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Another product of the cooler than thou culture that characterizes these cubed eighties, which are the '00s, the Hot Chip album has everything it needs to be appreciated.
A piece of classy modernism, ideas borrowed from every possible and imaginable musical era, cheerful and danceable rhythms to make the new millennium indiekid dance, tired of being cooped up in their room feeling like a loser. So here comes the freak electronic of "Careful", with the sweet vocal pop taking delicate steps along the Notwist/Death Cab for Cutie/Postal Service line but with rhythms decisively more suited to get people moving, from the electrofunk of "And I Was a Boy From School" to the dream pop for the realistic crowd of "Colours" to the little masterpiece of "Over and Over", a masterful single that manages to really get you moving and simultaneously reference Krautrock Kraftrock at the moment it spells on a carpet of soft keyboards.
In short, all the electronics are here, massive doses of the seventies, eighties, nineties, and even the recent ones. And so we're left in awe by the archaeologically perfect reconstruction of certain dark synthpop revived in "Arrest Yourself" that almost recalls the early Human League or the triumphant nineties disco of "No Fit State".
Hot Chip can hold their own even on slower and more delicate rhythms, just listen to the title-track. No doubt about it, a job well done, à la mode, with all the trimmings, nothing out of place, just as it should be now. The only doubt then is that we are facing a work of high industry rather than creative craftsmanship, a job by capable, practical people who know what they want and how to get it, people never out of place, always hip, hot, cool, vip, chic. In short, people like now, well-behaved, fundamentally integrated even when they are rebellious.
And then a bit of nostalgia arises for certain times when the crazy and the demented thrived, at least in the world of youth.
Syd Barrett R.I.P.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Careful (03:28)
Every year, exactly this time of year
Let go a balloon up into the air
And hold on to one who is near
Remember everything is here
Every year, about this time of year
I am with you as if you are here
I remember the way it fell through
You and all we all could do
Watch your step
Take good care
Don't touch that
Don't stand there
Fire is hot
Steel can cut
Glass will break
If you're not--
I hope that you will be careful
The stories you told were hopeful
I hope that they aren't just artful
I hope that you will be careful
03 Colours (05:29)
Colours are what keep me alive
Colours are one to hold in my head
Colours are where my old makes new
Colours are where my brain finds blue
Bursts are where I find a fix
Bursts are made to colour me rich
Bursts are blocks, Stickle Bricks
Bursts are colour till I'm sick
I only wanted for to see
There's nothing in this heart but me
Everything you want is not free
I'm everything a girl could need
There's nothing in this heart but me
If everything you want is free
06 Tchaparian (03:20)
I'm looking for a face to attack
It could be that I'm kissing your neck
You will not know because I'm laid back
So watch yourself I'll come with a smack
I've hit you hard it's time for some bounce
I've left a scar there's blood in our dance
I rock the claustrophobia stance
Now fix yourself your heart's in my lungs
Sip on something sleepy, wanna get a little overdose
What can you find in parades
What can you find in a rave
What can be drunk in a dream
What can be dreamt in a drink
It's all attack, it's all a tongue talk
I'll spell it out, just pass me the chalk
If I could teach, you soon would be taught
We're looking for something to report
08 The Warning (04:51)
Excuse me sir
I'm lost
I'm looking for a place
where I can get lost
I'm looking for a home
For my malfunctioning being
I'm looking for the mechanical music museum
This is a warning
I'll spell it out for you
For you
This is a warning
I'll spell it out for you
Excuse me miss
I'm a dog on heat
I'm a complicated being
With love songs to eat
I'm a poor, starving baby
who can march all night
I'm a mechanical music man
And I'm
Starting a fire
Hot Chip will break your legs
Snap off your head
Hot Chip will put you down
Under the ground
Excuse me child
I am trying to see
all the colours of wonder your brightness can be
return to nothingness enjoy
just might be right
but prepare yourself
for a mechanical fright
This is a warning
I'll spell it out for you
For you
This is a warning
I'll spell it out for you
For you
Hot Chip will break your legs
Snap off your head
Hot Chip will put you down
Under the ground
Hot Chip will break your legs
Snap off your head
Hot Chip will put you down
Under the ground
Excuse me son I'm found
I'm looking for a place
where I was once found
There's nothing in a world
where the melody is broken
There's always some way
to make a silence be spoken
Hot Chip will break your legs
Snap off your head
Hot Chip will put you down
Under the ground
Hot Chip will break your legs
Snap off your head
Hot Chip will put you down
Under the ground
10 So Glad to See You (03:59)
Like all birds together we will squawk and we squeak
The joy comes from all our beaks
And ringing bells is our fun
Now our ass is moving as one
If we are forgetting all the rules that we learnt
As all the rule books are burnt
And just as A follows B
Our chorus must always be
[Chorus]
So glad to see that you came
We had best times
We hope you come again
Please come and see the sea
If you come we'll have best times again
But now it's time to go
Time to go home
I have but one true friend
She sings to me in my solitude
And I know her name
I tried to know her, in all her changes
And I don't know her place
And I don't see her face
When we come together then we forget ourselves
And just as night follows day
The beginning must become the end
And so we will start again
When we come together then we meet other souls
And then we make our goodbye
And we lay our bones to rest
As birds we dream of the sky
[Repeat x4]
Please let me go
Please help me go
11 No Fit State (05:36)
'Scuse me sir I would like to leave the ride
Too many emergencies this time
I forgot, I forgot all this, all the trouble at my fingertips
Too many emergencies this time
'Scuse me sir but what is in your bag
Feels like those evil things you had
I forgot, I forgot all this, all these things that they feed us with
Feels like those evil things inside
We caught the fire but nobody escaped
Love other people but I don't know their names
I don't know their names
(Repeat)
We caught the fire but nobody escaped
Love other people but I don't know their names
I'm in no fit state
I'm in no fit shape
To fall in love with you
To make a record of my life
To lose any more than I need
To watch my fingers bleed
To bust my body up
To drink out of your cup
To act a fool in love
Acting hard's been tough
To act a fool in love
Acting hard's been tough
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