Video: Hot Chip - How Do You Do?
I am so glad that we have to wait less than a week before posting another Hot Chip video. These guys are fantastic. They just make you want to do silly dance moves at the exact moment that you hear one of their songs. They’ve graced us, in the midst of a busy whirlwind week in NYC, with a video for another song from their newest album, “How Do You Do?” off of In Our Heads.
Like I said before- there is no sense to be made here. This video is just a bunch of hilarious British dudes messing around in front of a green screen. They have a brilliant knack at making you wish you could be there to hang out with them, while they mess around. I would love to kick it with them while they record one time. It would be such a party.
Now what about finding a way to kick it with them while recording a video like this. That would be a whole other story.
Video: Hot Chip - Look At Where We Are
So Hot Chip is back with another nonsensical video for “Look At Where We Are” off of their most recent album In Our Heads. It includes a mad scientist observing a seemingly dead yet beautiful woman, then cutting open either his, or her, tail, and then taking that stuffing and placing it in her head, along with, oh you know, some strawberries that then create a blinding hypnotic mess taking the two back in time to her past as a… model who hates strawberries? I feel as though that massive run-on sentence is necessary to embody the run-on confusion of this video as a whole.
I’m not sure if there is anything to be made of this video- like most Hot Chip videos it doesn’t seem like its even trying to portray any greater point other than an entertaining short to watch. Their previous video for their newest album’s single “Night & Day” provided an equally ridiculous experience with its weird cultish dance moves that made you want to partake.
Perhaps their most memorable video, though, is the one that includes boy-band-killing lasers that should be mentioned in this post simply for its iconic hilarity and parody of British boy bands in “I Feel Better.”
Either way this seems to be that token slow song that Hot Chip awards us with on each album, and I am loving it, weirdness and strawberries in all.
Check out Hot Chip’s new video for “Look At Where We Are” below.
Review/Listen: Hot Chip - In Our Heads
Hot Chip started out as this sort of Weezer-like entity within the electronica-dance scene. When they first appeared in 2004, they were enticingly regarded as a sort of nerd-pop group, as they openly admitted their infatuation with Prince and wore their Dad jeans. Their first two albums, Coming On Strong and The Warning, were filled with simple, throbbing beats and smart lyrics that were both funny and memorable. By Made In The Dark, their sound had grown substantially, adding both depth and quality to their music production and, though it was not completely adored at the time (for some reason fans didn’t like Joe Goddard’s rapping style), it finally seemed that Hot Chip were writing the sort of music they seem to have wanted to make the whole time. One Life Stand continued with the same kind of exploration of larger sounds, and showed how Hot Chip were able to balance out the overpowering beats with Alexis Taylor’s meek croon. So, here we are with In Our Heads, the fifth album of Hot Chip’s twelve-year-long run and they’re still killing it.
The beauty of Hot Chip is how they manage to build six to seven minute LCD Soundsystem-style dance tracks and also pen some sweetly meek R&B songs. “Flutes” has all the makings of a classic Hot Chip song: a deliciously repetitive chorus and unusual sounds created by means of weirdly tribal vocals in the beginning and what seems to be xylophone toward the end of the track. What sets it apart, however, is the sheer depth of their music. With their last few albums, Hot Chip has been toying with larger, more pervasive synths and percussion, and they’re back at it on In Our Heads. The sharpness of the beat in “Night and Day” hearkens back to their early days, but the band manages to sound more adult, like they recognize they might be close to being “too strange” and react accordingly. For all intents and purposes, Hot Chip have become almost an electronic jam band with each song allowing ample space for everyone to stretch their legs a bit.
“Look At Where We Are” reminds me of Taylor’s solo project from a few years ago; the lyrics are sweetly innocent and the melody really exemplifies the meekness of his voice. The minor details of the song, like the syrupy vocal effects and slow-jam R&B percussion, make it more than just a simple, well-written track. The same is true for “Always Been Your Love,” which quietly finishes the album, and it’s a nice reminder that, while Hot Chip is devoted to making dance music, they are also always in hot pursuit of a little love. The song sounds almost like a lounge track, accented by Taylor’s hambone delivery and their use of piano. Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn’t share that same wide-eyed, love-drunk notion.
