Hot Chip are back. And if the rest of their fourth album is anything like the title track, One Life Stand, this return is likely to be as emphatic as Made In The Dark’s was in February 2008.

Self proclaimed as the antidote to aggressive, processed, digital dance music, the fivesome release this first single as well as the album on 1 February, shortly before they start their 12-date UK tour 11 days later.

As a single, One Life Stand isn’t as instantaneously catchy as Ready For The Floor, but it has infectious 80s drum beats mixed with steel drums, catchy keyboard hooks and the soulful, vulnerable vocals of Alexis Taylor. The clever composition is sure to translate just as well live as it will to the dancefloor – after all that’s what Hot Chip are good at – providing an electropop indie alternative to banal chart dance.

What’s more, if you do a bit of Youtube digging you can also find Take It In, which starts with a brooding bassline and siren-sounding keyboards, before a sing-a-long chorus suddenly breaks through the foreboding.

Made In The Dark brought us One Pure Thought, Shake A Fist and Touch Too Much. The Warning, the band’s second album from 2006, brought us Over And Over and Boy From School. So it’s a fairly safe bet that the tracklist will offer more of that feel-good, soulful and melodic dance, littered with influences from all over the musical spectrum.

01 Thieves in the Night
02 Hand Me Down Your Love
03 I Feel Better
04 One Life Stand
05 Brothers
06 Slush
07 Alley Cats
08 We Have Love
09 Keep Quiet
10 Take It In

Words written for www.themusicmagazine.co.uk

Much as I enjoyed Hot Chip’s third album, Made In The Dark, I’ll admit that it was a slightly cluttered, claustrophobic listen. There was a lot going on in some of the tracks – “Shake A Fist” and “Don’t Dance” in particular – and though this was offset by the sparser, more low-key numbers (the title track, for instance, was  a masterpiece of concision), the overall vibe was very busy and slightly unfocused. Which is why I’m very excited by the literature surrounding the band’s forthcoming fourth album, entitled One Life Stand because a range of sources have suggested that it will be a more stripped-down and focused affair – an album’s album, if you will.

The album’s release is being preceded by a digital release of the title track which, in truncated form, occupies a radio-friendly three-and-a-half-minutes. And it’s a great pop song, in the catchy mould of “Ready For The Floor”, albeit with an added jaggedness and bite. “Tell me where you’ve been… where you’ve been staying” whispers Alexis Taylor in his most conspiratorial tone, backed by clattering steel drums and a synth line rich in overtones. After a time, synth-wizard Joe Goddard pipes in with a somewhat supernatural moan which continues throughout the chorus, followed by one of the most glorious, buzzing synth melodies I’ve heard in a long time. “One Life Stand” is foreboding and seductive; its relatively simplistic structure belies the love of pop music beating at its core. It’s a wonderful addition to the band’s catalogue of cult classics, and I really do expect it to break high into the charts.

Hot Chip  - One Life Stand (embedding disabled by Parlophone, joyless souls that they are)

Hot Chip have announced on their website that their fourth album is set for release next February.

The Grammy nominated british electro pop band are currently just putting the final touches on the album and preparing for a February UK tour to coincide with the album release.

No album name, art or track details have been released as of yet, but tour dates are as follows:

• GLASGOW – Academy – Fri 12 February
• EDINBURGH – Picture House – Sat 13 February
• NOTTINGHAM – Rock City – Mon 15 February
• LEEDS – Academy – Tues 16 February
• NEWCASTLE – 02 Academy – Thurs 18 February
• MANCHESTER – Academy – Fri 19 February
• BIRMINGHAM – 02 Academy – Sat 20 February
• BOURNEMOUTH – 02 Academy – Mon 22 February
• BRISTOL – 02 Academy – Tue 23 February
• NORWICH – 02 Academy – Weds 24 February
• LONDON – 02 Brixton Academy – Fri 26 February
• LONDON – 02 Brixton Academy – Sat 27 February

Lead singer Alexis Taylor has suggested that the album will be more mellow in comparison to ‘Made in the Dark’, which is a shame, because you cannot beat a bit of ‘Ready for the Floor to get your blood pumping.

Apparently, by pre ordering the album, you will “get a brand new track” send to you.

Here’s a bit of a tune to remind you of their brilliance.

Hot Chip- And I was a Boy from School

E’ in uscita per il prossimo 22 dicembre un ep contenente die remix dell’ultimo loro sforzo in studio. Se avete tempo e voglia è già possibile scaricare sul loro sito http://www.hotchip.co.uk la loro prima traccia ” Made in the dark “, il 19 dicembre si potra scaricare gratuitamente la seconda traccia. Abbiamo notato come queste band si concentrino ogni tanto su ep di mezzo, di rottura, ne varrà davvero la pena, lavorare di remix ogni tanto?

