My favorite group of British Synth Pop Nerds are back with In Our Heads, their fifth full length album since 2005's Coming On Strong. Hot Chip hail from London, bursting onto the music scene with an EP, Mexico, in 2000. The voices of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard are a fine study in contrast. Taylor offers dreamy, effortless falsettos that cut to the heart of the beauty of performers like Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake (minus any of the pretentiousness of Radiohead or even Coldplay, or the bland vocal acrobatics of Remy Zero). Meanwhile, scattered throughout the record (and in the occasional duet), Goddard offers a tone that sounds a bit more world-weary and at times almost gruff in comparison to Taylor, calling to mind Damon Albarn's cool monotone tendencies. The group signed to DFA in 2005 and released the Over and Over EP, as well as the excellent 2006 full-length The Warning. Hot Chip kept busy in 2007 by supporting The Warning with singles and consistent touring, and released a DJ-Kicks mix album. Late that year, the single "Ready for the Floor" heralded the arrival of Made in the Dark, which featured some of the band's most focused grooves and poppiest melodies to date. The mellower One Life Stand followed in 2010, along with a remix collection later that year. In our Heads remains pretty consistent with the outfit's past releases, including slower ballads, quirky pop, danceable numbers, and their idiosyncratic brand of weirdness. They are amongst one of my favorite contemporary groups. They fill the void that Erasure and Bronski Beat left in me.
Watch "Night and Day" here:
Buy your copy of Hot Chip's In Our Heads here.
14 June 2012
Night & Day
My favorite group of British Synth Pop Nerds are back with In Our Heads, their fifth full length album since 2005's Coming On Strong. Hot Chip hail from London, bursting onto the music scene with an EP, Mexico, in 2000. The voices of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard are a fine study in contrast. Taylor offers dreamy, effortless falsettos that cut to the heart of the beauty of performers like Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake (minus any of the pretentiousness of Radiohead or even Coldplay, or the bland vocal acrobatics of Remy Zero). Meanwhile, scattered throughout the record (and in the occasional duet), Goddard offers a tone that sounds a bit more world-weary and at times almost gruff in comparison to Taylor, calling to mind Damon Albarn's cool monotone tendencies. The group signed to DFA in 2005 and released the Over and Over EP, as well as the excellent 2006 full-length The Warning. Hot Chip kept busy in 2007 by supporting The Warning with singles and consistent touring, and released a DJ-Kicks mix album. Late that year, the single "Ready for the Floor" heralded the arrival of Made in the Dark, which featured some of the band's most focused grooves and poppiest melodies to date. The mellower One Life Stand followed in 2010, along with a remix collection later that year. In our Heads remains pretty consistent with the outfit's past releases, including slower ballads, quirky pop, danceable numbers, and their idiosyncratic brand of weirdness. They are amongst one of my favorite contemporary groups. They fill the void that Erasure and Bronski Beat left in me.
Watch "Night and Day" here:
Buy your copy of Hot Chip's In Our Heads here.
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