Artist Profile: White Rose Movement
The White Rose Movement are the closest thing I’ve heard yet to “the next Bloc Party”, and for that reason alone I obviously like them a lot. White Rose Movement’s brand of danceable, electronic synth-rock is highly reminiscent of Bloc Party at times, but WRM’s take the danceability further, dripping their arrangements in synths and production floursihes. The two bands also share my favorite producer, Paul Epworth (be sure to download his incredible Phones remixes here), who once again turns in a near-flawless production job on WRM’s debut album, Kick, which was released in the US today after dropping in the UK yesterday (buy it on iTunes here).
It’s actually quite surprising that WRM aren’t better known. Though their debut album wasn’t released until today, single “Love Is A Number” was released to much critical acclaim last year, even garnering the #42 spot on Pitchfork’s Top 50 Singles of 2005 list (as well as the #33 spot on my Top 65 Songs of ‘05 list). “Love Is A Number” opens innocently enough, drawing you in with a glitchy synthesized guitar riff before suddenly unloading a barrage of synth-laden percussion on the listener 12 seconds in. The driving rhythm section remains throughout, keeping the party rocking until the song reaches its pinnacle, the addictive (though somewhat unintelligible) chorus on which lead singer Finn Vine rocks the best dance-rock falsetto since Kele Okereke belted out those “ooh, ooh-oohs” on “Banquet” last year.
Follow up singles “Alsatian” and “Girls In The Back” (the latter being their first US release) also do a great job of keeping the party moving, and producer Paul Epworth offers up a great remix of “Alsatian” under his “Phones” pseudonym (as he is wont to do for bands he produces). All of these are available for download below, which you should be sure to hit up, as I can easily see White Rose Movement blowing up with epic proportions of hype on the strength of “Love Is A Number” alone.
MP3s:
“Love Is A Number” - White Rose Movement [highly recommended]
“Alsatian” - White Rose Movement
“Girls In The Back” - White Rose Movement
“Alsatian” (Phones’ Gone To The Dogs Remix) - White Rose Movement
For more of Phones’ excellent remixes, check out my post from two months ago here, and I’ll also be posting a compilation of all ten of Phones’ remixes, the closest thing I can find to his complete remixography, in the coming week or so.