An awesome music video from British electropop band Hot Chip:

Be sure to check out their new album, Made in the Dark. Δ

Hot Chip

Made In The Dark

Astralwerks

By Chris Brunelle Hot Chip is a dance band composed of guys who look like they probably can’t dance, and I’m guessing most of their audience is similarly coordinated. Hot Chip seems to be aware of all of this on the fantastic “Don’t Dance” that comes towards the end of Made In The Dark. “Ready For The Floor”, “One Pure Thought” and “Touch Too Much” are just a few of the tracks that will turn your living room into a dance floor.

From the start, Hot Chip possessed a raw talent that came into its own on their last album, The Warning. The sound is heavily influenced by synth-driven new wave and electronic pop from the 70s and 80s, yet there’s nothing derivative here. The music meanders naturally through heart-felt, quirky, playful, tender, joyous and a whole host of other feels like an expert traversing an obstacle course. What sampling and mashing yields in variety for many electronic artists, Hot Chip matches with instrumental arrangement and lyrical variety.

There’s a stronger presence of ballads on Made In The Dark than on the other Hot Chip albums, which reveals yet another strength: this record has heart. “Made In The Dark”, “Whistle For Will” and “In The Privacy Of Our Love” provide a tender contrast to the upbeat numbers that will move your body in that different kind of way. Made In The Dark is constantly brimming with life, energy, emotion, and soul. It can be immediately enjoyed as pop candy but the depth and quality will make the party endure.

Originally published in Impose Magazine, it can also be viewed here.

Submitted by Mememarie

Okay, so, another story about K.

One night I was at his place and we were watching a movie or something; afterwards I swung by the bathroom on the way to his bedroom. I came out and all the lights were out in the apartment. I pushed open the door to his room and couldn’t see him. I tried to sound playful but really just sounded hesitant in asking, “are you in there…??” He didn’t answer. I wandered out to the living room and he wasn’t there, so I went back to the bedroom doorway and I think was scanning the room with an intense “wtf” expression. I wandered in and, sure enough, he was in bed waiting for me. FACE PALM. I think I played it off as how I’d taken out my contacts already, but really, I couldn’t see him at ALL in the dark room because of his dark skin. FACE PALM.

-Mememarie

My 2008 Itunes playlist can keep me occupied for ceaseless hours.  It is an eclectic mix ranging from straight up dirty folk to electronic dance rage to some fine indie rock tunes and everything in or around.  As the year comes to an end lets stop and take a gander at some of the ridiculously awesome albums of 2008.  

January: MGMT-Oracular Spectacular, Electric Dance Rock music at its finest.  Andrew Vanwyngarden and Ben Goldwasser started out rockin in school together and have basically exploded into an indie sensation.

Feburary: Hot Chip - Made in The Dark, 13 tracks of electro dance goodness, these guys could get even the scroogiest of scrooges to bust a move on the dance floor.

Hot Chip

March: The Dodos - Visiter, Not only are the lyrics poetically powerful but Meric Long, the lead singer, has an enchanting voice.  The guitar and drums are some of the best I have heard in a long time.

April: The Presets - Apacolypso, The best track off the new album is “Talk Like That.”  This group is blessed with the sexy skill of incorporating the organ into a sick dance floor track.

May:  Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid  18 years in the bizz, this might be their best album yet.  

June:  Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes, their first full length album.  Self described as “baroque harmonic pop jams,” the quintet have created a beautiful, hauntingly poetic sound. 

July: Black Kids - Partie Traumatic, keep an eye on these kids, their indie rock tunes are going to be around for a while.

August: Lykki Li - Youth Novels, The Swede’s first album is a smash.  17 tracks full of amazing lyrics, beats, and rock.  We love her.

September:  TV On The Radio - Dear Science, The 16 track album (including remixes, and some bonus tracks) follows the feel of previous TV On The Radio albums but sounds more refined and refreshing. 

October: Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping, They are not from Montreal, but rather from Athens, Georgia.  Either way they know how to entertain.  ”Of Montreal will never get ya down” 

November: The Sound of The Smiths, 2 Discs of The Smiths, what more could you want?  Oh wait, theres a 12 minute video on there too.  Formed in 1982 this collection of tunes is the best of the best, making it the 5th compilation album of The Smiths to date.

