Somehow the French pop band La Femme flew under my radar since releasing the full length album, Psycho Tropical Berlin in May of 2013 in their native France (eventually reaching the rest of the world in November). Their melding of influences (60s California surf-pop, Antena post-punk synths, Velvet Underground drones, Kraftwerk beats, cool Stereolab detachment) hits all the right buttons. Too bad I discovered them on the same night they opened for And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Our Dead at the Rock’n’Roll Hotel… C’est la vie.

Check out the excellent surf-menace (love the blood-red waves in the video) of “Sur La Planche” from their 2010 La Femme EP (and reprised on the 2013 album Psycho Tropical Berlin) below.