THEY STILL MAKE MUSIC VIDEOS: Hot Chip - I Feel Better

I like the satire of the first third (Hot Chip as boy band? Hilarious!) more than the chaotic second third and the inane third third. Makes you remember how many albums they could sell if they were more marketable and wanted to be more marketable.

IN THE NEWS...Hot Chip Fears Popularity

 

Hot Chip, in the limelight again after dropping their latest quality effort, don't look like the kind of guys who should've expected fame (the above picture could be out of a Wes Anderson parody). Well, according to a recent piece in The Guardian UK, fame doesn't appear to be their cup of tea either. Music purists in 2010, who knew! 

So who wants to bet fifty bucks their next album goes off the deep end a little bit. Because you're on!

THE BREAKDOWN (FT. DJ SUB PAR): Hot Chip - One Life Stand

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.

I Feel Better - Hot Chip

Take It In - Hot Chip

WORTH A LISTEN: Hot Chip - "One Night Stand (Drums of Death Remix)"

The first couple of minutes are pretty much killer. The last couple drift into unnecessary land (ft. pretentious noise). For a more straightforward dance track, there's also Carl Craig's PCP Remix and the very un-Hot Chip Joris Voorn Dusty Flower Remix.