH MY GOD

they have a third song

Honestly though, what an absolute triumph of PR this has all been. The industry's still got it

Apparently they played seven songs at their Pfork Fest Paris show (doesn't say if they were all originals, ha ha).

But yeah I don't really "get it" w/r/t this particular band...

Here’s a fourth song, fwiw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl15P0qeBVk

"Oh my god, life is hard
credit card - oh no
You're so woke, Diet Coke
I feel gross - oh no"

brb gonna go drink some bleach

Never thought I’d hear the phrase “triumph of marketing” used about a 4AD release but we are a long way from the Ivo Watts-Russell years.

the emperor has no clothes a GET NAKED sign on their wall

oh no

Wet Leg is a one-trick band much the same way Art Brut was, except 1000% more mundane.

Come on, it's a pretty engaging trick, just not when deployed four times in four releases

xps - they’re on Domino, unless 4AD are releasing the album in some territories?

going to say 'industry plant' just for the hell of it

yes, ufo, yes. come to the dark side

what's the one trick?

sardonic ranting and repetition over angular indie?

live at the wetleg trials

Chaise Lounge 7" showed up yesterday and my kids were dancing around the house like mad. Ordered the limited version of the album. ALL IN ON WET LEG!

trying to imagine how silly the hype would be if this were 2004 or so, it could surely be so much worse

they're fine but nothing special, the weird thing is of course how disproportionate the buzz around them is compared to the substance. imago generally otm here. like i am pretty sympathetic to parts of uk indie from the mid 00s but there's not really anything to get this excited about here idk

Cow Art All Inn Onn Wet Leg

xps - they’re on Domino, unless 4AD are releasing the album in some territories?

really need a band called fresh pants to complete the wet leg / dry cleaning laundry cycle

With Pissed Jeans as opening act.

New Pants plays on the following day.

Am I the only one hearing an Electrelane influence in this one?

xps - I did think after posting you were maybe thinking of Dry Cleaning.

Not trying to be overly-critical of jed_, but looking at the thread title, how cool are we with calling them a "girl band"?

On a related tangent, their more recent videos have the three dudes in them, which to me would indicate that they are more substantial than just ringers to fill out the live band. But then I haven't encountered any mention of them in press/interviews.

Also, discogs is like 5 For Sale from $63.60 re the 7"

I find that each of their four songs reminds me of specific other songs from a very interesting range of bands, both as far as sound as well as themes.

list plz

the four tunes of wet leg

Didn't see it explicitly covered upthread, but just saw Domino has the self-titled debut up for pre-order, due out April 8, 2022.

1 Being In Love
2 Chaise Longue
3 Angelica
4 I Don't Wanna Go Out
5 Wet Dream
6 Convincing
7 Loving You
8 Ur Mum
9 Oh No
10 Piece Of Shit
11 Supermarket
12 Too Late Now

fwiw, regarding the lineup, the brief write-up at Domino only refers to them as a duo and only names those two:

After releasing two of the hottest singles of the year, Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers were catapulted from their confines on the Isle of Wight to sold out venues across the UK and packed-out tents at festivals causing giddy excitement wherever they went. Now, the duo is thrilled to unveil news of their debut album. The album is called Wet Leg.

Bold. This is indie promotion when nothing is selling. It reminds me of Elastica. Relying on a great first single to sell an album. And sex. Sex sells and it's in every song.

I'm watching the Tiny Desk Concert; she introduces the three guys separately, as "our band" (she does say their names, fwiw).

Their guitar sound is OK, but I find their jaded, low-energy presentation to be displeasing.

what bugs me about their general vibe is by going for both 'detached cool' and 'whimsical nonsense' they've ended up with just the weaknesses of both

Prinzhorn Dance School update

This is indie promotion when nothing is selling. It reminds me of Elastica. Relying on a great first single to sell an album.

isnt that how singles work?

From excitement to backlash before the album is out, the 90s are back!

lmao

Much of the backlash is tbf about the ludicrous amounts of unwarranted hype they're getting

itt wet leg meets wet blankets

We Emulate Terribly Let's Eat Grandma

?? I don't hear Let's Eat Grandma in this at all

not sonically, more the schoolfriend-duo-come-to-save-British-pop thing, also mostly i'm trying to make the acronym work

tread lightly before someone starts acronyming "imago"

Are they really school friends? One looked a lot older than the other in that tiny desk, but she was kind of standing in the shadows

i trust you to be kind, Definitely Joking Person

Are they really school friends? One looked a lot older than the other in that tiny desk, but she was kind of standing in the shadows

Cool to see ILX geezers discussing their ages and 'presentation'

'slightly elevated presentation' was about their costume/production values/budget/filming style, not anything else - something which is absolutely part of the reason that debut single got noticed

are we really all old and bitter enough to justifiably get angry about novelty bands getting too big too fast?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMR_L8S30aA

The only place I've encountered this band remains this thread. Maybe because I wouldn't listen to 6 Music if they paid me to.

Then again, amongst my IRL friends, “Chaise Longue” is the 2021 track I’ve heard mentioned more than any other.

it's not a bad song but it's something of a throwaway. allows drunk people to scream the lyrics at each other before they throw themselves around the bar i guess. Rock and roll!

I'm still not cynical enough to actually look into the reason for their meteoric rise but surely someone somewhere has pulled a few strings. I mean it can't just be "it's a really cool song" because there are millions of really cool songs

The best part of not living in the UK is being mostly unaware of and completely immune to whatever the UK music press is saying or hyping.

Maybe they're getting as much of a press push in the US but I wouldn't even know where to look for that kind of hype machine. I only heard "Chaise Longue" because of a generated playlist based on Lithics and Dry Cleaning.

they're getting a big push in nyc. they were supposed to play a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg (650 capacity) and got pushed to Brooklyn Steel (1800 capacity) and a $30 ticket. Not bad for your debut performance.

I've stumbled on way more Dry Cleaning hype than Wet Leg hype, fwiw. (And not that much of either. But also I'm not in the UK, sounds like it's different there.)

Anyway "Chaise Longue" is great, the other tunes are good, not sure what there is to hate here.

screw the haters, chaise longue and wet dream are bloody excellent tracks

Really like "Too Late Now" - hearing a bit of Karen O/YYYs in it.

lol @ 'the UK music press'

i think said the gramophone had the best take on them in his year end list:

Powered by cute girls, a cool video, and this excellent, double-entendre-crammed single, I can't decide if Wet Leg are the next Yeah Yeah Yeahs or the next Right Said Fred.

six of one afaic

Right Said Yeah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBiWrp9kkWE

i'm sorry but this is great. they're hysterical! idk about the rest of the music but this is self evidently a great single, a point that is of course confirmed by the song's very divisiveness

Debut album out April 8th? What's the delay?

ride the hype train as long as you can before you disappoint the world

Also "girl band", aren't they a bit mature for that?

i'm sorry but this is great. they're hysterical! idk about the rest of the music but this is self evidently a great single, a point that is of course confirmed by the song's very divisiveness

100%

How are they hysterical in that performance? Idgi

Quite impressed, actually; didn't realize how little they were working with until I saw that live video.

drove me nuts in that clip hearing the lead guitarist fall out of time playing that guitar figure in the chorus about half the time

