I bumped into a guy called Harry at a recent gig who works as an A&R guy for Virgin. We spent a fair amount of time between the bands and at the end of the nigth chatting about music, the pressures on young bands, up-and-coming scenes and a variety of other things.

One artist he mention to me at the time, which I hadn't heard of before, was a band called La Roux (Not Le Roux which is another completely different band I mistakenly found whilst searching for 'LA' Roux on YouTube :p). He reckoned they'd be up my street (having just been through a discussion about female-led electronic 80's sounding bands) and after listening to their current single 'Quicksand' I think he may have a point.

They've also be shortlisted on the BBCs 'Sounds of 2009' - the Top 15 of which will be announced and counted down from 5th January - which is always an interesting list which I've covered here in the past and will no doubt be passing comment on again. The list is comprised by over 130 music critics, journalists, DJs, etc and looks at the bands that they reckon will break through during the next 12 months. They've hit the nail with a whole host of bands before covering as wide a range of music styles as 50 Cent to The Killers  to Duffy.

Anyway, La Roux are definite proof (if any was actually needed anymore) that the 80's sound is back in full swing be it in the form of dark and moody melodies or synth driven pop.

Here's the video of La Roux's new single 'Quicksand' which was released last week.