Hot Chip's One Life Stand

Track List:
1. Thieves in the Night (6:09)
2. Hand Me Down Your Love (4:33)
3. I Feel Better (4:41)
4. One Life Stand (5:24)
5. Brothers (4:21)
6. Slush (6:29)
7. Alley Cats (5:21)
8. We Have Love (4:28)
9. Keep Quiet (4:02)
10. Take it In (4:10)

Rating: 63

Hot Chip Listener’s Log

Day 1: Oh man, this is terrible. Do I really like these guys? Ugh, chipmunk diva? Are we really still doing that? I didn’t even like that effect five years ago when it was fashionable. I bet Pitchfork is eating this crap up with a spoon though. I knew Made in the Dark was overrated, I really need to listen to that again.

Day 2: Well, Made in the Dark still sounds pretty good. I guess I’ll give One Life Stand another chance. I mean, it’s not like it’s all terrible. “Thieves in the Night” is fairly rad and I guess the title track is pretty good too. But I don’t know…

Day 5: “My friend once told me something so right, he said to be careful of thieves in the ni-ight, woa-oah.” “Nothing is wasted and life is worth living, heaven is nowhere just look to the stars.” Man I LOVE THIS CRAP!

Day 6: Okay, I’m over it.

Well, like most Hot Chip albums, this one started out as some of the dumbest crap I’ve ever

heard before somehow weaseling its way into my heart. Coming on Strong never quite made it

over the hump, but The Warning and Made in the Dark had significantly less hearty scoffs and guffaws to cut through. There was an unprecedented jump in both style and appeal between Hot Chip’s first two records. Logically speaking, their latest would have made a lot more sense as the follow up to their debut. It’s not just that The Warning and Made in the Dark are better albums, they’re just different. As IYS reported last year, in Hot Chip’s own words, "we're stepping things down a bit because we want to make this next album quite simple, gentle, focused." It’s not my favorite decision, but I guess I can respect that. It’s not unlike Animal Collective’s shift between Strawberry Jam and Merriwether Post Pavillion or Band of Horses’ more focused Cease to Begin following their brilliantly boisterous Everything All the Time. Putting all your eggs in one basket can certainly pay off, as for those two groups, but sometimes you just wind up with egg on your face.

This album sort of strikes me in the same regard as the Beastie Boys’ puzzlingly instrumental album, The Mix-Up. I don’t know who leveled this challenge, but the Boys apparently felt the need to defend the fact that they do, in fact know how to play instruments. And it’s not that I don’t buy Hot Chip as soulful, but that’s just one of the elements that makes these guys so wonderful. I’m pretty sure nobody was thinking, “yeah, these guys are pretty good, but I wonder what they’d sound like without all of that glorious dance music in the way.” But then again, the Beastie Boys won a Grammy for their answer to the question nobody asked, so what do I know?

Maybe it’s a little more like Wilco deciding to only appeal to the forty plus crowd. I’m not saying I don’t like any of their Sky Blue Sky or Wilco (The Album) songs, they’re just tragically unambitious. One Life Stand seems to fall into the now typical second half slump like their last two albums. “Slush” and “Alley Cats” aren’t bad songs, they’re just really typical pop songs, especially with obvious lines like “now that we’re older, there’s more that we must do” and “there is no pain I haven’t felt.” Taylor and Goddard’s voices still blend as beautifully as ever, and the vocal arpeggio of “Slush” is awkwardly endearing in true Hot Chip fashion, but there’s not much more to it than that. It’s a step up from the now laughably sparse Coming on Strong, but I’ve come to expect soulful dance ballads. Without the dance, it’s just not that interesting.