Wight Overalls

this group isnt for me but count me among those not shocked that a new group with a charismatic & trendy frontperson, hook-filled singles, well-made videos and strong online presence is generating some buzz about their upcoming album. lmao @ ppl saying things like "someone must have pulled some strings"

a new group with a charismatic & trendy frontperson, hook-filled singles, well-made videos and strong online presence

but there are a thousand bands that fit this description. For what it's worth, despite this being Not My Thing, I'd much rather see a band of young women getting this kind of attention over Father Misty Kozelek #4,501 or whatever, and I don't even mean to suggest that "someone pulling strings" is necessarily an unethical or nefarious explanation for their meteoric rise. I just mean, how did this start? Was there a celebrity who tweeted enthusiastically about them? What's the equivalent now of John Peel stanning for a new group? I guess it's easy to jump to the conclusion that someone in the band's mom or dad is the CEO of Frito Lay or something, but if all it took to get an artist to Wet Leg-levels of hype was inherited wealth or industry connections, we'd all be reviving threads about Frankie Cosmos right now. I'm just curious - maybe naively so - about how a band with two songs can suddenly become this popular without someone outside the band investing either a lot of money or a lot of time into making it happen. Because, at least in the past two decades, there is a lot more precedent for that than "oh, they played a day party at SXSW and the label head who happened to be there to see someone else thought they were worth taking a chance on and it just blew up from there"

this industry plant stuff is so weird like having good management and booking agency is cheating or something, it's always been like that, of course there's money behind them they are hardly required to be fugazi

i don't like cheese lounge all that much but i can see that it is very um, shareable if you're into it? hooky and quirky and fun but also kind of indie comfort rock, so a bit ooh-so-weird but also very familiar. bet it's been played loads on 6music.

i have never heard it outside this thread. whoever mentioned prinzhorn was pretty close imo.

this industry plant stuff is so weird like having good management and booking agency is cheating or something

it's not cheating but having those things takes some, uh, effort, and is certainly not an option available to everyone. I mean obviously you can't just cold call the top booking agencies and managers and say "I've got a band, we're from this island off the English channel, come represent us"

a new group with a charismatic & trendy frontperson, hook-filled singles, well-made videos and strong online presence

but there are a thousand bands that fit this description.

not really! lol

the uk indie rock scene isn't really that vast either tbh and the shrinkage in the number of live venues only increases your chances of getting noticed by someone somewhere

Because, at least in the past two decades, there is a lot more precedent for that than "oh, they played a day party at SXSW and the label head who happened to be there to see someone else thought they were worth taking a chance on and it just blew up from there"

moreso than either of those, over the last 10 years theres way more precedent for "they released some really catchy songs for free online and blew up", why does it have to be more complicated than that? obv there are always Other Bands Just As Good, but would it really be a satisfying answer to know the granular details of exactly why one music video got more popular than other music videos of comparable quality? idk i just dont get how this is a big anomaly.

domino has been behind them since "chaise lounge" was released, which is not something that anybody was trying to hide. have they talked about how they got signed? it seems to me like domino realized they had a great single and a band w/ a lot of (indie) commercial potential on their hands and did invest in them -- the videos clearly took a bit of money and they got some bottom of the poster festival billings and "bbc introducting" radio play. but it's not like you can just press a button. the song is clearly connecting w/ ppl, most indie bands aren't routinely putting up 1 million views on youtube every video. this seems like a "both things can be true" situation insofar as clearly they have one of the bigger indie labels behind them & are also tapping into a real audience. this mindmeld between industry and fans isn't something that happens very often or else it would, um, happen way more often. the game isn't actually rigged.

i'd also point out that "chaise lounge" is basically like milennial retro music. it's early 00s NME revival let alone actual post punk. indie music has long ago away from the spiky, ironic, stylized, catchy etc. what are the big indie albums this year? snail mail, japanese breakfast, faye webster? zooming out, who are the big indie (or "indie") bands/artist of the last x number of years? war on drugs, clairo, soccer mommy, angel olsen, mitski, big thief? wet leg are coming at things from a totally different direction. they're not reinventing the wheel by any stretch but they're offering up a version of rock music that ppl have generally liked at previous points in history but hasn't really been prevalent in the scene for a while. that part doesn't really take a genius to figure out

started a band playing a currently in vogue style, played some festivals as 11am openers and got noticed by an indie rock label does not seem like a particularly bizarre or abnormal story

Rhian has been making solo stuff and I believe singing with Plastic Mermaids who certainly were playing bigger venues than Wet Leg have been (so far) in a BBC 6Music zone for some years. It's not that inconceivable or even that egregious that she could then pass a demo to a tour manager she's stuck on a bus with on the way to Norfolk on a rainy Tuesday.

For what it's worth my kids cannot stop singing it, whereas Cannonball they find dull and they can't understand the words.

again it wasn't a criticism just sort of perplexed by the idea that a marketable band gets noticed and a label or management company invests in them is somehow scandalous

they are managed by Paradigm which is huge, their clients include everyone from Pusha T to Sylvan Esso to the Pogues to Zedd to Wynona Judd

https://www.paradigmagency.com/music/

I'm sure they got noticed on the internet or live organically but all the media attention and type of gigs they are getting doesn't just happen

which, again, welcome to the music business

remember when lana del rey was an industry plant

xxp I don't think it has much in common w/"Cannonball"; I wouldn't necessarily expect a fan of one song to be into the other

wet leg are coming at things from a totally different direction. they're not reinventing the wheel by any stretch but they're offering up a version of rock music that ppl have generally liked at previous points in history but hasn't really been prevalent in the scene for a while. that part doesn't really take a genius to figure out

― J0rdan S., Thursday, 9 December 2021 21:29 (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it has never gone out of style in the UK! every year there are more bands like this. Sports Team were a recent example

most of those acts don't really cross over to american attention at all anymore though

the extent of the conspiracist stuff that comes with industry plant accusations (sorry lol just having fun there) that i'd actually seriously endorse is just they likely had some existing industry connections in order to get signed & blow up out of nowhere before they'd even played a show (they didn't start playing live until after "chaise longue" had already blown up). which it seems is pretty well established via plastic mermaids connection etc

i get why people like the band, they're not terrible, just the amount of hype has been ridiculous compared to the substance of the two alright singles they had out. i suspect the drawn out time between the single & album release, which contributes to how ridiculous the buzz feels, is likely just due to covid etc. though, like if it weren't for that they'd probably have been able to have had the album out october or something

Longue Covid (sorry)

I'm checking out Sports Team now; this album from last year sounds good!

(they didn't start playing live until after "chaise longue" had already blown up).

They did, though? They're on festival bills from two years ago.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BytS5_EhgIC/

https://www.instagram.com/p/By_ImsHhjKl/

well lol in the press release for the album they said they hadn't played a single show before this year

I dunno, maybe with the current band

https://onthewight.com/fat-earthers-luna-tear-and-wet-leg-to-raise-the-roof-at-the-rose/

current lineup*

clips from their 2019 shows here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vHSbayOjAQ

this is not my area at all, but as far as explaining the success of the band, i feel like "chaise lounge" is also horny in a unique kind of way

that early stuff sounds like cocorosie or something

that opening clip is probably the most unpromising clip of music I've heard in a while lol

Detached horny

I wonder how much they paid for this industry endorsement, though... https://www.facebook.com/bathyspheral/posts/409085970578579

I looked at the credits on the single and a couple of people in this thread might recognise the drummer's name, a little board searching suggests.

