The Verdict
Franco-American in the same way that Spaghetti-Os are hybrid haute cuisine.

The Band
Lead singer Jean Luc Retard and guitarist Horace Debussy are Gallic the only way Brooklyn-based cabaret rockers could be—with Warhol wigs, outre accented vocals ("Oui are Fronch") and cinematic new-wave fashion faux pas.

Tip Sheet One of New York's Best Les Sans Culottes are nominated for best local unsigned band for reconfiguring pop. Parlez-Vouz Francais? Who knew fabulous could mean "Without Underpants" (a translation of the band's name)?

Then there are the chorus girls—singing, shaking and shimmying like Phil Spector fabrications of Josephine Baker doing Betty Boop.

The Story So Far
Combining cabaret, French ye-ye and dance-band brilliance, their closest previous musical parallels would have to be Blondie's girl-group genre-hopping and maybe the B-52s' rock lobster lunacy.

So Why Haven't You Heard of Them?
So far Les San Culottes have been limited to fringe venues—art-show openings, small clubs and lounges. What's missing is label interest. —Kerry Burke