Midnight World Pop Scout: La Femme, The Phoenix Foundation, The Starlets, The Joy Formidable

Every weekend the When You Motor Away's Midnight World Pop Scout staff intends to put on their safari jackets and search the sonic corners of the world wide web so, well, so you don't have to. The point of the feature isn't to tell you all we can about some new band, or some type of music. We just want to bring you stuff that seems interesting or promising to us on the chance you might like it. Listen. And if you like it, do some exploring on your own. Here is the best of this week's dispatches.

First up is La Femme. I don't know much about them--There are several guys and one girl, and they are French. The sound is surfy synthy new wave, and I like it. Enjoy the video, and if you want more, check out the additional songs on their Bandcamp page linked below.

LA FEMME - SUR LA PLANCHE (official music video) from George Trimm on Vimeo.

La Femme on Facebook
La Femme on Bandcamp

Your next discovery is from the other hemisphere -- New Zealand band The Phoenix Foundation. Last month they released an album entitled Buffalo. There are elements of psychedelic rock, math rock and folk rock, with a bit of Yeasayer-like prog. Here is a good video of one of the songs from Buffalo:


The Phoenix Foundation Website

The next dispatch is about The Starlets, a Scottish pop band which, at least in this video, has a bit of a cabaret sound. In any case, the video, in which they took over a Glasgow pub, is fun:



The Starlets on Bandcamp


The final dispatch is from our scout in Wales, who has asked us to give a boost to The Joy Formidable. As a Scottish pop fan, do I want to feature a Welsh band? After listening to my scout's dispatch, I can only say that I'm feeling very Welsh this evening. This female-fronted three piece can make some noise.





The Joy Formidable Website