Was he the drummer for Gay Dad?

xp (specifically NickB and emil.y, not to be too gnomic)

LOL, don't think it's the same guy though.

ha i just searched and that would be pretty amazing if it was true but i don't think it is. who knows though? that guy's a friend of ilxor chewshabadoo, they dj together a lot

Haha, not the same guy - but that’s funny and I’ve passed it on to him.

yeah he might want to edit his discogs page. otoh dj the drummer for wet leg does have a certain ring about it

I don't know anything about this band, but when they get home today I'll ask my teens if they've heard or heard of them, and if the answer is yes, then indeed the group's marketing machine is next level. And if the answer is no, and the band hasn't reached them yet, then the band's rise, or "rise," may indeed just be more of a run of the mill word of mouth thing.

Only old people like us listen to indie rock anymore

that's not true at all

signed, has felt old and out of place at many shows

At least ask a college kid.

Lol, Noel. Not the same guy - it's not that unusual a name, tbf, he also shares it with a notorious American serial killer.

I admit to also being perplexed by the "industry plant", "pulling some strings" stuff. Getting signed and having management/publicists isn't the same thing as being a plant! There are no "how to be a DIY band (sponsored by Volkswagen)" shenanigans that I can see here, unless I'm missing something.

Yeah ime it's always teenagers and only teenagers who want to learn stuff like Bon Iver and Mac deMarco.

he also shares it with a notorious American serial killer.

was reading about the building (aka 'the murder castle') in which this guy operated, it's fucking batshit

The first floor was the storefront. The second story consisted of his elaborate torture rooms, which contained a chute that led to the basement. The third floor held more apartment rooms.[23] There were soundproofed rooms and mazes of hallways, some of which seemed to go nowhere. Many of the rooms were outfitted with chutes that would drop straight down to the basement where Holmes had acid vats, quicklime and a crematorium to dispose of his victims' bodies.[24] Furniture suppliers found Holmes was hiding their materials, for which he had never paid, in hidden rooms and passages throughout the building.[24] Their search made the news,[25] and investors for the planned hotel pulled out of the deal when a jeweler in the building showed them the articles.

In 1894, some police officers inspected the hotel while Holmes was out. During the inspection, they found rooms with hinged walls and false partitions, rooms linked with secret passageways, and even airtight rooms that were connected to pipelines filled with gas, which Holmes used as gas chambers.[26] Holmes would use chutes to deliver the bodies to the basement, and once there, he made use of surgical tables and an array of medical tools to dissect them before selling their organs and bones on the black market and to medical institutions.[23] The hotel was gutted by a fire started by an unknown arsonist shortly after Holmes was arrested but was largely rebuilt and used as a post office until 1938

(start at 35:50)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8rQuNHRqA4

I think I'm on Team Wet Dream over Team Chaise Longue now.

This feels like prime Lamacq-core, which sounds like archetypal damning with faint phrase but isn't meant to be. I like it - Chaise Longue over Wet Dream.

Is the UK crawling with bands like Sports Team (which imago mentioned)? Dumb name aside, their album has great songwriting, strong playing, good lyrics... what are some current RIYLs?

This just in: older teen daughter has never heard of Wet Leg.

who cares.....

Chill. It was only my totally unscientific test to see if the band's marketing push was so significant that it had reached her.

I really like the Sports Team album. Seems a step above the usual Lamacq fodder and has a certain charm about it (and also some good songs) xps

remember wet leg?

this feels like it was four years ago

i am steeling myself for this year's UK indie discourse being basically a two-way fight between this lot and Black Country New Road

I caught a snippet of "Chaise Longue" on NPR this weekend and, uh, I don't get the hype at all. It's fine, not terrible, but this is what all the hype is over?

Then again I like Black Country, New Road so, grain of salt and all I guess.

i like a lot of auld shite

Gonna take my wet leg down the black country new road
Gonna Chaaaaaaise till my Longue no more

Heard the 'chaise longue' song on FM radio in South Florida last week. The DJ spent about a minute leading into it talking about how "all his coolest friends from New York listen to this band."

industry plants are good

Will this be the second or third round on the ol' "industry plant" argument for Wet Leg?

I don't think I've seen as much "industry plant" theorising on this board since the Arctic Monkeys happened without ILM's permission in 2005.

can i just say that wet leg sounds like a fielding position in cricket or is that a silly point

When I first saw the name I kind of hoped it was a Pissed Jeans offshoot.

should have known there was a Wet Leg thread already on here. i see the backlash has already begun without their debut even being out yet.

the backlash is partly because they received all this hype without an album tbf

they may not necessarily have started as an industry plant but the industry has seized upon them with almost nostalgic zeal, it's like the 00s again

fair, but this just sounds like old people yelling to get off their lawn

it is also clear they had no other songs and have had to stall for time in order to cobble something semi-credible together, it'll still be a shambles ofc

nah this isn't old people yelling about the bright young things on the lawn, this is about people who are sick of the music press once again pretending hackneyed style-over-substance dross has supreme musical worth

but hey, they're such a vibe

they just had a catchy single and it got a lot of attention! that's not a crime

over and over in this thread i find it very bizarre that this band is being held up as suspect for just...being in the music business

i don't even love them but i fail to see what's so bad about it

they said the album was recorded mostly in april so idk i can believe that it would have been out like, november, without the pandemic causing all sorts of logistical issues for labels & manufacturing etc

they're not terrible just the hype has been totally disproportionate to what's there so far & it's a little exhausting

the badness is in direct proportion to (the number of Guardian, NME etc articles about them that my newsfeed shoves at me) x (how mundane I have found those songs) / (the number of songs they have put out)

Chaise Longue reminds me of "Lawnchairs". Chaise Lawn.

people itt seem to be coming from a few different places re:how ubiquitous & inescapable this band is, whether they're getting buzz or getting shoved down our throat by a pitiless marketing juggernaut

it's buzz, all my Gen X friends who like e.g. Vampire Weekend are all over this band

I like 'em just fine, got a vague Le Tigre vibe going on

I know nothing about them except what's been written in this thread... I saw their first LA show last month (the only gig I went to in 2021), liked them just fine, and thought that the rest of the songs on the album were pretty good if not better than the singles.

Their fourth record is gonna be great. Too bad no one will care by then

people itt seem to be coming from a few different places re:how ubiquitous & inescapable this band is, whether they're getting buzz or getting shoved down our throat by a pitiless marketing juggernaut

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, January 11, 2022 6:26 PM (one hour ago)

right like... in reality what even is this supposedly suffocating "hype" to which ppl itt are referring? pitchfork has written one total article about them and it was when they announced the album. they've played some late night shows in the uk and the us. i've seen "chaise lounge" sporadically across some year end lists... it was completely absent from pitchfork's list. the guardian ran a fairly standard interview w/ them this week. they were named one of the acts in bbc's "sound of 2022." what exactly is out of proportion here? it all feels pretty in line w/ an indie rock band that has a good debut single out

Who wouldn’t like a blend of Elastica and Flight of the Conchords?

