Style Special! England's Dreamy

Photos by Nick Haymes

"Indie boys and their guitars have been officially replaced," declares Dede Wegg-Prosser of the electro-dance trio We Have Band. She's right, at least according to the London-based rising stars featured here, none of whom have much in common with a certain American group (hint: rhymes with blokes) that overtook the city at the turn of the millennium.

We Have Band toured the world, sans record deal, on the basis of four homespun but contagious demos (think Fischerspooner minus the theatrics). Their occasional tourmate and onetime remixer Mica Levi of Micachu & the Shapes takes the DIY ethos one step further, proffering the transmogrified sounds of a vacuum cleaner and a toy guitar on her gloriously spazzy lo-fi debut, Jewellery. And then there's Levi's fellow East Londoner Rachel Callaghan, frontwoman for Kasms, channeling punk's barbarism (she wants to puke on you). Finally, Elly Jackson, of La Roux, whose single "Bulletproof" has gotten a Stateside release after becoming ubiquitous in the U.K. last summer, shuns the influence of rock forebears entirely in favor of British new-wave acts popular before the 21-yearold was even born. And, as Levi points out, "La Roux is a proper celebrity over here."

CHECK OUT LA ROUX ON PAGE 2 >>
CHECK OUT MICACHU & THE SHAPES ON PAGE 3 >>

For more of our London Style Special, check out the Sept. '09 issue of SPIN, on newsstands now.