December: Cat Power - Dark End Of The Street, The Queen of smokey blues numbers, Cat Power, brings us an EP of six tracks recorded during her Jukebox sessions, four of which are previously unpublished.

I have to say that I was thrilled when Current music editor Jeremy Martin announced a formal year-end best albums list, and doubly thrilled to be asked to contribute to it. I’ve heard a lot of great music this year (much of it coming from Music Town), and saw more shows in 2008 than any other year combined. I got to see Radiohead (twice!), Okkervil River (three times!), The National (twice, also!), Deerhoof (finally!), and a slew of bands good, bad, and in-between. And the local scene hasn’t been too shabby either, and seems to be developing a healthy taste for non-metal.

So, here’s a disclaimer: I’ve heard lots of music this year, but it is dwarfed by the amount of music that I haven’t heard . Even the “breakout” acts of 2008 — namely Fleet Foxes, and Department of Eagles — have only just now found their way onto my iTunes (for the record, I actually really like both groups now). So like every list, keep in mind that this is just my opinion, and that judging by the albums on the list, I’m split between the “thinking” and “dancing” camps. My top pick, however, rallies both camps into an all-night thinking/dancing bonfire party. (Hint: it’s not Fleet Foxes.)

And here’s the list (if previously reviewed, click on the title for a link to my original write-up):

10. Foals, Antidotes

9. Beck, Modern Guilt

8. Hot Chip, Made in the Dark

7. Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend

6. Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours

5. Deerhunter, Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.

4. Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping

3. Deerhoof, Offend Maggie

2. Okkervil River, The Stand Ins

And, my number one favorite album of the year is … after the jump!

1. TV on the Radio, Dear Science

I groaned a little when I found out that Rolling Stone also picked TV on the Radio’s Dear Science as its 2008 Album of the Year. It’s not just because they didn’t even have the balls to put the band on their cute, newly miniaturized cover (the mag bravely opted for a mugshot of a porn-mustachioed Brad Pitt instead), but the fact that TVOTR shares the top 10 with Metallica and John Mellencamp (what is this, 1983?) makes their top choice — and mine, by extension — seem suspect.   

Whatever — Dear Science deserves any and all accolades it receives. After reaching the rocky, foreboding peak of 2006’s Return to Cookie Mountain, TVOTR decided to plant their freak-flag and climb even higher, only to end up zooming into the stratosphere. Science sounds like music from another planet, or from some future, utopian Earth where conflicts are settled by dance-off.  

The celebratory vibe asserts itself from the first second of album opener “Halfway Home,” as frontman Tunde Adebimpe joyfully scats over a pulsing, polyrhythmic drone that morphs into a half-time feel and back again with impressive ease. Every genre the group tackles, from the snarling, percussive dance groove of “Red Dress” to the gauzy, sweetly aching ballad “Family Tree,” sounds effortless, honest, and innovative. Guitarist-producer Dave Sitek  must take a bow for the group’s signature sound. Science is brilliantly mixed, ranging from delicate to dense — sometimes in a single song — but never overpowering Adebimpe’s or Kyp Malone’s impassioned vocals. Dear Science would be a high point for any artist, but what makes TV on the Radio special is that it’s just one more pitstop in their mission to go where no band has gone before.

THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2008 (and other things)

So, like any music-related blog, here’s a listing of my top albums this year. Some of it may seem a bit odd and arbitrary, but there’s some backings to my orderings. But, it’s all merely numbers – I’ve enjoyed all these albums throughout the year, and completely numberless. However, for the sake of order, here’s the list…

35. AmpLive – Rainydayz Remixes

Here’s a great album remix concept that works out all the way through. Rather than simply mashing up In Rainbows with another album, AmpLive rearranges the Radiohead tracks into completely new and downright great hip-hop songs. Del’s track (“Videotapez”) is one of the best hip-hop songs of the year.

34. High Places – 03/07 – 09/07

It’s a bit random, but this selection of songs recorded by High Places made from March to September of last year is, if anything, a mark at how great this band can be. “Head Spins” and “Jump In” offer up some fantastic experimental pop songs, bringing some heft to the album of mostly-studio experimentations.

33. Future Islands – Wave Like Home

Comparisons are pretty easy, but in this case, it’s impossible to ignore. Baltimore’s Future Islands sound a little something like if New Order used cheap laptop technology for their electronics and were fronted by a slightly subdued Iggy Pop. “Old Friend” is perhpas one of the most endearing beginnings to any album this year.

32. Fuck Buttons - Street Horrsing

Listen to the first two tracks and just try not getting hypnotized. Experimental-art-whatever-kind-of-rock that’s quite pallatable.

31. Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III

I’m not sure what convinced me about this record. Oh wait, it could be the brilliant minimalism of “A Milli” and Wayne dropping rhymes like “you drop em cuz we pop em like Orville Redenbacher.” Now that’s an imaginative and oddball line for you.

30. Atmosphere – When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold/Strictly Leakage

Sure, Slug’s fit of anger may have become… well, sluggish. But he’s surely got more to offer, as seen on When Life Gives You Lemons. Although there are some rough patches here and there, Slug melts his tales of woe and wisdom of everyday folks with Ant’s increasingly experimental neo-soul. Guest spots from TVOTR’s Tunde Adebimpe and Tom Waits sure do add to the mix. The free Strictly Leackage is a bit of a toss-away in comparison to the large amount of Atmosphere material out there, but pump those beats and you really can’t go wrong.

29. The Very Best – The Very Best Mixtape

This mixtape might be a little higher to the top if it weren’t for the fact that many of its best tracks are simply recylced instrumentals that are quite recognizable… then again, that is part of the appeal of most mixtapes. Even so, Esau Mwamwaya’s skillful flow brings a newfound musicality to the over-used Clash sample on “Paper Planes”… now, if I only new what he was saying…

28. Foals – Antidotes

When I saw Foals in a tiny club in London back in 2007, I was sold. But when Antidotes was released, I didn’t pick it up. Actually, I still haven’t. However, I’ve heard plenty of the album, and after having a sizeable amount of distance from the material and the British hype machine, I must say the things that brought me to the band are still there. There’s the quirky math-minimalist streak, combined with an ambience I originally pushed off in search of more post-punk punch but does the trick. If only some of the songs stood out a little more on their own, or rather, didn’t appear to repeate the tropes of other tracks, this album would have been in the top ten.

27. Pattern Is Movement – All Together

Punk drums and church-like organs with operatic singing, and tons of positive feedback. How can you go wrong?

26. Hercules and Love Affair – Hercules and Love Affair

The sound of Hercules and Love Affair breathes disco, but it seems to be missing part of the free-for-all effervescence that fills the best tracks of that era. But considering that the large majority of songs from that era get increasingly hard to listen to, consider HALA a neo-disco best of. Some of these songs are that great. Hats off to Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, who’s trumpet-like warble makes the albums best songs.

25. Apollo Sunshine - Shall Noise Upon

Like the Beatles? Like classic rock? Anti-folk? Country? Jam? “Indie?” Well, it’d be best to run out and pick up this record immediately. It’s great to see Apollo Sunshine constantly producing great music, and their work in the studio has certainly begun to equal their live presence. What’s the worst thing about the record? The fact that it hasn’t been getting its proper due.

24. Kanye West – 808s and Heartbreak

Here’s what my friend had to say to me about this album while arguing about it the other day:

“He doesn’t rap!”

“It’s all electronics!”

Now, on paper/screen image, it’s impossible to register the confused disgust in my friends voice. That’s because he was just making statements, though ones marked with hatred towards the album. For a person who isn’t neccesarily looking for a formula, 808s and Heartbreaks is a solid pop record. The beats are, if anything, still fresh, “despite” the electronics of it. And the auto-tone? Well, it’s better than T-Pain. Moreover, songs like “Say You Will” and “Coldest Winter” seem to stick to the inside of your head no matter what the ratio of electronic singing to rapping may be.

23. Hot Chip – Made In The Dark

It’s got some of the best dance tunes of the year, and some of the oddest slow dance songs of the year. You have to give it a hand to Hot Chip to keep on revitalizing their sound and style and interspersing it with effects from reggaeton to two-step to old school soul.

22. The Black Keys – Attack & Release

Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse is like cowbell for those musicians who aren’t Blue Oyster Cult. With Attack & Release, DM revitalizes The Black Keys tired and true approach and certainly makes it less tired, working in to fill in the blanks that come with only having a guitar and drum. The funky bump of “Strange Times” and wistful ballad of “Psychotic Girl” have helped revitalize my own faith in this band.

21. Marnie Stern – This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That

Here’s a record for folks who think that the world of the guitar virtuoso is gender oriented. Marnie Stern can shred faster than most of those old phallic hair metal acts, and she does it well to boot. AC/DC-styled riffs at chipmunk paces, math-stylized song structures, and Zach Hill make for pop-fueled fun.

