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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Hot Chip will break your legs, snap off your head", 6 Jan 2007
Genre-bending Hot Chip have not only released some of the singles of the year but possibly its best album. As with Gorillaz and Gnarls Barkley recently, mid-way into the 'noughties' we are starting to see some real wit and invention in pop music that may come to define the decade. The Warning finds them putting heart and soul into their curious mish-mash of folk whimsy, house and electronica. For all the sonics and low-fi trickery, and the comedy lyrics, there is beauty and genuinity shining throughout. Their songs are unconventionally tangential, with phases and subtexts, but pulled off with a playful insouciance that belies some of the technical brilliance.
After the abrasive aural assault of the opener 'Careful' is the brilliant single 'And I was a boy from school'. Its folksy swoon and off-beat lyrics are delivered over cheekily Balearic, Daft Punk-esque house loops to fantastic effect. Colours is a sweet, gracefully-building ballad with lovely twinkly electronic embellishments. The one-of-a-kind dancefloor masterpiece Over and Over is an obvious highlight and needs no introduction here, while (Just Like We) Breakdown is the kind of emotive electronic pop that Junior Boys might make if they had a little funk (and some backbone). The infectious but deeply silly 'Tchaparian' describes drunken flights over Timbaland electro-funk, but its multiple parts are jarringly uneven where its neighbouring tracks sustain their moods more economically. Look After Me is a soulful accoustic ballad, which totally gets away with its cheeky soppiness, while title track threatens to "break your legs, snap off your head" over a celestial groove.
Signed to DFA in the States, this album will inevitably draw comparisons between Hot Chip and the massively overrated LCD Soundsystem. But where James Murphy tries to beat you over the head with molten lumps of irony and knowingly "cool" musical referencing, Hot Chip win you over with charm and an English pop sense (of humour) and sensibility. Hot Chip don't take themselves too seriously, and it is this disarming humililty that makes them "cooler" than James Murphy could ever dream of. Fantastic.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Warn me, 31 Aug 2006
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.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"I'm Looking For A Place To Get Lost", 4 May 2006
I think this could do it for them. They've progressed leaps and bounds from the intriguingly skewed but slightly amateurish palate of Coming On Strong to create something altogether more profound.
There are no weak tracks here, and the sound as a whole is rich and warm, with delicious bleeps and washes of synth meshing wonderfully with the octave-apart double vocals. Highlights? The gorgeous, pining melody of And I Was A Boy From School, the impossibly fun *hit* single Over And Over, the cheeky beats and lyrics of the title track and the soothing and beautiful soon-to-be-come-down-classic So Glad To See You are all pretty flawless, but the whole album is full of delights.
"This is a warning, I'll spell it out for you"- Hot Chip's sound is refreshing and unique, and if there's any justice 2006 will see them hit the big time. Nice one boys.
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