Very late to all this and saw the video and assumed they were an L.A. band, with such a Rodarte-like level of what someone upthread called 'detached cool' and 'whimsical nonsense'.

Also, I can just imagine the rush to the dance floor in the commons area of college dorms when this song comes on at a party.

i've now heard Chaise Longue 5, maybe 6 times over a 6 month period and still like it. their other songs didn't make a big impression.

the Our Daughter's Wedding joke up there is probably the best thing about this thread.

I wish this group no ill will. There's always one particular band at any given time people go wild over that I just don't get AT ALL, and right now it's this one. See: The Strokes, Vampire Weekend, Paramore and so on.

(I still think of them as a more mannered, less clever Art Brut.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qWHthLQ1Uw

don't care much for this one

I think I like it better than any of their previous! The vocal schtick is grating but as a song it's pretty solid.

This is the first one I really do like with no reservations.

each new song gets worse.

They seem to be very cynically marketed at horny middle-aged 6Music listeners, and no surprise they've been pushed on there relentlessly.

The tiresomely repeated backstory about how "we're just two ickle babbies who somehow got a record deal and tons of exposure by accident" is also a bit obnoxious (and largely untrue afaik)

I see they're trying to cover all the 6Music bases with some heavy shoegaze guitar this time!

If this had been their first single I wouldn't have minded them so much, but the vocals are still annoying and the music is still basic indie

Enjoying the emerging Penn & Teller dynamic in this band

you know what's tiresome is men looking down their nose at this band because of "the marketing", and somehow it's only female bands that get this criticism, huh

Hum. I don't particularly like and know much about this band but regarding "marketing" criticism, I think the strokes mentioned xposts got their fair share at the time !

never forget Glasvegas

All I know about them is their singer was a professional footballer who "was part of the Cowdenbeath squad that won promotion as runners up in the 2000–01 Scottish Third Division". Thank you, wiki.

nepotism, i knew it

you know what's tiresome is men looking down their nose at this band because of "the marketing", and somehow it's only female bands that get this criticism, huh

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, March 2, 2022 10:28 AM (twenty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Pulling the "Ahhh you just hate girls in bands" card there, nice one, thank-you. Won't change the fact that Wet Leg are a triumph of marketing over content. Not the first and definitely not the last band to fit that criteria, but the unusually aggressive way they have have been sold is absolutely worthy of comment and trying to shut down discussions about this is lame, tbh.

I dunno I'd respect them more if they'd just said "We actually worked really hard to get signed, one of us had a solo career before and it didn't really work out but we kept trying, etc" instead of all this "we were just rolling around in the grass with daisies in our hair and this nice record company man came and dangled a contract on a fishing rod and lured us into a studio, and now we're a successful band!!" type of thing. But I guess the true story wasn't quite whimsical enough.

you're right they should own up to their steely-eyed master plan of *checks notes* becoming a moderately buzz-worthy two-piece indie guitar band. i feel so used

in terms of Big Breakout UK Rock Bands With Massive Media Push, there have been loads that aren't female in recent years (Sports Team is one I suggested above, and boy you should see how much the kidz love Black Country New Road (as I also suggested above))

calling this moderate buzz is definitely inaccurate, there are bands who've been around 40 years who've received nothing like this kind of push

(cough LISTEN TO THE NEW HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT end cough)

They seem to be very cynically marketed at horny middle-aged 6Music listeners, and no surprise they've been pushed on there relentlessly.

The tiresomely repeated backstory about how "we're just two ickle babbies who somehow got a record deal and tons of exposure by accident" is also a bit obnoxious (and largely untrue afaik)

ah, the doctrine of lamacqulate conception

you know what's tiresome is men looking down their nose at this band because of "the marketing", and somehow it's only female bands that get this criticism, huh

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, March 2, 2022 5:28 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this board spent months mercilessly dunking on Greta Van Fleet, to name just one recent example

Nice to see them keeping some Isle of Wight settings in their videos - this one's set at St. Catherine's Lighthouse, near Niton.

This is the closest I've come to enjoying anything by them. By far their most tolerable song so far imo.

The marketing is classic, though. I only look down my nose at them for their music.

What is this "marketing" everyone goes on about? Like my entire exposure to them is some friends posting their videos on social media and saying "I like this!" (I like it too, for the record.) Are they underwritten by the Isle of Wight tourism board or something?

there's definitely a UK/US divide on this

But even in the UK, is it "marketing" or is it just your normal buzz-band thing where the music press grabs onto it because they like it? What's the marketing? Are they on billboards?

I was just making that up. I've only heard of them because of this thread.

promotional coupons in your biscuit tins, songs on repeat at the trilby hat shop, etc.

If they are getting a huge radio and media push in the UK, I guess that that’s one thing, but from the US it seems so far the “marketing “ seems to consist of issuing singles with videos, and a short article in Mojo, which has been pretty standard for anyone in the pop music industry since time immemorial? They are comely, sure that’s part of the appeal, but sex appeal has been part of marketing forever too.

We get it, marketing only exists if it's happening in North America.

I've seen no marketing for Wet Leg at all - apart from this thread which has done a decent job in and of itself.

Strikes me the accusatory tone of the response to them is retroactive, as in 'I don't like them, therefore there must be some dastardly scheme', as opposed to y'know, tens/hundreds of bands receive this kind of push, but most don't have any impact whatsoever. Which is to say, it's a bit of marketing, half-decent tunes and a shit ton of luck.

Maybe ilx poster jed_ was just a shill for Big Wet Leg.

side note, jed_ hasn't posted since November, so I hope he's ok.

Big Wet Leg is a better name.

We get it, marketing only exists if it's happening in North America.

Do you get a bonus for every time you shoehorn some variation of this into a thread?

We get it, marketing only exists if it's happening in North America.

yes! i posted something similar upthread i'm not even into this but it's like...this just seems like the music business

Do you get a bonus for every time you shoehorn some variation of this into a thread?

Hardly needs to be shoehorned the way American posters act on ILX.

I don't really see that much tunnel vision here, though, just people asking what the marketing is like in the UK (so far unanswered except by someone who has seen none) or relating their own experience. And North America is not an insignificant market for popular music tbf.

xpost - Yeah I get it, you really don't like American posters. You've made that very clear.

And I generally hate this band tbc.

jed_ was fine when I saw him a few weeks ago :)

xpost - Yeah I get it, you really don't like American posters. You've made that very clear.

I love them but they could do with getting their heads out of their arses occasionally.

Tbf, I suppose that by definition, if I had North American tunnel vision, I would probably be oblivious to my own tunnel vision.

Constant 6Music rotation, barrage of Guardian articles, came second on BBC Sound of 2022 (to Pinkpantheress), endless blogs, UK Twitter trending whenever they drop a single, etc etc

Festival billing is also a dead giveaway

(I mean, they are FROM the Isle Of Wight so I'll forgive the hype for that particular festival)

That all sounds kind of like “new band with some popular songs.”

It's been way out of proportion to how many songs they have and how good the songs have been. They're being prepped for gigantic things, honest (or at least, as gigantic as UK indie can possibly get you)

If new songs are enough to get all of UK Twitter atwitter maybe they are that good and you just don’t get it?