20. Wilderness – (k)no(w)here

When the vocals on “High Nero” kick in halfway through the song, it’s as if Wilderness grabs you and goes, “where have you been?” I can’t believe it took me until this band’s 3rd album to discover them, and what a treat it is. Stormy, ambient psych-folk combined with brutally haunting vocals that don’t so much scare as orate tales of loss and redemption. Too bad it’s over far too quickly.

19. Dr. Dog - Fate

Another band that took me far too long to discover, but this was purely out of my musical filtering mechanism: the name Dr. Dog just has no appeal. Fortunately, their music is an entirely different beast, a wonderful combination of Beatles melodies, country-fried guitar rants by The Band, and who-knows-where-we’ll-go-with-this-song of good ole’ indie rock. These guys might actually turn me on to classic rock instead of the other way around.

18. Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane

VanGaalen’s third album is also his best (so far at least), and a complete picture as well; previous records sounded like a mess of VanGaalen screwing around in his basement with random instruments he created and a few good tunes surviving. Well, here that process has paid off, with some of his most mind-gnawing work to date: death, freak-folk, and oftly odd melodies crash and collide to make a great listen all the way through.

17. Alias – Resurgam

It’s been a banner year for Anticon, and Resurgam is just one of many great records to come out of this Oakland collective over the last couple of years. Almost entirely composed of instrumental work, it’s an ambient take on old school hip-hop that will put you in a state of relaxation for hours on end. It even seems a bit unpleasant when the two vocal songs kick in, at least until you recognize that the same music sits at the foreground of the album.

16. Beach House – Devotion

I was itrigued to see how Beach House, a band who’s music could easily lull one to sleep, would perform under the insurmountable pressure that comes with taking the stage at Siren Music Festival. Facing the grueling heat, packed crowds of hipsters, and set time near the end of a long, long day, Beach House performed as beautifully as their melodies. Devotion is a spellbinding, ambient mess of tunes that work under any weather or state of emotion. Victoria Legrand’s voice is as soothing as it is soulful, and it carries the entire album to its sleepy-headed end.

15. No Age – Nouns

No Age’s Nouns is filled with the kind of songs you seem to know before you even hear them. They’re packed with anthemic punk-rock riffs and bursts, yet remain emotionally perplexing and experimentally arousing. And it’s loud as hell. It’s hardcore for the arty crowd, art for the little punks in us all, and something for everyone.

14. Wale – Mixtape About Nothing

Here’s a hip-hop artist with a good head on his shoulders and an ego that’s perfectly comfortable in a realm where folks have to defend theirs at every turn. That could be because Wale can crank out dozens of tunes about something as archaic to hip-hop as Seinfeld can be… and it’s great too. Infuse sick rhyming and lyrical foreplay with old school hip-hop meets go-go (and perhaps that genre’s ticket out of D.C.) and tons of rap’s biggest names and you wouldn’t feel the need to defend one’s ego either.

13. The Bug – London Zoo

In an odds-and-ends collection of articles, a close friend of Lester Bangs’ describes PiL’s Metal Box as a musical accompanyment to his depression. In many ways, London Zoo feels like an equally derranged equivalent; the record is so dark, intense, and angry, I’ve yet to listen to the entire album in one sitting. But its intensity displays its musical muscle, as deep-in-your-chest bass grinds with glitchy grime and head-banging dancehall to create one intensely personal meditation on the nadir of society. Not for the weak, but definitely for the musically ambitious.

12. Forest Fire – Survival

Here’s a summer record for you – sprawling lo-fi folk that mixes with Velvet Underground-style proto-punk and garage rock done on spare acoustic instruments. It’s enchanting and oft-aggressive, and man does it get in your head and stay there. And to think, they gave this gem away for free…

11. Subtle – Exiting Arm

The impact of collaborations with members of TV on the Radio bear their mark on Subtle, who’s Exiting Arm takes their sound and turns it to the noises in between. Whereas on earlier recordings Doseone could often be heard spitting rhymes at 100 mph, here his vocals are subdued and sink into the tapestry, which taverses across an odd array of sounds and vibrations, but is a whole product throughout. The minute I heard this thing in an ice cream place over the summer I knew it was stuck to me; months later it’s yet to leave my head.

10. Food For Animals – Belly

Noise and hip-hop? Whodathunkit? Food For Animals, that’s who. And that’s why Belly, the long-delayed first album from the DC/Baltimore group, is in the top 10. It’s hard to find an album more ambitious in its sound and execution than FFA’s, and it’s as accessible as any other hip-hop blaring on mainstream radio today. It’s glitchy, bass heavy, and dark as hell, but this trio certainly spins some sick off-beats and rhymes that are more shout-along-chorus-friendly than anything else.

9. Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires

This is what the Foals record could have been, and what I originally wished it was: a great post-punk dance piece. Infusing that genre with strains of disco, salsa, and Brit pop, Friendly Fires’ debut defines irresistible. The music is taught and catchy, the sound gets in your head and shakes your hips, and the hits keep coming. Friendly Fires sounds like a singles collection, with each track as pop-friendly as the last – funny to think this is the band’s first record.

8. The Dodos - Visiter

It may be due to the fact that I had this album on repeat for most of the spring, but Visiter seems to uphold a sense of rebirth and newborn energy that’s often so hard for musicians to capture. Some folks cast the band off as acoustic Animal Collective wannabes, but the album is a beast unto its creators, filled with child-like enthusiasm and sincerity that makes them altogether unique.

7. The Mae Shi – HLLLYH

2008 could be the year of concept albums, or, more correctly, the year that produced a handful of great concept albums. The Mae Shi’s tribute to the end of the world sounds positively, well, great. It’s scary, but the band’s mix of agit-punk, twee, and art pop have an endearing effect that carry through the morbid lyrics of “Run To Your Grave” (and that title to boot). It’s got energy and vigor that blasts through the entire album, one concept to the last. For such a depressing topic to tackle, these guys sure make it sound fun.

6. Neon Neon – Stainless Style

Nostalgia can be a killer, and it’s flogged the 80s past the state of decay, but man oh man do Neon Neon know how to make a bad thing sound great. To call it nostalgia however is making the great concept of Stainless Style seem passe, when in fact it’s a record more “with it” than countless other albums released this year. Much as Gnarls Barkley emphasized “neo” in their neo-soul mix debut two years ago, Neon Neon take the aesthetic tics of 80s pop and place it into an entirely new landscape. It makes it so that the chincy-sounding synth sounds altogether refreshing on tracks like “Dream Cars” or “I Told Her On Alderaan.” It also helps that this project came from the meeting between oddball producer Boom Bip and even-odderball Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys, and they certainly saved their pop-tooth for this record.

5. Ponytail – Ice Cream Spiritual

Ponytail put on one of the best shows I’ve seen this year – so good, I saw them thrice. So I was immediately drawn to the record after grabbing an early release copy after seeing them, doing nothing but playing it for weeks straight. After my mania over the album subsided, I can safely say it’s still a fantastic record. It’s a swirling mess of punk-art-rawk, one that caterwauls off of every surface and smoothly glides through the down-tempos and down singer Molly Siegel’s over-worked larynx to create a record that seethes with passion and power. Kudos to producer J. Robbins for wrestling their great live sound into a well-preserved recording.

4. Sun Kil Moon - April

April opens with a song that nearly hits the 10 minute mark, and could have sustained my rapt attention tenfold. “Lost Verses” sweeps along like any Mark Kozelek song, yet there’s something profoundly new and slightly different than the frontman’s previous efforts. It could be his meditation over the death of a former muse, who’s image is never quite literally addressed, but who’s absence hangs over the entire record. Whatever it is, Kozelek delivers every last line with undue sincerity, and it’s probably because they are his own; in retrospect, the biggest problem with Tiny Cities, the last Sun Kil Moon album made entirely of Modest Mouse covers, is that the music wasn’t created by Kozelek himself (although he does a great job of re-imagining most of the songs on the album). But here, you get the sense that Kozelek’s body struggles with every pick at his guitar, even though all you’re left is with that voice and no image behind it. But what a voice it is.

3. Parts & Labor – Receivers/Escapers Two

For a band that makes a lot of noise, Parts & Labor have made music for just about everyone. Receivers is a fantastic opus of noise juxtaposed against anthemic, stadium-sized pop rock. The electronic bursts and blips are still there, but they’ve become a fixture of a larger pattern; noise doesn’t give way to bubblegum hooks and back again, but it’s all intertwined throughout the album. From “Satellites” to “Solemn Show World,” there’s a song for the punk in everyone (and every punk who submitted sound samples is in a song). For those who don’t like getting too close to accessiblity, Escapers Two offers 50+ “grind pop” songs, most of which barely hit the minute mark and have the mark of dark metal and hardcore punk bursting from the seems… at times, it’s quite beautiful to boot.

