Review Session: Hot Chip's One Life Stand

One Life Stand by Hot Chip

One Life Stand is this British electro-pop indie band's fourth and most fulfilling album in the decade they've been together. What is so great about Hot Chip is that this album, in my opinion, is better than their 2008 album Made in the Dark, which is better than their 2006 album The Warning, which is better than their debut album in 2004 Come on Strong. Essentially I am saying that they get better, more refined, and more profound as they get older. These guys were formed at the Elliott School For the Arts in London, where The xx, Burial, and Four Tet got their start as well. With that said, these guys have really built themselves after they left the school.

One Life Stand is a very mature album in that they really tone down their craziness and their lyrics really offer more than tales of youth. The album starts off with extremely layered and mesmerizing "Thieves in the Night", which has more sounds in it than The Flaming Lips jamming on acid. The album continues on to the incredible, single-esque "Hand Me Down Your Love", which I enjoyed for its multifaceted piano/keyboard work that really balances the song with its beat-driven exterior. The next two tracks, "I Feel Better" and the title-track "One Life Stand" really bring the beat, and to me sound a little more dance, which is what they are known for. Then One Life Stand moves to the centerpieces to the album which really make the difference from an album of singles to really making it complete. These tracks are "Brothers" and the six and half minute slow-jazz/rock "Slush". Slush is definitely one, if not the most, of the best lyrically written songs Hot Chip has in their arsenal. The beat starts to slowly build with "Alley Cats" which is quite deep lyrically, yet dreamy-pop musically. The album finishes with a few tracks that bring the beat up before it slows down a bit for the fitting ending to a One Life Stand.

Hot Chip can sound a little too much like Of Montreal for their own good sometimes. I think they are much better when they drive beats into your mind and have electric sounds and weird shit in rhythm with the rest of the song. One Life Stand does the Of Montreal thing at some points. However, they are one of the better lyrical pop bands I know of. I really enjoy what they got to say like, "I only wanna be your one life stand/ Tell me do you stand by your whole man?" Hot Chip's One Life Stand is a great album that really makes me appreciate the fact that music is so diverse and it can be good in almost any sound.

Rating = 8.5

Featured Artist: Local Natives

Local Natives

Originally formed as Cavil at Rest, Local Natives formed in Los Angeles. For Local Natives everything is a collaboration, from song writing duties to the band’s self produced artwork. The three part harmonies come courtesy of keyboardist Kelcey Ayer, guitarists Ryan Hahn and Taylor Rice. Then there’s Matt Frazier on drums and Andy Hamm on bass, who look after the band’s equally impressive graphics and artwork.

Local Natives make soaring, sky-scraping harmonies, dreamy orchestral melodies, and throbbing tribal beats that bash their way into your soul. Theirs are songs you can dance to almost as well as you can swoon to them. Drawing a line from the vocal stylings of Crosby Stills Nash & Young and the Zombies through the more esoteric edges of post-punk and Afro-beat, this California five piece have communally crafted a brand of indie rock all their own.

Their debut album, Gorilla Manor hit the UK in 2009, but was released in the States in February 2010. Featuring twelve sumptuous slices of dappled California sunlight and beguiling percussive rhythms, the album kicks off with the moody, driving, ‘Wide Eyes’. Says Ryan, “It’s about people’s obsession with the miraculous and disastrous…with witnessing extraordinary events”. The effervescent, mandolin boasting ‘Airplanes’ follows, which Kelcey explains is about “longing to have met my grandfather, a great man and pilot, who died before I was born.” Also included is the glorious ‘Sun Hands’, which was released as a limited edition single on Chess Club back in July. According to Taylor, the lyrics describe “that all too familiar feeling of wanting what you can’t have – especially when you once had it.” There’s a cover version in the mix too, a barely recognizable version of Talking Heads’ ‘Warning Sign’. “We’ve basically flipped the song on its head,” says Matt, explaining how they switched David Byrne’s original yelped vocals into a beautiful three-part harmony. Check it out! I give it a 8.4 which I believe is the same thing Pitchfork gave it.

Songs to Check Out:

-Wide Eyes

-Sun Hands

-World News

-Stranger Things

New Broken Social Scene Song!

It's been 5 years to hear something new from this army of musicians, but if this new track is any indication this album is gonna be sick nasty!

New Epic Broken Social Scene Song!

The xx on Pitchfork.tv

Here are a couple of awesome videos from The xx on Pitchfork.tv's Surveillance!

http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/episode/2117-the-xx/2