Hot Chip’s debut album, Coming on Strong borders on being a novelty, with its irony-drenched lyrics and soprano versus baritone singing. What distinguishes the group from other novelty acts is the sincere emotion put forth by singer Alexis Taylor, not to mention the inventive beats backing him. Never before have lyrics like “20-inch rims with the chrome now/Blazin’ out Yo La Tengo” been delivered in such a solemn way.
Hot Chip hail from Wandsworth, SE London, an area more familiar to aged brandy than to bling. For this reason, the group becomes a sort of musical version of Ali G, parodying hip hop clichés by echoing them with a posh accent. In addition to vocalist Taylor, Hot Chip is comprised of Joe Goddard, with his ridiculous, yet effective baritone; Owen Clarke on keyboards as well as guitar and Felix Martin, who supplies the beats.
Despite the group’s abundant use of jokey irony, the production sounds fresh and original. Instead of relying on a single repetitive loop, the beats take on an organic evolution, transforming within a song. The strongest example of these kinds of fluid beats has got to be “The Beach Party,” beginning with a minimalist dance beat and an atmospheric organ. As the track builds, a Theremin takes over, sounding like a sad, Hawaiian lullaby. Soon after, a banjo joins the melancholy tune and they all converge into monstrous harmony. All the while Taylor is talking about “hot love on the black-top” like someone who’s too exhausted to be bothered by excitement.
Another outstanding track is “Baby Said,” one of the more relatively upbeat songs. Taylor quietly voices his paranoia with lyrics like “my baby said she wanted adventure/I said baby the outside world’s not safe.” The general tempo suggests the Postal Service, especially when the accordion and the indie-rock guitar kick in. However, towards the finish, the song takes a left turn with an electronic freak-out.
While being commercially viable, soul music has definitely seen a creative funk in the past decade. Pop in something by Sam Cooke or Donny Hathaway and there doesn’t seem to be any correlation with today’s soul. What’s lacking from modern soul is just that, soul; any kind of emotion. Hot Chip seems to acknowledge that the appeal of classic soul music is their expressions of loneliness. Look at any classic Al Green recording and you feel the same with Coming on Strong, despite the goofy lyrics. This is ironic in itself that a somewhat parodying group could bring out what has been missing.
"Coming on Strong" is on sale December 5, 0005 from Astralwerks.
