Hot Chip - C/D?

I do love how Hot Chip, unlike LCD Soundsystem, can get away with recalling New Order without sounding like New Order. I think that keys in on one of its gifts.

i think maybe i just never found my way inside of those idiosyncrasies, never found the proper angle from which to listen to the unique things they were doing, so to speak. which is why Boy From School, Ready for the Floor -- where idiosyncrasies are balanced with easy universality -- appealed to me the most. One Life Stand being the "most Hot Chip" and therefore probably most idiosyncratic of their albums, i "got it" the least. but i've taken to the new one so instantly that i think it may be my key for going back and understanding their other music.

exactly. I understand their goofiness attracts people; to me it sounds arch.

Again, I think the group live is key. You think you only like the singles until you see the band pull off two-hours of all killer stuff. Though I admit I can imagine it coming off arch, if anything I also get a sense of over-earnestness. Hence the Duality of the Hot Chip Thing.

word. plus Alexis Taylor has a very, very odd voice that doesn't necessarily seem so at first blush. to me that makes them somewhat inscrutable vis a vis arch vs. earnest

yeah, they're basically their own "remixers" live. Everything is amped up more than on record. I've seen them three or four times and it's always great.

You think One Life Stand is the MOST idiosyncratic, caulk? Sounds to me like by far their most warm, sincere and straightforward up to that point.

I think "Made in the Dark" is the weird, hard to get into one.

omigod the one that goes MEVSYOUVSMEVSYOUVSMEVSYOU is exactly what I mean about their cuteness

my statement might be based on my original perception of the band: as a DFA-esque dance group rather than a smoove pop group. Made in the Dark is pretty weird, but it fit my preconception of them better. One Life Stand had less of that, and that's probably why i was turned off by it

I'm not really feeling Don't Deny Your Love - there's a hell of a lot going on in that song and I'm not sure it really hangs together very well, especially in the first minute or so.

The rest of it is great. Especially enjoying Motion Sickness, Flutes and Now There Is Nothing at the moment. Obviously Flutes is about 80% Sky Was Pink DNA but it's lovely nonetheless. Now There Is Nothing is intriguing, like you could imagine Hot Chip taking late 60s psych-pop as a starting point and running somewhere much more interesting with it than most indie bands are able to manage.

Apart from Now There Is Nothing and How Do You Do, which are fine but not great, I unambiguously love this record. I've played it more than anything else this year. They were terrific headlining Lovebox too.

I'm starting to think this might be their best record. Everything has just fallen into place and I just can't find any weak tracks. Night & Day might be my least favourite song on there but it's still stuck in my head a lot of the time. Don't Deny Your Heart, Let Me Be Him, Motion Sickness and Flutes are all so amazing and really up there with their best songs.

Seeing them live next month for the first time, so excited.

Let Me Be Him is so great!! i had it on repeat for about two and a half hours last night while doing work in my apartment. such a sad refrain but sung with so much resolve-- the "ooooo oooo ooo oh oh oh haay oh" parts remind me of something too, like phil collins or peter gabriel?

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max to life

No way is it their best but I'll retract some remarks. Def their second best. The mid tempo things like "Always Been Your Love" and "Now There is Nothing" still annoy me.

"Motion Sickness" is some late eighties Colin Newman meets Eno masterpiece.

the FACT review of this was some bullshit

"motion sickness" is just amazing

not often I say this but I love the lyrics, esp the use of refrain

i think they did the soul stuff better at the end of "made in the dark" tho

jordan otm re: "motion sickness"

"night and day" is straight up garbage.

"let me be him" def my jam tho

now THAT song is gorgeous.

"night and day" sounded really slight to me as a single and i didn't have much interest in it, but the more i listen to it when i play the album the more i like it

it's still several notches below their best singles, but it's still pretty good

so is "Look At Where We Are"

xpost to gr8080

"Night and Day" might work if they didn't remind us that they love Zapp.

it's less them reminding us that they love zapp and more them reminding us that they're hot chip & they'll write an ironically bad lyric whenever they so please

"Let Me Be Him" and "Flutes" are so great, I could go w/ a whole album of epic jams like that

HC and Zapp both have a tendency to elide an ephemeral song by loading it with cute sound FX.

This is nowhere near as good as the last album, but I love the highs, like "Flutes" and "Motion Sickness."

"Night and Day" is like a mid-'90s Prince track.

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― ♆ (gr8080), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 10:36

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― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 20 June 2012 10:38

max to reality

however do we need him

No way is it their best but I'll retract some remarks. Def their second best.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

Which is your favourite? This and One Life Stand are very close for me.

i think they did the soul stuff better at the end of "made in the dark" tho

― J0rdan S

I always thought those were the weakest tracks on that album, I would have prefered it to be a ten track album and end with Wrestlers.

I think it might be their best, honestly. Maybe doesn't have the peaks of The Warning, but it's a really strong album from start to finish. Definitely better than the last two.

I listened to The Warning the other day and it's really all over the place and kind of shonky - the first track is a mess, it's all a bit primary school instrumentation in places, the highs are fantastic but its way inconsistent. Probably unique in Hot Chip albums in actually getting stronger towards the end though.

I think the new one is probably their most consistently good, not sure the peaks are quite as high but at least it doesn't slip to the most half-arsed lows of Made In The Dark.

Let Me Be Him is so killer. Everyone I know who's heard this album thinks that's the one. Like gr8080 I can't quite place the origin of those chants but the effect is so familiar. I'm also obsessed with the vocal loop on Flutes - apparently based on an old record of chanting monks.

Like gr8080 I can't quite place the origin of those chants but the effect is so familiar

Biko?

Despite a slushy first trask, The Warning is their best.

The chants in "Let Him Be Me" are a little bit Howard Jones, a little bit "Self-Control."

This song is a perfect example of how often people forget there are two singers in this band, and they each bring their own sensibility to their respective tracks.

The chants in "Let Him Be Me" are a little bit Howard Jones, a little bit "Self-Control."

I get a hint of a, uh, sincere take on "Tarzan Boy".

It's not the same sample but it reminded me a bit of Enfants (Chants) by Villalobos. Over The Sky Was Pink obviously.

ha yeah i immediately thought of Sky Was Pink when i heard that

oh you mentioned that days ago too

yeah, they've acknowledged it's a rip

they have? link?

re Let Me Be Him; yeah i can't recall an album track being so raved about and hyped up for years

the chants are this aren't they pretty much?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wLQNrr15sA

Reminds me a bit of the vocals in Wire's "Kidney Bingos."

can't find a direct quote but

Hot Chip's Joe Goddard tells Pitchfork that "Flutes" was one of the first songs that he and bandmate Alexis Taylor wrote for the new album. Its origin came from a sample of a two-note flute melody, its main inspiration from James Holden's remix of Nathan Fake's "The Sky Was Pink". The band chose the song as In Our Head's first song to be made public as a left turn for listeners: "I like it when bands come back with something that's fresh and unusual, you know?," Goddard said. "It's a more ambitious song than other things we've done in the past. I worked on it a lot to make sure it's constantly developing in an unusual way. I'm pleased with how it turned out."