Song of the day – 375: Humpe Humpe

This series is so straightforward. It does what it says.Each entry features a song that grabs my attention any given day. The way I discover the song varies: often, it’s via Facebook recommendations or trusted PRs/record companies cluing me in. Often, it’s because I’m on a particular listening jag, and don’t want to escape out of it. And sometimes, even more pleasingly, it’s because I follow through the trails other Collapse Board contributors lay.

This is a great example of the latter. The song itself absolutely pushes all the right buttons for me: femme vocals (of course), a melody-line that keeps threatening to burst out into ABBA’s ‘The Winner Takes It All’, warm electronic backing that recalls Pet Shop Boys circa ‘Always On My Mind’ (rarely does pop music attain such a pinnacle), two sisters …. and yet, until I read Brigette’s bilingual interview with my Argentinean sweethearts Las Kellies, I was not aware of continental 80s pop stars Humpe Humpe. Such melancholy! Such sighing, and hands-drawn-across-the-face dancing! (I imagine the latter.) Absolutely adorable. I cannot get  the haunting keyboard motif and melody out of my mind, and I do not in any way want to try.

Why did I check Humpe Humpe out? Kellies listed them alongside The Slits’ Cut and Althea And Donna as the three records they had to own, and … wait a second. You think I’m not going to fall for that? You’re crazier than Crazy Jack McAss’s crazy younger sister Phaedra. Initially, I preferred the following song – more angular and bouncy and naive – but I cannot deny the Pet Shop Boys fan inside of me for long.

This is what they used to look like.

by Everett True

My name is Everett True. I am a music critic. This is what I do. I criticise music. The clue is in my job description – music critic. I do not consider myself a journalist, as I do not research or report hard news. I do not consider myself a commentator as I believe that everyone should be a participant. I criticise people and in return I am not surprised if other people criticise me. It is part of the whole deal of being in the public arena. I am Everett True. Believe in me and I have power like a God. Quit believing in me and I no longer exist.