XX Teens
They have the frantic energy of teens! And their chaotic live fury is positively X-rated! They're weird live, actually, but good-weird: their drummer, all flailing limbs and mentally fast wrist action, is the band's dramatic focus, the singer, born Richard Spondoolicks, loiters around at the back of the stage with his shades on like a druggy car salesman, while the band create a right old disturb-dance, all rabid fretwork and manic bass action. They're not allergic to colour, and neither are they pathologically aloof. In fact, the video to their fifth and latest single, Darlin' is further evidence that South Yorkshire is the new centre of radical surrealist visual expression.
But you don't need the video to see what XX Teens are about. Be warned, there's a lot to take in on Darlin': steel drums, amphetamine rhythms, pained-animal howls and blasts of trumpet. It's that combination of yelps and beats that makes us think of Darlin' a fussed-up fusion of Pixies and Prodigy.A limited-edition 7-inch release on Mute's modest Mute Irregulars imprint, made it into the NME's singles of the year chart in Demeber '07, a premise of having a one-off bizarre disco novelty hit.