Nothing in your list screams dastardly plot to force people hear them, aside from radio play. Even then, I would guess that if people didn’t like the songs Radio 6 would have to stop playing them?

they already have more good songs than Pablo Honey, so gigantic things ahead maybe, who knows.

Wet Leg Kinder Eggs.

imago does see a choking hazard

Festival billing is also a dead giveaway

― imago, Wednesday, March 2, 2022 12:19 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

of what? marketing? promotion? press agents? big time booking agency? social media strategy? again these things are kind of the fundamental parts of music industry

i mean i get that it's some kind of grassroots things, but imo there aren't many of those in reality, including many that are perceived/billed as such

just seems like a pop band getting promoted like a pop band

i mean i agree the amount of hue and cry over 3 (?) songs is pretty crazy but in hip hop for example, rappers can blow up huge off one song

Lol they’re all over the digital radio station that is tailor made for people who like that sort of thing. Truly inescapable.

oh no, the people who like that sort of thing can't escape it

wet leg should go dark for a while until their popularity is more accurately in proportion to "how many songs they have". otherwise things are just going to be all out of proportion.

i.e. "The Garfield Approach". check out global tetrahedron's thread if you want to see how that ends.

I suppose I should lay out my position here: Chaise Longue is a great one off, nothing they’ve done since is anywhere near as good.

a bloke at work asked me if I liked them the other day. he must be part of their street team

fwiw ilxor Elvis Telecom saw them play on their recent US tour, knowing nothing about them in advance, and thought they were great

Elvis Telecom has been compromised

My kids adore them, and I have to admit it's so disheartening knowing the only way this could have happened is that the music press have forced them into a level of enthusiasm on them grossly out of proportion to Wet Leg's release schedule.

chin up, matt h. is it possible your kids have access to digital radio? i know you wouldn't allow it in your home, but perhaps they're getting it from a friend? someone at school? anyway, it's best to sit them down for a frank conversation now. gently explain how they'll be ready to know which music deserves adoration when they're 42 and posting on this message board.

the Wet Leg was coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE

Constant 6Music rotation,

Does 6Music's digital status put it under a BBC Studios-style for-profit firewall, such that payola is legal?

barrage of Guardian articles,

such as?

came second on BBC Sound of 2022 (to Pinkpantheress),

so the argument is that Pinkpantheress' label is known to have bribed an outrageous number of poll voters in 2022, therefore Wet Leg's label must have bribed nearly as many? is there a breakdown of vote totals released, at least for the top ten? (The longlist for the Sound of 2022 was revealed on 6 December 2021... Baby Queen, Central Cee, ENNY, Lola Young, Mimi Webb, PinkPantheress, Priya Ragu, Tems, Wet Leg, and Yard Act.)

endless blogs,

can you link, say, a hundred of these?

UK Twitter trending whenever they drop a single,

If this is an indication of paid bots, has there been a measurable drop-off since Russia closed off twitter last week? can we see a socialblade graph or w/e?

etc etc

ipso facto?

Seeing Yard Act mentioned there has reminded me I've seen dozens of sponsored ads in social media feeds for them and absolutely no friends talking about them, but for Wet Leg you can invert those stats.

the thing is there's actually data to back up that ppl are listening to this band at a level that is atypical for an indie rock band w/ 5 singles under its belt. so you have to believe that domino records can conjure up millions of streams across various platforms and radio airplay in different countries at will simply w/ the snap of its fingers which of course is not true or else we'd constantly be talking about the inescapability of every band signed to domino records.

the fact that they've been written about in the guardian three times, get airplay on a digital radio station, and finished second in a BBC poll of new british acts for 2022... not that insane! what english indie rock bands with a comparable level of audience are getting unduly shoved aside for wet leg?

the funniest argument ITT is that sex appeal one, like the weird lobster outfits are Paris Hilton's Carl's Jr. ad for 2021/2022.

Anyway this new song is good

of what? marketing? promotion? press agents? big time booking agency? social media strategy? again these things are kind of the fundamental parts of music industry

For how many emerging artists is this a fundamental part of the experience, though? How does a brand new band go about getting a big time booking agency? Isn't this a chicken-egg kinda thing? Like the labels wanna know who books you and the booking agents want to know what label you're on and how many followers you have on Twitter and the manager wants to know how many streams you already have etc. I'm old so I don't actually understand how things blow up or go viral but surely this band's popularity is an anomaly, no?

xp
yes, IT'S good
yes IT'S good
yes IT's...good
yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes
goodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgoodgood

what came first, the chicken or the Leg

Every band that blows up is an anomaly, is the thing

Some that do have a pretty big head start, though

pretendstobeshocked.gif

Absolutely predictable that it is yet another female act that is going through "manufactured buzz" wringer. Did I just miss all the dozens of handwringing posts about how Yard Act suddenly appeared everywhere? (Well aware they've been referenced itt, but they are getting nowhere near the amount of shit that Wet Leg has gotten.)

The Isle of Wight propaganda machine can't be defeated.

Wight privilege

more like isle of white, roasted

pretendstobeshocked.gif

Absolutely predictable that it is yet another female act that is going through "manufactured buzz" wringer. Did I just miss all the dozens of handwringing posts about how Yard Act suddenly appeared everywhere? (Well aware they've been referenced itt, but they are getting nowhere near the amount of shit that Wet Leg has gotten.)

― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 March 2022 22:18 (fifty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol, you should see my response in the Yard Act thread, at least Wet Leg aren't...that

haha will say imago's hands are clean wrt yard act

lol, I didn't find it quite as eloquent as imago's skewering of BC, NR but still nice

I only brought them up as an example of a UK act that appeared seemingly out of nowhere with a huge label push.

They get a lot of attention cause their first single was catchy and funny with an amusing video c’mon this ain’t difficult people.

exactly

right. lol. like... a lot of talk about marketing wizardry and not so much talk about the fact their debut single is pretty killer. and i don't love the band but just like, objectively speaking... and i think ppl who have strong negative reactions should understand that a song able to provoke those kinds of reactions means there's ppl who feel as passionately in the opposite direction, and that's how you make pop magic baby

WHY IS THIS SONG MMMBOP EVERYWHERE WHAT MARKETING SKULDUGGERY IS AT WORK WHO GOT PAID OFF

I think it's a valid question with most pop music, actually.

Does ILM voting their debut single as the #1 song of 2021 count as a lot of people talking about how, um, killer it is?

well in this thread, no

Although if fixing the ILM poll was in the sights of a marketing team it could hardly be easier.

I don't see ILM tripping over itself to cover UK indie otherwise. There's that thread that lumps all the post-punk bands du jour together but I'm not seeing much chatter beyond that?

all of the criticisms here boil down to "I don't like this, therefore the people who do must have been tricked or fooled somehow"

Imago has said a lot about the music! I just don't think "I went to school and I got the big D" is the height of wit and the music seems kind of basic otherwise. I probably wouldn't care if it hadn't made #1 on the 2021 poll but I've no doubt that the people who like it actually like it.

completely missing the point that "basic indie" (the gist of his critique iirc) has no bearing whatsoever on the quality of the finished product, like it's a fucking pop song what the fuck do you expect

also I counter your lyric argument with "Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?" which is a perfect pop song non-sequitur IMHO

specifically to address imago, I am really fucking sick of you valorizing complexity and "innovation" as being somehow essential to legit enjoyment

sometimes you just wanna listen to the fucking Beach Boys, ya know?

