Hot Hot Heat
Elevator

THE REVIEW

The first album by Hot Hot Heat, despite its normalcy, contained some tracks that made it worth listening to when you wanted to spend a light-hearted half-hour (basically a fitness album...). What does this new creation have in store for us?
The beginning is explosive, as if to say "hey, we're back!" (“Running”): carefree and rocky melody, clattering guitar galore, and shouting at the top of their lungs... Then, the abyss. The coordinates are those of the Strokes (and their imitators), the garage sound, splashes of punk, in a pop-rock key, but the cosmic void of ideas is often embarrassing.
The sound mix is very cohesive, the band is there, lacking that something that would make them stand out. The singing is always of the "at the top of their lungs" type, which becomes tiring after a while due to its monotony.

There's always a reference to some other band or track: the ballad "Jingle Jangle" reminds of Starsailor, with "cosmic" references to Radiohead (and another 14 million bands, unfortunately).
The attack of "Middle Of Nowhere" musically reminds me of "Rock'n'roll" by Velvet Underground, a few tones higher. In "Shame On You," it seems like Ricky Martin is getting funky (oh dear "Living La Vida Loca" funk/rock with "pimp-melody" inserts like Cake).
"Elevator" starts out like Radiohead's "Planet Telex" to become in the chorus even Robbie Williams from that track whose title escapes me (the one where he's an F1 pilot in the '70s...).
The best part is the "tails" of the tracks (see the one in "No Jokes - Facts"): often in those 30 seconds, there are ideas that if they had been developed better would surely have increased my final score.