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Sliimy makes pop music safe for everyone again
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None of his promo pics include his adorable guitarist.
Sometimes New York City is grimy and awful and you are trying to get through a row of dingy warehouses and remembering why you shouldn't ever wear heels in this stupid town and you listen to hard rock on your iPod and develop bunions. But sometimes, the city surprises you and pop music explodes in your face and it feels like the world is made for fun, but let me go back.
A friend introduced me to the music of Sliimy earlier this week. He's French, and he gets a lot of comparisons to Prince. A LOT. Their new album, Paint Your Face (link goes to lala.com, so you can go listen!), is a fantastic bite of electro-pop of the sort that makes you want to use it for alarm clocks and ringtones. The beats are catchy, the vocals are fun, and nothing about it is acutely annoying. (Annoyance is a problem I often have with pop music.) So I was very keen to go see Sliimy's showcase at Juliet's.
Problem One: Finding Juliet's. Juliet's is a hole in the wall, quite literally. It's in a part of Chelsea that is still mostly warehouses and garages, but it's really very nice. It's tiled (walls and ceilings!) with bits of mirror, so it was awfully shiny. Also, the waitstaff was clearly models. I avoided the "tiny bites of mushy stuff" cuisine. Also, it was a typical industry audience, crowded around the bar, not so much around the stage.
By stage, I mean the top of a booth. That's where they set up the microphones. I was ... uncertain. But then it started. Sliimy and his guitarist, the adorably behatted Feed, were introduced by Liz Rosenberg, who was wearing a headband featuring five colored models of the Eiffel Tower. Her joy in getting to share him was infectious. Then they inched their way out onto the space between two booths. I figured it would be a handful of acoustic songs, but that isn't good enough for Sliimy. He, wearing a baggy gold sequined jacket, matching bowtie and tuxedo shirt, proceeded to dance. And I mean that he really busted a move. I wanted to get up and dance too!
Most pop acts, especially the heavily electronic ones, fall apart when they have to play acoustic. Sliimy and Feed have played together so long, and wrote these songs when they were down-on-their-luck French artists, so they have the practice in. They were as tight as if they were halfway through an international arena tour. They sang, they led the crowd in handclaps, and I never wanted it to end. I can only imagine that when they actually tour the US, it will be a glittery bonanza. Also, Sliimy's hands were covered in teal paint. This led to the thought that he is the perfect fusion of Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, turning them into someone I don't want to smack. And his beautiful voice falls somewhere in their range too.
Verdict: AMAZING.
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