Tunes, energy, interesting words 3xp the Beach Boys have all three (and were pretty complex and innovative!)

OK fine, sub in the greatest bubblegum hits

this is unimpeachable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4pArjPVA-8

rank Wet Leg, Beach Boys, and Jute Gyte

and the flaming lips

Assigning values on a scale from Gifter to Grifter

Beach Boys
Jute Gyte
Vanity Fare
Flaming Lips
Grifters
Wet Leg

That is an unfair characterisation, sleeve! How's about I play a card to the table and show the sort of UK indie I value, noteworthy not for its complexity but its melodic generosity, sense of structure to the songwriting and emotional intensity. I choose Trust Fund for this as they've just today put out a new single for the first time in four years, but as a solo concern - here's their full-band swansong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXYXc2EAbs0

I just don't think Wet Leg do much more than cutesy cheek and SEO My First Hooks, and they're already getting insane hype (lol be quiet sic) and winning ILM EOY polls on the first try. I don't hate them but something feels skewed; I do feel somewhat gaslit by it all. The new song is probably their best so far as they're throwing saxes and heavy guitars into the mix but it's all still pressing very familiar buttons; it isn't the simplicity I dislike (I'm a Fall fan ffs!) but the pat familiarity, the sense that I can see exactly where the cogs are

*throwing saxes and heavy guitars into the mix, achieving some sense of textural contrast at least, NOT COMPLEXITY, lol

“seeing where the cogs are” see i like this. it’s kind of a disco edit approach to guitar music and i’m into it.

Well, if we're limiting it to UK indie that's

- female-fronted
- cheeky
- ridiculously simple
- recent
- catchy
- cog-evident

...then here's something that does all that without sounding like it was run past a test audience of middle-aged poptimists first

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPRX3i1aOF8

it's about having character, dear folks

oh we definitely have a character on our hands

that’s a great video

imago you’re a middle aged poptimist surely. so you’re saying you want something that sounds like… you wouldn’t like it? not really following you

the subtext of all this criticism - too marketed, too on-the-nose, is that wet leg’s success (such as it is) is unearned. that they’ve had a “head start”. they’ve had unfair advantages. but what these advantages are seems hard to pin down. they have a label that has been successful at plugging their songs. that’s what labels are set up to do. that is their whole job! imago you’re saying they’re not formally adventurous enough for your tastes, that they sound “focus grouped”. ok. i mean rock music really doesn’t need to be formally adventurous to be good but whatever.

like why all the agonizing?? honestly very weird to me

we don't need to pit women against other women

otm ^

I did just turn 35 tbf. Game overrrr

I dunno, I've given two examples of songs I love from the UK indie/pop milieu that aren't formally adventurous at all, but which have a little bit of compositional spice, emotional heft or whatnot - songs which, to my ears, have an interesting POV. And yeah, my main beef with Wet Leg is the jet propulsion they're getting from all corners - which, combined with their highly polished sound and banal cool-kids vibe, feels like yet another victory for ennui

Re:Trust Fund, if it makes you feel better, "Soul Meets Body" by Death Cab for Cutie has 80 million more spotify plays than "Chaise Longue"

yeah but what about youtube and tiktok :p

right. lol. like... a lot of talk about marketing wizardry and not so much talk about the fact their debut single is pretty killer. and i don't love the band but just like, objectively speaking... and i think ppl who have strong negative reactions should understand that a song able to provoke those kinds of reactions means there's ppl who feel as passionately in the opposite direction, and that's how you make pop magic baby

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, March 2, 2022 11:31 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I have a hard time understanding why they even warrant such strong reactions either way. It's really only the aggressive sales push and the phoney-baloney self-mythologising I find irritating, the actual music's just kind of there to me, not exactly offensive but not particularly great. Middling indie.

I've said all I want to say about them anyway and frankly the WL Stans on here scare me a bit so I'm bailing out of this one.

The last thing I'll mention is WL putting a song called "Angelica" brought to mind this one from 1997 which think sounds like a kind-of proto Wet Leg in an odd way (although none of their other stuff did apart from this).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16indpzGa9U

the WL Stans on here scare me a bit

name names

and if you're including me, i mean... i never really think about this band ever except when this thread gets bumped tbh

wet leg stan is my new blues name

NickB i feel like you're pushing your new blues persona at me and frankly it smells like payola

just to be clear I haven't accused anyone of payola, Twitter bots or any sort of popularity fixing, the reasons for their ascent are at least partly encoded into the music/presentation (I repeat: banal cool-kids vibe), but this sucks and here's why etc

xp your loss tracer but for those who care, new album is out next month, gonna be called 'why the longue chaise?'

You're on fire today, nick.

you joke, but that would at least demonstrate a bit of actual wit rather than the drivel they serve

WAKE UP SHEEPLE

I'm as allergic to the hype machine as imago seems to be, but I still really like this band. I think the main thing is simply that they're fun. It's nice to follow the rise of a band who don't seem to take things too seriously, and it's rare that pop music these days makes me smile and/or laugh. But they do. I can see that their music might not make any claim to posterity, but sometimes you just want to listen to some fun, catchy tunes with some personality. And they've got that. Will I burn out on them eventually? Yeah, probably. I'll just enjoy it while the feeling lasts.

If I'm keeping track, we should not do the following:

- criticize their marketing
- not criticize their marketing if we are North American
- criticize them for lacking formal complexity or innovation (which seems like an aesthetic concern and not to do with marketing or gender but is still Bad)
- compare them to other artists if they are female (even though we are talking about them in part because they won a poll that pitted women against other women [and also men])

- criticize their marketing

- not criticize their marketing if we are North American

- criticize them for lacking formal complexity or innovation (which seems like an aesthetic concern and not to do with marketing or gender but is still Bad)

- compare them to other artists if they are female (even though we are talking about them in part because they won a poll that pitted women against other women [and also men])

there's a bad habit that people get into where comparisons for a female musician are always other female musicians, as if they need to stay in their female corner, and yes this is bad and people should stop doing it

honestly this band is like, i dunno, fun? not worth all this trouble? both?

It’s okay to think that they suck! It’s just weird ascribing their success to vague ~marketing~ rather than some people actually liking their songs.

WL are going for 'cool' way more than they're going for 'fun' imo

here's more my idea of fun (rather than laconically parading one's mother-worrisome and big-d-obtaining nature, which is, after all, just banal cool-kid bragging)

no more in-character lj posts itt thanks

"big d" line is hilarious, women can be funny

so if I post examples of women being funny in pop songs (see: the Audiobooks one) I'm pitting women against each other, and if I post examples of men being funny in pop songs (see: the Chap one) I'm denying that women can be funny

*posts every GFOTY video and peaces*

*returns*

*posts every 100 gecs and every Fraxiom video*

*peaces*

I watched the video at the start of the thread, I thought it was stupid-funny (especially the random high kick) but musically it was very bad. Do pop bands not have to have melodies anymore?

