CD Review: Hot Chip's The Warning Will Break Your Legs

While certainly not an opponent of electronic music, it has never featured prominently in our record collection. The problem always seemed to be that while many DJ's and producers have great talent, the lack of a live show made it tough for one to connect with the music beyond a surface level. All this made us approach Hot Chip's SXSW showcase at The Parish with some trepidation this spring. The band has been touted by Pitchfork and Filter as being 'on the brink', but we just weren't sold. And then it happened.

Hot Chip destroyed the room that night not with their looks (they don't have them) or a huge production (the instruments broke repeatedly), but with simple, unsuppressable enthusiasm. They looked dorky, they dressed horribly, yet there they were, playing this crazy electronic-pop-soul-r&b hybrid that made the crowd explode in admiration and bouncy dancing. It was by far the best thing of our SXSW, and hell, we saw Band Of Horses and Arctic Monkeys.

The band's new DFA/Astralwerks disc The Warning delivers on the incredible promise of the live show. It's a record that feels familiar the first time you hear it, yet it sounds like nothing you've ever heard before. There are flashes of Junior Boys, Prince, Kraftwerk, and Devo along the way, but Hot Chip have successfully found their sound in a way not apparent on their last release Coming On Strong, which defined patchy.

Overarching themes on The Warning include the deconstruction of rap lyrics and themes: phrases like "Hot Chip will break your legs...and snap your neck!" and "You watch yourself, I come with a smack!" get thrown around, and it almost feels like they are using a hip-hop song tool kit. Rule #1: All songs must include macho posturing - check. Yet coming from English dudes that weigh 140 pounds soaking wet, the effect is hilarious - and that's the idea. The drum programming also varies wildly across the songs, and breaks up the generally even-voiced harmonies so that they are effective for a full album length. Sometimes the beats are subtle ("Colours"), and on other occasions they run to the frenetic ("Careful"). But they're never boring.

Hopefully Austin will see Hot Chip in person again later in 2006. For now, we simply cannot recommend The Warning highly enough. It's a stellar piece of avant-pop that will make you laugh, dance, and sing. Could you ask for more?

Image via HotChip.co.uk.