Because she may be young, but No. 27 on our list proves she’s done her post-punk homework.
For weeks after Maura introduced me to former Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley’s second solo album The Deep Blue, I couldn’t figure why I was digging on her punchy new wave quite so hard, at least until a Google search revealed that Hatherley is as smitten with bookworm Brit-rockers XTC as I am. (Probably moreso, considering only one of us has gone so far as to collaborate with members of the band.) But while much of The Deep Blue floats its way through dreamy mid-tempo ballads, the galloping “Very Young” hews more towards the jittery, jerky end of the Swindon boys’ sound. That break around 1:50 where the rhythm suddenly shifts into an even faster and more fidgety quasi-disco beat is so young Andy Partridge, but Hatherley’s not totally beholden to the early ’80s (or abandoned her Ash roots), because when I first heard her zig-zagging guitar on the song’s intro all I could think was “Marnie Stern gone mall punk.”
Charlotte Hatherley – “Very Young” [YouTube]
Charlotte Hatherley [Official Site]
Idolator’s 2007 Top 40 List Of Awesomeness
I would nominate Charlotte to Idolator’s Pick of the Year. The Deep Blue has been on constant rotation since you first alerted me of her existence. “Behave”, by the way, is the track to hear.
I second that. “Behave” pretty much is the song of the year in my opinion.
This woman is fantastic and smokingly hot. She was performing in Berlin when I was there over the summer, and she covered “This is Pop” by XTC. Before she played it, she asked the audience if anyone knew who XTC was. I guess the Krauts don’t listen to much Andy Partridge.
I tried to cheer loud enough to drown out the crickets.