2. Why? – Alopecia

What a pleasant surprise Alopecia turned out to be. Why?’s previous work always had some inadvertantly beautiful quality to it, but it’d always been battling a range of sounds and ideas passed out by Yoni Wolf. On Alopecia it comes together in a brilliant and cohesive work, with Wolf’s lyrics and stories spilling into one another, but neither clouding up the music or his often enticing nasaly rasp. And, much like most of the top albums of the year, it is a whole product instead of a combination of some good songs repackaged for consumption.

1. TV On The Radio – Dear Science,

Numbers or not, there was no question this would be my number one album of the year. From the opening moments of “Halfway Home,” I knew this would be a fantastic album. Unlike Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes and Return To Cookie Mountain, Dear Science, is a fully fleshed-out album from beginning to end as each track seemlessly gluides from one to the next. The band’s turn to a poppier and all together accessable sound is just as natural as their work as a band in and of itself; they’re still pushing musical boundaries, using a wide array of feedback and avant-guard noises, but it’s an altogether cohesive and beautiful mess.

Albums I wish I had more time with, because they probably would have made this list:

For those of us who can’t get our hands on every available album to come out this year, it certainly made the “best of” list process a bit more difficult because, having heard at least snipets of the following albums, I wish I’d gotten them all. But, there is always time for more new music. Anyway, here are the ones I would have liked to have on my list:

High Places – High Places

Extra Life – Secular Works

Fall Out Boy – Folie á Deux

Beck – Modern Guilt

The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me

HEALTH – HEALTH/DISCO

Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Primary Colours

Lykke Li - Youth Novels

Dan Friel – Ghost Town

Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Edie Sedgwick - Things Are Getting Sinister And Sinisterer

Heavy Heavy Low Low – Turtle Nipple and the Toxic Shock

Spiritualized – Songs in A&E

Death Vessel – Nothing Is Precious Enough For Us

Doomtree – Doomtree

Milosh – iii

El Ten Eleven – These Promises Are Being Videotaped

School of Seven Bells – Alpinisms

Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life

Dananananaykroyd – Sissy Hits

Hot Club de Paris – Live at Dead Lake

Best of 2008 from 2007:

The albums from last year that made a lasting impact this year.

The Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

Double Dagger – Ragged Rubble

Videohippos – Unbeast The Leash

Muscles – Guns Babes Lemonade

This is my Top 10 Albums of ‘08 List! These are albums that everyone should have. If you don’t have it, pick it up! It’s probably on sale now for the holidays, so now is the best time to get these albums!

Top Albums of 2008 (Right from my personal Media Library)

1) Brandy – Human (2,738 Plays)
2) The Streets – Everything Is Borrowed (1,044 Plays)
3) Hot Chip – Made In The Dark (630 Plays)
4) John Legend – Evolver (508 Plays)
5) Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) (425 Plays)
6) Scarlett Johansson – Anywhere I Lay My Head (360 Plays)
7) Marsha Ambrosius – Neo-Soul Is Dead (312 Plays)
Madonna – Hard Candy (240 Plays)
9) Alanis Morissette – Flavors of Entanglement (230 Plays)
10) Plan B – Who Needs Actions When You’ve Got Words (221 Plays)

Ains, ayer fue el mentado concierto de los ingleses, y en resumen, no decepcionaron. Bueno, ya es todo (broma). Asi que después del salto hay una reseña de un tamaño razonable.

Bueno, este evento fue organizado por cierta compañía de cigarrillos que te inspecciona hasta las nalgas, y te stalkea en medio de la botana. Pero mira, me dieron dos tragos gratis! Creo que además de la organización, esto es lo unico bueno de estos vatos.

Para las 9pm, el Escenica tenía un ambiente étereo, desanimado, y con electro-minimalista, mezclado por una DJ japonesa disfrazada de Gohan espacial (no se si la verdad lo sea, pero parecía). Y además, en el escenario ya estaba el dibujo de la portada de Made in the Dark, por lo que ya me daba una buena señal. Bueno, ya saben que en estos conciertillos tienen que oir mucho punchis punchis antes del main act, pero asi es la organización de estos eventos. Luego hubo unos DJ’s que estaban en frente del escenario, del cual uno tenia un hoodie blanco. El sonido previo a los Hot’s no estaba mal, pero en eso me adentraré a eso en unos renglones más.

Se fueron los chicos de los hoodies, y llego el tiempo muerto entre mientras que checan por ultima vez los instrumentos y llega la banda. Había música genérica como el remix Tektonik de A cause des garçons, y ya andaba muy bailado con tanto punchiz. Va, para las 12:16am, creo, llegaron los Hot Chip, con una rolita medio disco. Yo creo que Alexis está de mi vuelo, ahora que lo checo. Empezaron con One Pure Thought, el cual fue extraño y gratificante, porque yo estaba muy seguro que abrirían con Out at the Pictures.

