Hot Chip Album: “Warning”

apart from a few tracks on this album (my rommate owns it so therefore I have heard smatterings from it), but I can say that 'Over and Over' is worth the price of admission on its own. I never thought that six minutes of 4/4 time, a few adroitly placed guitar lines, thumping bass and whining keyboards could be so damn catchy, but I was wrong. I'm a man, I can admit when I'm wrong. 'Over and Over' is the newest entry into my top 25 of all time list.

A few other songs from this album catch me as well, but I don't know what they're called. Suffice to say that this album is way better than their debut.

the harmonies that go on here are what really propel this album. Electronics are wondrful too, but it's the vocal play that keeps this album out of generic electro, and pushes into it's own category. One of the few albums that's both immediately infectuous, yet has long lasting appeal. Which is altogether too rare these days. Well worth the purchase.

Fledgling UK electropop band Hot Chip have found greater success with their second album, "The Warning," but thankfully have not sold their souls to do so.

This sophomore album is simply exploding with experiments and ideas, so much so that an otherwise amazing album gets a little drippy around the edges. Give them a few more years, and Hot Chip will be blowing our minds with the bravest, wildest electronica. For the moment, they're still trying their wings.

It opens with the retro drones of "Careful," right before the song suddenly settles into a more expansive little groove. It sounds torn between retro synth and the artier edges that they are so, so good at. They stabilize their sound somewhat in "And I Was A Boy From School," with its steady beats and catchy little melody.

From there on, Hot Chip experiments with just about any sound that electropop can include -- airy little ballads, hip-hoppish dance music, delicate beats like something from Telepopmusik, grimy robot rock, twinkly little art tunes, and some Kraftwerk-inspired techno. In other words, they will twist those amazing art beats into... anything, really.

Not many bands can do EVERY kind of music with more or less successful results, but Hot Chip is pretty good at all kinds of music. The only problem is that they seem to be a bit torn between the popular retro sound, and the more out-there art sounds. In songs like "Careful," it feels awkward and unbalanced.

But once they work the kinks out of that, Hot Chip will probably have few musical flaws at all. They have a knack for putting the right beats in the right places, and excel at deceptively simple melodies that never stop being catchy -- even the quieter ones can draw you in and make you mumble the words.

They also know just how much to pack into a single song: the beats are heavy and rough, or delicate and crystalline. Glimmering synths, spurts of bass, funky melodies, buzzes, horns, sonic squiggling, and other sounds spice up the music. Plenty of artier moments, without losing that catchy dancey beat.

Alexis Taylor sounds a bit like Benjamin Gibbard, with his mellow vocals and somewhat downbeat attitude. At first he seems almost nebulous on his own album, but he stands out more and more as you listen to him murmur about balloons, colours, and "Look after me and i will look after you/that's something we both forgot to do...."

Since they have been nominated for a Mercury Award, expect Hot Chip to be more prominent than before, and hopefully they'll have plenty of time to get even better than they already are.

I bought this CD after stumbling across Hot Chip's other album 'Coming On Strong'. I really liked that one, but 'The Warning' just doesn't flow as well. Hot Chip's style of music is like a balancing act between chaos and creativity and will appeal to different people in different ways. Love it or hate it...at least it's something unique and different.

Hot Chip is a quirky UK band that reminds me of Aqueduct here in the US. After self-releasing some early EPs, the band issued its debut album "Coming On Strong" in 2004 (released last year in the US), the band returns with its follow-up.

"The Warning" (11 tracks, plus 1 "hidden" track, 52 min.) starts off tentatively with a somewhat chaotic "Careful", but then dives straight into one irresitable track after another: "Boy From School" (1st UK single) is a funky-ish joyful singalong, "Colours" (2nd UK single), and "Over and Over" (3rd UK single), which reminds me of the playfull Beck sound on "Guero". "(Just Like We) Breakdown" continues that theme, but in the second half of the album, the band turns much more introspective, with tracks like "Look After Me", the title track, and "So Glad To See You". The (untitled) hidden track is another (short) pensive song, quite nice. The album is extremely well sequenced, and before you know it, you find yourself hitting the replay button. In all, a great album.

If you are wondering where I found out about this band, take a listen to WOXY "The Future of Rock and Roll", formely a terrestrial radio station and now an internet-only station. WOXY has been bringing cutting edge indie-rock for more than 20 years. Check them out, and check out Hot Chip, you won't be disappointed!