Hot Chip - One Life Stand

This has leaked. And, holy crap, people weren't kidding about his voice being bad on this one. Talk amongst yourselves.

I've only heard the title track so far and I really liked it, probably my favorite Hot Chip single yet.

voice being bad meaning more yorke or less?

A lot more weedy quavering falsetto. It's a shame, as I really like his lower register and it works a lot better the on dance tracks.

This is definitely their "mature" album. Consistent but slightly boring.

I'm really impressed with this after a few listens. It is definitely their most consistent album so far. I think it's really beautiful in places but then I've always liked their mellow side, Look After Me and We're Looking For a Lot Of Love are two of my favorite tracks of there's.

I like this too; vocally they've learned to balance the wisp and the crisp.

i got over the voice pretty fast.

"we have love" is kind of on repeat.

Love it all up to and including Brothers, after which it tails away a little. The one that sounds like a Kevin Saunderson tune played on steel drums is a stunner ...

I'm playing this a lot and getting into more each time. I actually think some of the best songs are on the second half, Alley Cats and Take It In especially. I guess Keep Quiet is the weakest song but it kind of works as a build up to the last song.

I've never really had a problem with his voice he sounds really great on the chorus of Hand Me Down Your Love.

"Take It In" is one of the best New Order rips I've ever heard. They get it right!

Absolutely, only listened to it once and I thought this is what the follow up to Technique should have been. Only thing I don't like is the album version of 'One Life Stand', much prefer the tighter single mix.

Carl Craig remix is great too, though wouldn't work in the context of the album.

Only thing I don't like is the album version of 'One Life Stand', much prefer the tighter single mix.

― Bing Crosby, are you listening? (Billy Dods), Thursday, January 14, 2010 3:20 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yes yes yes. The single mix is much tighter; the album version has too long of an intro. You lose interest before the sweet, sweet chorus comes in to rescue the day. The single mix seems built more around the chorus, which is the right idea.

I agree also, the first time I played it and it didn't go straight into the chorus I was really disappointed.

I really like the video for the single too. I love how it suits how sweet the song is, just them dancing around looking really dorky.

I wish they'd make another coming on strong

One Life Stand has these Michael McDonald-sounding backing vocals

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/hotchipcov4522.jpg

so "we have love" is the real banger here huh?

I wish Lanark would release an album.

On "Slush" is he singing "humina humina humina" on purpose or does it just sound like that to me? Either way, that song is terrible.

I really like the second half of Slush when it slows down and goes a bit Robert Wyatt.

It's early days but I'd probably rate this as their second best album just behind The Warning.

Is it just me or is "Brothers" breathtaking and feel like Hot Chip's own take on "My Girls"?

Dude's voice is a major stumbling block.

i think the whole album is kind of stunning from "brothers" on

it does make sense for hot chip to make a bro song come to think of it

When I first head "Ready for the Floor" (not having heard Hot Chip earlier) I thought someone had been very clever to sample the voice of the McCartney-sounding dude from Klaatu. I thought it was from "Calling Occupants" or something.

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Hot chip is all about bro-love masking as homoeroticism and vice versa. "you're my number one guy" being just something Palance says to Nickolson in Batman '89 that they liked.

*nicholson

"you're my number one guy"

word

this album kinda reminds me of the latest junior boys album

One Life Stand is really good once it gets going but those backing vocals are practically culled from a Ween album.

Maybe it explains why I like this a lot, but I loved the latest Junior Boys album too. I put it like second on my Pazz and Jop ballot, I think.

mdc otm about dude's voice - it was never a strength but it's actively awful here - can't work out whether he's using it in ill-advised ways (quavery falsetto fuck off) or it's just more prominent in the mix. which is a shame, on one listen i thought some of the grooves and production were pretty impressive ("i feel better" especially) but the voice means i don't particularly care to revisit them.

thought the last junior boys album was disappointing but jeremy greenspan can at least sing well.

I've always liked Taylor's voice, I find it weirdly sympathetic.

This might be their best yet - "Alley Cats," "Take It In" and the Wyatt-y second half of "Slush" are amazing. The obvious singles ("I Feel Better," "We Have Love") are fun but I'm more taken with their left-field oddball tracks.

The first Hot Chip-album I really like, though after "Brothers" is sits down a little.
Especially love the 'La Isla Bonita' track ('I Feel Better'), and 'Take Me In'.

yeah those are the best two along with the title track

Yeah, "One Life Stand" is majestic also, but as someone said above, the single mix is shorter and better

I have been waiting since i heard coming on strong for another hot chip album along the same strain but all I get is stuff like this... = [... coming on strong was so good why do they have to continualy dissapoint me

Better than Made In The Dark, not as good as The Warning (aka The Album That Made Them An ILX Sub-Forum Meme).

i think it's possible that this album has rendered the rest of their discography useless

haha someone please confirm for me that the lyric is actually "i can play xbox with my brothers/ it's not about who won or lost with my brothers"

Is there any pitchfork writer around here? I want to confirm EMI paid for this review.

hi yeah i can confirm that i paid for this interview

This is as uneven as the last one. This cries for several great remixes.