Like any jam band, their sound can wear thin after fifty-six minutes of In Our Heads. Since they’ve noticeably fleshed out their style, the length of their songs have become a sort of barrier that keeps out anyone but serious Hot Chip fans. Even though they’re using new and bizarre sounds, the inventiveness of the music is heavily outweighed by being bombarded by those same sounds for up to seven minutes. “Don’t Deny Your Heart” sounds like it was made in the same session as the Miami Vice theme song, which is not necessarily a bad thing, although it grows old quickly. Unsavory noises aside, my biggest qualm with the record is the length of their songs. Some of them could be easily cut short or condensed to make the record feel less time-consuming as a whole. Hot Chip dwell on some tracks for so long that listeners may lose interest very quickly.
In Our Heads speaks to both the future and past of Hot Chip’s fruitful career. While they seem to always create undeniably good jams, their expansive sound has allowed them to make longer, more washed out tracks. Though this record is not the strongest release of their recent past, it spawned some great songs, like “Flutes” and “Night and Day,” that are likely to be on countless summertime playlists and end of the year best-of lists.
Listen: Hot Chip - “Don’t Deny Your Heart”
Listen to the latest song to come from Hot Chip’s upcoming (as in next week) album “In Our Heads” out on Domino.
London’s Hot Chip are that band that everyone seems to love, but no one ever seems to remember they exist except for when they release new stuff. Regardless, they’re on everyone’s mind again, thanks to the - excellent, I may add - new songs they’ve been releasing in anticipation to what will be their fifth studio album, “In Our Heads”.
“Don’t Deny Your Heart”, which we’d already heard live, is a typical dancey Hot Chip number, opens with a synth line very similar to the one in Miniature Tigers’ fantastic “Sex On The Regular”, a highlight from their most recent “Mia Pharaoh”. For those that like this style of music, which brings to mind all sorts of sounds from the 80’s, it’ll most likely be a very welcome addition to their musical libraries.
Listen to the song below, and give us your thoughts. Are you looking forward to “In Our Heads”? Have you already heard it? Let us know.
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Video: Hot Chip - “Night & Day”
Watch the new video for Hot Chip’s song “Night & Day” below, taken from the album “In Our Heads”, released on June 11th via Domino. If you missed them on Jools Holland last week, they dropped two new cuts from the album.
Connect with Hot Chip: Facebook | Twitter | Website | Last.fm
Video: Hot Chip - “How Do You Do” & “Don’t Deny Your Heart” (Live On Jools Holland)
Watch below for two new Hot Chip songs, “How Do You Do” and “Don’t Deny Your Heart”, debuted live on Jools Holland.
The UK’s Hot Chip return to Later… With Jools Holland and tease us with two more tracks off their upcoming fifth album “In Our Heads” due for release June 12th via Domino Records, following up 2010’s ever-popular “One Life Stand”.
We’ve already had a few tastes of the new LP: we’ve seen the video for “Flutes” and heard the single “Night And Day”, and now we have two more tracks “How Do You Do” and “Don’t Deny Your Heart”, that the band premiered live on late night television.
“How Do You Do” is a slower track by Hot Chip standards, but lead singer Alexis Taylor’s vocals provide a euphoric pick-me-up, with lyrics like “you make me want to live again”. “Don’t Deny Your Heart” is guided by a gorgeous 80’s synth line, and in their typical fashion, is about as danceable as ever. The pair or songs provide further look into the new LP, which is bound to be as great as ever, with the Londoners’ catchy dance-rock, pulling influence from indie royalty James Murphy’s dance pioneering label, DFA.
Connect with Hot Chip - Facebook | Twitter | Website | Last.fm
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[Listen] - Hot Chip - “Night And Day”
Listen to Hot Chip’s new song “Night And Day” below, taken from the album “In Our Heads”.
On June 11th/12th Hot Chip will release their fifth album “In Our Heads”, the follow-up to 2010’s wildly popular “One Life Stand” LP, and having already teased us with “Flutes”, they’ve now given us another taster from the album.
Today they premiered the second from the album on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio One show. “Night And Day” is typical Hot Chip; an upbeat, off-the-wall electro-pop jam you’ll no doubt find yourself dancing along to should you listen to it for more than a minute.
Connect with Hot Chip - Facebook | Twitter | Website | Last.fm
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