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Goldfrapp's Genre
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Appy61Appy61
    Posts: 638
    Here's the question - you're talking to non-Frapper's who ask what are Goldfrapp like? Which track do you play them?

    I was asked this a few days ago and struggled to give a definitive answer and that, I suggest, is why we love em? :D
    What if the Hokey Cokey is what it's all about?
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  • Vote Up0Vote Down KatRobinKatRobin
    Posts: 2,769
    On a kind of similar note, I was asked to choose a song that sums me up for our school leavers' book. I chose "Happiness" cos it sums up our ( or at least my!) eternal quest to find happiness and it seemed most apt! And also cos a 20-something gay colleague of mine had never heard of Goldfrapp! I mean, whaaaat?!! I've since educated him, don't worry.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Appy61Appy61
    Posts: 638
    Nice choice and I can see how this connects with you but does it say 'Goldfrapp'? I'm leaning towards Lovely Head mainly because that's where I got hooked. Imagine a sun soaked cliff face hotel in Santorini, Alison's delicate whistling on the air and the curious, neighbourhood cat population gathering to see what's going on! Ah the memories.
    What if the Hokey Cokey is what it's all about?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down cw37frappcw37frapp
    Posts: 3,494
    Well to sort of answer that question. When i was in the dentist last time i started talking to her about music because she had put a new player in the room. I said- Oh i would be ok having a filling whilst listening to Goldfrapp. She said, Who are they and what have they sung ?. Oh and she noticed my tattoo. I said a few of the tracks. She knew Ooh la la and Ride a white horse. So maybe them 2. Because EVERYBODY knows them.
    JAMIE CARRAGHER= LEGEND
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Appy61Appy61
    Posts: 638
    Similar experience with our hairdresser however she didn't like Supernature but highly impressed by the ToU films. Who knows?
    What if the Hokey Cokey is what it's all about?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down KatRobinKatRobin
    Posts: 2,769
    Yes I did signpost Goldfrapp- of course! It's funny, but I was chatting to a fella on the phone this am from my oil supply company and we were talking concert tickets. He asked me if I was going to see Kate Bush (grr no) and said that he's got his 3 little kids into her and they've been dancing round his house singing Babooshka lol. When I told him it is GF, he said " Goldfrapp...hm, name rings a bell.." And while we were on the phone talking oil tariffs he was typing Goldfrapp into his computer and starting mumbling to me "electric pop duo..." Blah blah! "I'll listen to that now" he said. kerching! Another likely convert! I hope Al and Will are reading this...all postcards and cheques gratefully received ha ha xx
  • Vote Up0Vote Down The_CarpathianThe_Carpathian
    Posts: 1,837
    It's a tough one. Personally I'd say you have to throw the hits collection at somebody to give a half decent idea and even then it fails to shed light on the corners of the rest of the material.

    If you describe them as "pop" then that conjures up one side of them perfectly correctly and yet utterly fails to capture that certain something which they have. Besides, many folks see 'pop' as a dirty word but I've long maintained that truly great timeless pop is very hard to do - it's the crap sort that is easy.

    Going the other way and picking a more niche genre (downtempo? alternative? indie?) - or at least one more unadopted by a mass audience than 'pop' is  - then that nails the quirkiness and character they have but misses the catchy nature that they still maintain, whether it's through a chilled ambience, big strings or whatever.

    Some bands exist perfectly on the back of genre descriptions but Goldfrapp exist more despite them.
    A million fires before your harvest comes. To burn out.
    Wear the mask of a heathen. For the moon's lonely eyes.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Appy61Appy61
    Posts: 638
    Great response 'The Carpathian' - I think you've captured the essence of the conundrum - it's, perhaps, back to where I started.
    What if the Hokey Cokey is what it's all about?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down rewakrewak
    Posts: 830
    Chimera Pop
  • Vote Up1Vote Down WhickwithyWhickwithy
    Posts: 5,155
    Trying to define Goldfrapp from a single song is like trying to define the universe from a single grain of sand.
    The Sentient Struggle For Transformation

    https://www.amazon.com/Sentient-Struggle-Transformation-Whickwithy/dp/1734822147/
  • Vote Up1Vote Down subrussiansubrussian
    Posts: 88
    Usually I pick 1 song from each album to demonstrate the variety and complexity of their sound (though of course it's not enough, but still works fine for the first impression)
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Urban_TribesmanUrban_Tribesman
    Posts: 5,675
    Whickwithy said:

    Trying to define Goldfrapp from a single song is like trying to define the universe from a single grain of sand.





    And you sir, have missed a career as a philosopher (assuming you are not, actually, a philosopher).
    The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ.
    Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit.
    Shall lure it back to cancal half a line,
    Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down hunterhunter
    Posts: 205
    I'd say you definitely have to do two songs at a minimum...like Lovely Head (or even Deer Stop) with Strict Machine or Clowns with Ooh La La or Annabel with Alive and then explain that the rest of the catalogue falls all over the spectrum between those types of extremes.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down The_CarpathianThe_Carpathian
    Posts: 1,837
    rewak said:

    Chimera Pop



    Chimera is a very underused word. Nicely done for giving it an outing!
    A million fires before your harvest comes. To burn out.
    Wear the mask of a heathen. For the moon's lonely eyes.
  • Vote Up1Vote Down stevilstevil
    Posts: 899
    this can never be answered
  • Vote Up0Vote Down LowLow
    Posts: 901
    I just consider them to be "Goldfrapp".

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