Como era de esperarse, su sonido es bien frenetico, bailable y psicodélico. Las canciones las arreglan un poco a como son el disco para ser más dinámicas en el escenario (supongo). La mayoría de las canciones que tocaron fueron del disco mas reciente, y se me hace que lo tocaron todo, por lo que creo que eso es algo inconveniente porque yo quería que tocaran mas de Warining. Del disco que querían que tocaran más namas fueron las de Boy from School, Over and Over y No Fit State, pero yo quería mas, chingado!. Oh, y además se echaron una que otra de Coming On Strong (el primer disco), y les dieron un toque más madeintheadarkesco, y creo que estuvo bien.

Las más coreadas fueron, obviamente, Over and Over y Ready for the Floor (por cierto en esta, una chica se subió al escenario y abrazó a Alexis). Lo que me sacó muy de onda es que sacaron del publico a una chica que andaba tomando fotos con su camara digital. Y es que desde la pagina de ticketmaster decía “NO CAMARAS” y me asusté, y dije “que bueno que no traje la mía”.

Bueno, en general, Hot Chip son muy buenos en vivos, pero yo creo que podrían ser mejores. A la mejor cuando los vuelva a ver, ya serán un grupo muy consolidado.

Hace meses que había rumores sobre posibles presentaciones de Hot Chip en tierras mexicanas para finales de noviembre. Sin embargo, es hasta ahora que la banda lo ha confirmado por medio de su myspace. Estas son:

• 27 noviembre – México D.F. – Carpa Neumatica Hipódromo de las Américas
• 28 noviembre – Guadalajara – Teatro Estudio Cabaret
• 29 noviembre – Monterrey – Escénica

Aún no se saben los precios de las entradas, pero en el mismo myspace se informa que para las tres fechas la venta comenzará el 13 de octubre. Los ingleses todavía se encuentran en promoción de su álbum Made in the Dark (DFA, 2008) (leer crítica de Bárbara).

Desde Cuchara Sónica

There are several reasons to not like Hot Chip:

1. They’re from the UK. If you’re not Radiohead, you’re just another Brit band.
2. They have that geek chic look. Their lead singer looks like that kid that was picked last in every school sport. He also has this weird, almost-androgynous voice.
3. They’re on their third album, but they’re not exactly mainstream yet. That means their fans tend to have that hipper-than-thou attitude. “Omg, you’ve never heard of Hot Chip?”

I was pretty ambivalent about Hot Chip until this year. I’d heard a few songs, but I didn’t like them enough to pay for an album. My opinion changed when I heard them at the last Coachella. We caught the beginning of their performance, and I was impressed. Because of the heat, we abandoned the tent before hearing more of their act. I was determined to see them again.

Last night we saw Hot Chip at The Wiltern. Before the concert, I’d been listening to Made in the Dark for a few weeks. I wanted those songs implanted in my brain. I was really looking forward to Shake A Fist, and my boyfriend wanted to hear Wrestlers.

The true test of a band is their live performance. I don’t care how good you sound on an album; you’d better bring have a kick ass performance. There are very few bands who sound better live than they do on an album. I’m happy to say that Hot Chip sound as good, if not better, than their album.

They mostly performed songs from Made in the Dark with a few older songs mixed in. I love lead singers who also play instruments, and Alexis Taylor rocked the keyboards while singing. His voice has such a strange tenor but it’s his real voice, not machine-generated. All six members sustained their crazy energy, and the audience was on their feet for most of their set.

All of their songs sounded great, and my favorites were Shake A Fist, Ready for the Floor, Bendable Poseable and Wrestlers. The crowd really popped for Over and Over, another excellent song. Their performance was a crazy mix of electro, rock, and pop, and that strange combo worked. It was an awesome performance, and they surpassed my expectations.

In the privacy of our love
There is nothing outside our love
In the privacy of our love
We’re in each other as hand in glove

In the privacy of our love
There is nothing outside above
If there’s nothing outside above
We’re in the privacy of our love

I’ve never seen your love again
I’ll never be your love for sure
I’ve never seen your love again
I’ll never be your love for sure

I’ve never seen your love again
I’ll never be your love for sure
Except for that day, except for that day
Except for that day, except for that day

Whistle for Will, dear
Nelson and Blake knew
Him and Taylor, dear to me

What’s in a name I hold
Closed since the willow fall
All with a Will I’m told is me

Whistle for Will, dear
All the men Blake knew
Him and Taylor, dear to me