Don't know anything about the hype machine, I've heard of them once or twice. But I'm in North America, so I don't count.

no more in-character lj posts itt thanks

― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, March 3, 2022 7:02 AM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Do pop bands not have to have melodies anymore?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc5vncyWQnY

Two notes (occasional half step down) over chord changes would be an imprrovement over a spoken slide down a chromatic scale.

Actually that would get me on board! I think the vocal is the only thing I have a problem with on the WL track.

i like this band more than I should based on the way she sings "driving in my car" and the 'here we go' chant bit.

getting insane hype and winning ILM EOY polls on the first try. I

we’re being suspicious of a girl unit winning the ILM poll without an existing fan base now?

It worked for Lily Allen, dinit?

...wut

that song by The Chap is fucking 'orrible

i'm don't think there's much stanning? i'm okay with the song, feels like a fun one hit wonder thing...i'm just constantly perplexed by "attractive young people make an extremely catchy pop song and it got popular" becoming some byzantine chaise lounge industrial complex oliver stone movie conspiracy

xp your loss tracer but for those who care, new album is out next month, gonna be called 'why the longue chaise?'

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Thursday, March 3, 2022 7:01 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

just want to say how much i love this post

it really is excellent. would post to excelsior but fear that'd make me a pawn on Domino Records' chessboard.

The last thing I'll mention is WL putting a song called "Angelica" brought to mind this one from 1997 which think sounds like a kind-of proto Wet Leg in an odd way (although none of their other stuff did apart from this).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16indpzGa9U

Heh, the singer is in The Lovely Eggs.

in england they spell things different. like, color is "c-o-l-o-u-r" and "middle-aged poptimists" is "middle-aged p-a-e-d-o-p-h-i-l-e-s"

also I counter your lyric argument with "Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?" which is a perfect pop song non-sequitur IMHO

i didn't know this until today but

The lyric "Is your muffin buttered?/Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?" is a direct quote from the 2004 teen comedy Mean Girls.[9]

https://i.ibb.co/YfCJP6Q/03daea0a48320f3323f5c54fb88f8e11.jpg

the phrase is used by a male character btw as if you couldn't have guessed the context

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocRzU9QRJiU

Which is in turn a lift from Weird Science

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmgUrKYeYL8

https://slideplayer.com/slide/16428115/96/images/7/DEVIANCY+AMPLIFICATION+SPIRAL.jpg

Chet Leg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPRX3i1aOF8

it's about having character, dear folks

― imago, Thursday, March 3, 2022 5:52 AM (seven hours ago)

crying at how bad this song is. like, there actually would've been no better choice to illustrate the taste divide in this thread. just a pitch perfect punchline

eh, audiobooks are good not bad imo

this audiobooks song sounds like someone remixed Farrah Abraham and took out all of the things that made her music compelling

lmao jordan otm

lmao jordan otm

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, March 3, 2022 1:30 PM (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

one of these bands has a calculated, overly polished, cool-kids-trying-too-hard vibe covering for songs that are barely there. the other is wet leg.

thank you normies

Some band with a name like Power Nap: OI ME VIBES HAVE CHANGED CALL THE OOOOOBAH *autotune gibberish*

imago:
https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/4f6/886/69dd4f6bea4966df9c8d167c03c8c909b3-13-wojak-00.2x.h473.w710.jpg

song's vibe is more like "Oh No" than "Chaise Longue". also the lyrics -- she says "Oh No" a bunch.

i listened to "chaise longue" and it sounds like a standard rock song. should i read this thread and find out what all the controversy is?

no

the exact same argument crops up every couple months, so just wait til next time

but what these advantages are seems hard to pin down.

that's only because it's considered gauche and tacky to assume the obvious

doesn't usually stop you

should i read this thread and find out what all the controversy is?

― aegis philbin (crüt), Thursday, March 3, 2022 2:50 PM (one hour ago)

yes

omg you guys
https://i-guim-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/ii/w820/s/i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9ef44c7323e8956ee0a661ea617c8dd71143eeed/0_0_2362_3343/master/2362.png

sorry
https://consequence-net.cdn.ampproject.org/i/s/consequence.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Glastonbury-2022-lineup-poster.jpeg

idgi

the last line

yeah fuck the Red Cross I don't understand if you meant "omg good" or "omg surprising" or ?

I think he meant the last line of bands, ie Wet Leg's @ Glasto. The Isle of Wight Machine rolls on.

yeah Red cross thing was a joke, I get that the point = Wet Leg are playing Glastonbury, but there acts in that list I've never heard of, so Wet Leg's presence doesn't seem that notable to me? anyway, I actually don't care about this band, not sure why I'm posting itt lol

I was just hoping to throw more fuel on the highly entertaining bonfire of this thread

got it

I don't get it. Is this "festival" in California or Texas?

it is kind of amazing how many of my current musical betes noires are on that bill (along with quite a few acts I actually like tbf)

wet leg aren't in the top ten menaces there

every big festival poster I see has 5-10 acts I would love to see if I had a Star Trek teleporter so I could just beam in to those sets and not have to deal with any of the aspects of going to a festival

otm except 2-3

The top-billed stars appearing to be immune to the tyranny of alphabetization seems weird to me. Having a hard time imagining people being more excited to see Diana Ross than Megan, Lorde, or Phoebe Bridgers

let alone Gaz coombes

I will never let alone Gaz Coombes

It’s pretty obvious Diana Ross will be the Sunday headliner. It’s a slot reserved for the likes of Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton etc.

…and, you know, in 2065…. Wet Leg.

out of Diana Ross and Wet Leg, only one had the ILM track of the year, so who's bragging now?

wouldn't actually be the first time a band from the isle of wight has headlined on the sunday

Um, it's an alphabetical list.

Maybe they needed to be called "A Wet Leg"

A hundred stages? Really?

yeah they set up around the perimeter of a field and blast away at each other, where you stand determines the mix of what you’re hearing

that is a very good glastonbury line up IMO

we are foes

(lol sorry drunk)

yeah they set up around the perimeter of a field and blast away at each other, where you stand determines the mix of what you’re hearing

oh dear, full screen ad on my Instagram feed featuring the goofy dancing from the new video

I don’t even follow many bands

Aha! The marketing, spotted in the wild.

another Domino falls

I live in Tasmania which is pretty much exactly the opposite side of the world from the Isle of Man, so the global reach is complete

but the Isle of Wight is 109 kilometers closer!

the Isle of Wight Man lies between the two

Someone should trace the influence of Britney's "Work Bitch" on Chaise/LaLaLa-type songs.

shit, guess it's a Wight girl summer coming for you folks then

The singer reminds me a bit of Sarah Snook, I’ve just realised.

xpost lollll

Wow, I hadn't looked at this thread in awhile. I hope it brings everyone the catharsis they need.