If you were especially fond of “In the Privacy of Our Love” and “Whistle for Will,” then you’ll likely love this album, but for me the highlights are almost exclusively in the first four tracks. If anything, the album is overly earnest without being nearly as grin inducing as tracks like “Arrest Yourself” and “Wrestlers.” Even stupid lines like “I’m only going to heaven if it tastes like caramel” seem to land better when delivered awash with tasty beats. I can already tell this is one of those issues I’m going to be relatively alone on, like Wolf Parade was better than Sunset Rubdown and Jens Lekman is terrible, but sometimes I just have to take a stand. Also, End of the Night would have been a much better album title.

Citay's Dream Get Together

Track List:
1. Careful With That Hat
2. Return From Silence
3. Dream Get Together
4. Secret Breakfast
5. Mirror Kisses
6. Hunter
7. Fortunate Sun
8. Tugboat

For about four years now Citay have been a revolving door of San Francisco talent; something of a commune, if you will. Rather than listing the myriad bands connected to Citay, suffice it to say, these guys get around. As it turns out, free love isn’t just a great way to spread STDs, it’s also a great formula for prog rock. On the first pass, it’s easy to label these guys as a freak-folk jam band, which is not entirely untrue. That is certainly the overwhelming effect of the finished product, but the execution is far more mathematical than spontaneous. Ezra Feinberg, the man behind the beaded curtain, is very meticulous in his arrangements which can at times feel almost techno-like (re: Ratatat). But this feeling only comes off in flashes after repeat listens. To the average listener, Citay offers crisp, breezy Californicated prog, and nobody sees the man behind the curtain, not no way, not no how.

Citay’s first two long players felt very much like extended jam sessions; if you’re not paying attention (or if you’re paying too much attention) it’s easy to miss the track breaks. Lyrics are essentially an afterthought, and are, at times, as easy to miss as the breaks. (Wait were there words in there, or just “woos?”) Essentially, the guitars do the talking. This is where Dream Get Together really breaks form. The title apparently refers to the stoner conversation on Citay.net leading up to the release wherein various heady rockers lay out their ideal band or musical experience (you can almost hear the coughing). Apparently, this concept was the inspiration for the album. I have no idea what the implications are for this album, but it seems to imply that we’re in for some more self indulgence.

Jam bands aren’t exactly my cup of tea, and I offer up Citay in defense of this taste. Jam bands are like the golf of music. It’s a lot of fun to be one of the players, but you really have to be into it to enjoy being a spectator or to even understand the various nuances and techniques. Coincidentally, miniature jams are also much more fun for everyone. So perhaps Citay keeping the concept of the perfect band in mind explains why there seems to be more focus here than previously. The first two albums start off pretty strong, but it’s pretty difficult to make it all the way through. It’s not that they’re objectively bad, it’s just all been done – several decades ago – and better, to boot.

The latest effort kicks off with “Careful With That Hat,” easily the most exciting track Citay has laid down. The group stays mostly true to form in that the music is still the focus as they layer on the jams here and on “Fortunate Son.” The title track and the Galaxie 500 cover “Tugboat,” on the other hand, seem to function much more like standard pop songs, focusing around the lyrics and clocking in around four minutes. Then we have “Mirror Kisses” which seems to split the difference. With a little help from Tune-Yards’ Merrill Garbus, Feinberg actually showcases a little subtlety. This track positively oozes with laidback groove, the exact attitude Citay has been trying to convince us of all along. Even the instrumental tracks “Secret Breakfast” and “Hunter” have kicked it up a notch. There’s more personality to the music as “Hunter” feeds off the ice cold brilliance of “Mirror Kisses” and exaggerates it with echoing drums and shimmering synth that positively swings for the fences. J. Mascis and Josh Pollock answer in time with show stopping solos that really demonstrate the effectiveness of Citay’s grandeur.

So jam band, no. That just doesn’t do justice to what Feinberg has contrived with his costal compadres. It was obvious all along, but it seems the band has finally started to move past their Dead Head tendencies and shoved off in their own direction. I choose to believe this is the reasoning for the ticky tack Citay balloon soaring away from the California coast on the album’s cover. Citay is off to bigger and better things.