Dunno why you're singling out Pitchfork, Moka. This is getting good reviews all over.

"brothers" is totally pandering & yet it still gets me

This is just as spotty and uneven as all their other albums, if not more so. Goddard sounds ragged and bored. Not sure why the reviews are so positive.

I'm with you.

Likewise.

I like it, a lot. Never bothered with them whatsoever before. Going to see them tomorrow and am very excited!

I'm a big fan, probably my favorite record of theirs. (FWIW)

The Warning still may be my favorite, but this album definitely is growing on me with every listen.
I agree with the previous posts about the title track.. they should have put the single version on the album, its much more fun.

hated the first, loving the last (albumwise)

I'm surprised people are saying this album is uneven, I actually think I might love it more than The Warning. Out of the 10 tracks Keep Quiet is the only one I don't think is really great but it works as a kind of build up to Take it In.

Brothers and Alley Cats are my two current favorites, they both get really moving towards the end.

They were pretty good live on Friday night, but unfortunately my tickets were for the upstairs seating, which really took the edge off the experience for me. Not quite that old yet.

They were bloody fantastic in Nottingham last night. Loved the use of steel pan, which boosted their newly acquired UK Funky leanings - particularly on We Have Love, which morphed into an ace Italo Disco workout. Smart idea to throw their biggest crowd pleasers - Ready For The Floor / One Life Stand / Over And Over - into the middle of the set, then surf on the energy they produced for the rest of the set.

Looking forward to hearing this but keen to get it on vinyl. It seems like they've released some special edition which is going for £35. Anyone got any idea if it's getting a regular (i.e cheaper!!) vinyl release anytime soon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GOZjlwIwfk

If you haven't seen this video yet, you should. Best video I've seen in awhile... one more reason to love Hot Chip.

aye i quite liked that video, peter serafinowicz can be a very funny guy.

Oh man, that video. Just wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes.

Argh!!!! EMI has blocked in in the States for some damn reason! Is it available anywhere else?

record companies really don't want us to listen to their music anymore

Yeah, I mean, good job EMI. If I had actually watched that video I might have wanted to go buy the album! Thanks for saving me EMI! *

* - Don't tell them I already own the album.

As of a few days ago it was viewable on youtube of Serafinowicz's channel.

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loooooool

The things is ... it's not really a very good video, is it?

A lazy target, clumsily attacked and not that funny.

nonsense. if it was a 'make fun of the boy band' thing, i'd agree, but it's really not.

That is absolutely beautiful. "Kyng, Mar'vaine, Octavian, Popeye"

Love the band logo too.

i never saw this video as "attacking" anyone/thing

this is the first hot chip album that i've liked as the months wore on -- i loved the last two almost immediately but they just grew to seem sort of insubstantial to me, a few songs aside -- i almost like 'one life stand' more every time i listen to it still - i've pretty much become convinced that it's because they decided to finally make a 'propper' dance album w/o toy keyboards & stuff, which maybe took some of the charm away for other people, but this album is actually affecting all the way thru

They substituted toy vocals and melodies for the toy keyboards.

Yeah this has grown on me quite a lot.

This is the sort of album that befits a band that collaborated with Robert Wyatt.

So how are they live? Just found out they're playing Philly on Sunday...

Yeah, I think this is their best album. Still really liking it.

They're great live.

They absolutely killed it Monday. Killed it dead.

i reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally wanted to see them w/ the xx

xx did not kill it dead, but they were fine.

With this record they've turned from a band I've liked to a band I love.

Well god dammit, Owen Pallett is here on the same night. The odds are not looking good for Hot Chip right now :(

Don't understand this stuff about the voice. I like the singing here, which sounds more like 80s singers (Morten Harket, for instance) and less like Neil Young, compared to a lot of other recent underground synth bands.

Was going to go see them and XX Saturday but family obligations are gonna prevent that now. The W. DC show sold out pretty quickly.

Dear Geir, please name seven recent underground synth bands with singers that sound like Neil Young (bonus points if like Hot Chip they are on the same label as underground synth band The Beatles)

I saw them and the XX a week ago. They didn't do much for me tbh.

Dear Geir, please name seven recent underground synth bands with singers that sound like Neil Young

Dunno even if there are as many as seven well-known underground synth bands, but Magnetic Fields and The Postal Service are definitely among those with Neil Young/Wayne Coyne style singers.

And recording labels mean nothing. A lot of underground music is on majors.

magnetic fields???

Think Geir is maybe talking about the MGMTs of this world.

The album's really grown on me over the last couple of weeks - losing the primary school percussion that made bits of the last couple sound a bit clunky as helped. I've got over the voice now, I wouldn't call it great but it doesn't get in the way.

Think Geir is maybe talking about the MGMTs of this world.

MGMT, and to an even bigger extent, Cut/Copy are among those I think of with underground/indie synthpop, yes.

So that's four bands total, two of which have Neil Young style singers? Two bands is "a lot" - good to have that measurement for future Hongroclamations.

MGMT don't exactly have typically 80s synthpop sounding singers either.

Revisiting this after quite a few months off and am really liking it and, more surprisingly, the ones I dismissed originally. Loving "Slush" now.