Saturday, March 10, 2007

Music: Far better than warlocks in leopard-print Speedos.

Part burlesque act, part rock outfit, part performance art happening, part goofy joke, Brooklyn's Witches in Bikinis is one of those ideas that's so packed with entertaining goodness that it defies classification.

A troupe of six singing and dancing young women in brightly colored wigs and bikinis (finally, some truth in advertising), backed by a quartet of instrumentalists, the WiB bounce, prance, and vamp their way through songs about alien surf chicks, haunted subways, horror-flick final girls, and, of course, themselves. Their mix of 60s girl group pop and junk culture imagery, delivered with conviction that can compensate for the occasional lack of finesse, is nearly camp perfection.

And, if their surf-rock-meets-cabaret music isn't your cup of tea, you still get to watch a bunch of girls dance around in bikinis. Everybody wins.

Here's the group performing their signature tune.



Here's their sci-fi surf tune "Alien Surfer Babes."

7 comments:

toxicfur said...

If they ever come to Boston, I'm so there. It makes me wish I'd moved to NY instead.... Well, except for the partner-living-in-Boston thing.

Heather Santrous said...

Damn! What a great blog name this group name would have made. Why didn't think of this??

CRwM said...

Toxicfur,

I'm sure Boston's full of equally weird and wonderful stuff.

You guys are home to one my favorite gimmick bands, the AC/DC meets Louis XIV roque group Upper Crust.

Plus, isn't Kaiju Big Battel one of yours?

Wicked awesomeness abounding.

CRwM said...

Screamin' Heather,

With your swimming thing, you could have totally carried off the bikini angle as part of the blog persona. Perhaps some other monster? Zombie in a Bikini? Mummy in a Bikini?

Anonymous said...

Hey crwm,

I'm Joya, the dark blue haired/bikini'd WIB (that's me singing ASB) and just thought this was one of the best written reviews/blogs we've gotten.

Kudos to you, friend.

And to Toxicfur: oh, sweetie, we'll be in Boston soon enough. Promise.

check us out: www.witchesinbikinis.com or on MySpace.com/witchesinbikinis

Thanks!
Janelle (Joya)

CRwM said...

Janelle(Joya) -

Thanks for droppin' by. It's my pleasure to spread word. I saw you at Southpaw in Brooklyn some time ago, but I didn't want to do a write up until I could find some clips that showed the group in action.

Please do make it up to Boston soon - Massachusetts has had trouble attracting worthwhile witch acts since those unfortunate incidents in Salem so long ago. But they've learned the error of their ways and I think they deserve a second chance.

toxicfur said...

Janelle(Joya),
Thanks for the links. I did check out your tour schedule, and I would love to see your show!

And CRwM:
We do have our share of weirdos, but we are but a shadow of NYC.