Band: Hot Chip
Album: One Life Stand
Sounds Like: LCD Soundsystem, Junior Boys
Sub Sub Genre: Smart-Rock Electro-Pop
Essential Tracks: Take It In, I Feel Better
DJ Responsible: Hot Chip have been, I must admit, perhaps my favorite band since my first listen of The Warnng three and a half years ago. Neither Made in the Dark, a rollercoaster of brilliant highs and tossed-off lows, nor One Life Stand, its similarly inconsistent follow-up, are unloveable enough to steer me from this notion. In fact, the only portion that isn't amazing is the cloying and lethargic triple threat of "Brothers," "Slush," and "Alley Cats." The rest of the album is just a bunch of guys with expensive keyboards, youthful jubilance, and a host of great ideas. One Life Stand is like a sagging mattress: if you stick to the edges, you'll be alright.
DJ Sub Par: Can you dance to Hot Chip? You should. Their take on electro pop is to steal R&B tropes and craft them into tracks that veer between playful and honest. The worst thing would to interpret Hot Chip's style of bleeps and beeps as ironic. While it will be constantly difficult to surpass The Warning as an album, Hot Chip continues to deepen the complexity of both their melodies and emotional undercurrent. With this album, the title refers to making a one stand last a lifetime. Then, on the final track "Take It In," when Alexis Taylor sings "Take my heart and keep it close to you" he wants you to feel it. And also dance.
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