Wet Leg are playing a bunch of shows on the west coast right now so we saw them again on Wednesday. I gotta give them credit - fuck, I'm sorry, I really dislike pulling rank but over the decades I've sat through so many bullshit bands in Los Angeles that have zero ideas, not enough concept, can't write a hook, take themselves way too seriously, can't play, way too much concept, or even just outright fail at the basic task of being the background music to "can I exchange two tickets for a better beer?" as you obsessive-compulsively side-eye your guitar and amp backstage to make sure they're still there. Wet Leg live right now is killing it with a bunch of songs no one really knows except for big one and maybe the other. Really the only other times I've seen that happen was when I saw The Smiths' first show in LA in '85 and anytime No Doubt played those outdoor shows across the street from UC Irvine in 1990.

Like it or not, Wet Leg write some

Like it or not, Wet Leg write some super sticky hooks.

They’re playing the Fonda next week? Wow. Impressed that they merit a venue of that size.

For rough comparison, we saw Franz Ferdinand at the Troubadour (their 2nd West Coast show), around a month after their first album came out… they blew the roof off the place, it was pretty amazing, but even they didn’t warrant the Fonda. You’re telling me Wet Leg is a bigger draw than straight-out-the-gate Franz Ferdinand?

(My wife just reminded me that we saw FF again at the Avalon, a few months later… so it didn’t take them long to fill a comparable venue. The Blood Arm opened, I forgot about that… talk about an L.A. band that routinely “killed it with a bunch of songs no one really knows”…!)

For rough comparison, we saw Franz Ferdinand at the Troubadour (their 2nd West Coast show), around a month after their first album came out… they blew the roof off the place, it was pretty amazing, but even they didn’t warrant the Fonda. You’re telling me Wet Leg is a bigger draw than straight-out-the-gate Franz Ferdinand?

Savages was a better draw than FF - as with Wet Leg their first show in LA was at The Echo and then returned to play the Fonda.

uh oh https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/27/arts/music/wet-leg.html

“Chaise Longue” has the feel of an epochal one-off, something unrepeatable, like “Louie Louie” or “Because I Got High.”

Ponder the implications of these comparisons in terms of career longitivity

I saw Afroman performing for 150 people at a dive bar four years ago, he's doing fine.

writing a single as good and enduring as "louie louie" would be completely legendary? lol

Michael Champion of the band Champs, who played bass on the song, liked it enough to contact Hall, who asked to meet them, much to their disbelief.

so a guy who played bass on "chaise lounge" tipped off their mythical kingmaking manager, who listened to their demos and signed them and then brought them to domino, who listened to their demos and signed them. a shocking tale of music industry corruption.

from the NY Times piece

Older listeners might hear echoes of bands from an earlier generation, like Delta 5, Elastica or Art Brut. But Teasdale and Chambers aren’t familiar with any of those groups. Their closest compatriots are Dry Cleaning, Yard Act and Sports Team, young British bands who, despite having been born after new wave’s popularity crested, emulate the music’s springy bass lines, resolute drums and jabbing guitars

I didn't realize they'd both been making music for so long separately and together, also undercuts the "manufactured overnight success" story.

see it more as a "Have Love Will Travel" can't wait for their reunion shows in 2072

Rob T. took the time to inquire if they were familiar with bands from three different decades, but didn’t bother to ask about topping ILM’s 2021 tracks poll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGg-hitVZKQ

legit

I find myself saying “excuse me……. what?” to the dog a lot.

"WET LEG BAND" as Wet Leg Band

Love it! Can't wait for the album!

I've been keeping off the ILM hype machine on Wet Leg, which has clearly turned into ILM controversial opinion machine, but I might listen to this album to see what the fuss is. Speaking of previous indie bands that have worked (for me), they remind me of Yeah Yeah Yeahs (minus the post-punk and radicality), which Jordan mentioned.

oh in isolation they're fine, have their moments even, but they're the latest (rodrigo aside) to unite the horny dads and the zeitgeist poptimists into coalition, which is always a prime breeding ground for ILM controversy

as for myself, i am preparing to move to phase 2: cautious, conditional assent. i will cherry-pick the two or three decent songs off their album so help me god

Only 3/5
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/02/wet-leg-wet-leg-review-absurdist-delights-and-damp-squibs

“Horny dads” – because they’re two women(?)

God forbid they dabble in the dark arts of attractiveness and hooks.

I like "Ur Mum" a lot

that’s exactly what a horny dad would say!

Or the Bouncing Souls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUro3Uwq6Mw

xp lol

Haha

this band is fun. I usually hate fun but this time it's kind of good. maybe because the world is so fucking depressing.

that Guardian review seems fair - the first two singles are still by far my favorites, the latter one have sounded like a band I could have seen playing with Imperial Teen circa 2002 - which is good but not nearly as much fun.

The non-singles don't seem conspicuously outstanding after a cursory listen, but I have to concede that I now genuinely quite like "Angelica" at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNXb7iC4mr0

That song lives or dies on whether the rhythm section can play in the pocket and, uh... R.I.P.

Horny Dad
Qu'est-ce que c'est?

Horny Dads is a good band name

Pitchfork’s review is on-brand for this thread, btw:

If you don’t already love Wet Leg, chances are their swift rise and self-deprecation induce a particular kind of cynicism. Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers arrived fully formed with the kind of infernally catchy indie rock hit not heard since the days of Franz Ferdinand and were instantly everywhere: played to death on British alternative radio; on Jools Holland and late-night U.S. talk shows; the subject of approving texts from your dad.

Nouvelle Vague should have covered "Psycho Killer"

xp feeling a bit seen tbh

listening now and i can safely say they picked the right singles

"supermarket" and "i don't wanna go out" are fun too

"Oh No" is still bad but I like the rest of it

Man that p4k review is beautifully written, I kind’ve didn’t want it to end.

It is a good review – reminded me of that Bongwater song about the Rolling Stone review ("I'm still not sure it was a pan, the writing was so convoluted and semiotic, it was more like something you'd read in Artform or October magazine")... but in a good way.

Sounds entirely nothing like Elastica.

Giving it a spin and enjoying it

Haha

― And liberty she pirouette (Sund4r), Thursday, April 7, 2022 4:46 AM (two days ago)

otm

Solid album. I don't hear Elastica.

Wish it wasn't so rhythmically boring. It's plodding without going full motorik. The vocals are thin and the hooks dry up fast.

I probably would've liked this in 2001, to be honest.

was at a record fair earlier today and two not-so-young stallholders were talking about a band called Hot Leg that one of them had just heard

Rod Stewart tribute band iirc

I like the album. The singles are standouts for sure, but overall a lot of good hooks and lines. You can play spot the influence all day — e.g., "I Don't Wanna Go Out" nicks that hammer-on guitar note from "The Man Who Sold the World" and the melody somehow reminds me of "Paisley Park." But even if they don't always make their influences their own, they at least do them justice. Nothing earth-shaking, but entirely likable.

Weren’t Hot Legs the dancers on Top of the Pops or summat?

Legs & Co.

They knew how to use them.

Leggs Inc.

I don't hear Elastica.

One day we'll hang out in person, and I'll play you an Airbourne song just so you can tell me with a straight face that you don't hear AC/DC.

I watched their two videos and that was enough. My favorite thing about them was the blond girl's dancing in the "Chaise Longue" video. I'm mostly left pondering which sounds it's critically acceptable to C&P and which it's not.

For one, I prefer Elastica.

feel like you could make a stronger Stereolab circa "French Disko" case than Elastica

I hear Descendants.