La Femme, a French band lead by Marlon Magnee (Keyboard) and Sacha Got (guitar), is influenced by everyone from The Velvet Underground and Kraftwerk to the Beach Boys, and it boasts a surf-psych-punk-kruatrock-pop sound that’s surprisingly well put together. Fast-paced drums start things off for most of the tracks on Psycho Tropical Berlin, the group’s debut effort from 2013, with surf guitar licks, hypnotic synth work, and vocals from Clemence Quelennec, Clara Luciani, Jane Peynot, and Marilou Chollet filling up the rest of the sound spectrum with pleasant, melodic vocals. Eccentric and in a class of its own for sure, check out “”Amour dans le motto,” “Sur la plant,” “It’s Time to Wake Up,” and “Si injure” to get a sense of the band’s fun, energetic sound.

• black double vinyl pressing
• music label: Born Bad Records 2013

reviewed by donut savage 07/2016