Hot Chip : Out At the Pictures

There's not much to say about Hot Chip that hasn't been written by someone else. They are clearly indie music media darlings, stars of the "genre", along with the likes of MGMT, Animal Collective, Bon Iver or Bright Eyes (none of which I particularly like, oddly enough). That being said, I'll just say they are an eclectic, primarily electronic, rock band. "Out At the Pictures", from their 2008 album Made in the Dark, is a pretty typical offering.

The whole thing starts with a long but cool synth intro that builds in speed and is clearly live (or extremely well faked), as you can hear the audience screaming in the background. This intro is welded to the front of a speedy little dance rock number, chock full of buzzing, overdriven synths and aggressive, rocking, but still danceable drums. The lyrics are pretty simple, concentrating more on the sound of the words as an instrument rather than deep meanings, to the point where they repeat the word "whether" sixteen times in a row in the chorus. Yeah, I know that sounds like it might be annoying, but it's used to good effect. I like that the song has all the trappings of a techno number, but the band has used them to create a real rocker instead.

The rest of Made in the Dark is mostly more of the same, which is why it's so good. There is the occasional acoustic ballad and even some songs that might fall along the 'soft rock' side of the spectrum. Still, they know their strengths and play to them well. It's a very good album.

[You can listen to Hot Chip's "Out At the Pictures" by navigating to the post "Song054" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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