HOT CHIP
Coming on Strong
Astralwerks
· Constantly waiting for a wink and a nod that never comes, you can’t help trying to shake the feeling that maybe you’re laughing at them, not with them.
A lot of people are taking a look at Hot Chip and the electro-pop sounds of their debut album, Coming on Strong, now available in North America after almost a year on European shelves. Most responses go no further than a singular raised eyebrow, for Hot Chip lacks Ween-inspired cheekiness, and no one is likely to break out in a Controller, Controller-styled dance frenzy. The duo of Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor are more reminiscent of the Beta Band, blending elements of rap, pop, electrofunk, falsettos and an indie rock love of low-fi fuzz and cowbells. Unfortunately, where the Betas could occasionally hide behind art and irony when their beats fell a little flat, Hot Chip do what they do seemingly in all earnestness, leaving one wondering how to best interpret numbers like "Keep Fallin," with its name dropping of Jan and Dean Ween themselves, "we’re like brothers making records who can’t play things," and lines like "We be sonic alligators makin’ records soundin’ like we smokin’ crack now."
Poppy and self-indulgently catchy, you’ll find yourself humming along to the simple refrain of "Playboy," "Driving in my Peugot, hey, hey way yea/ 20-inch rims with the chrome now, way yea hey hey/ Blazin’ out Yo La Tengo way yay, hey hey."
|
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.