C- (60%)
Hot Chip
One Life Stand
EMI
If you’re going to review a Hot Chip album, you have to look beyond the music. It’s more like reviewing an entire ecosystem of blogs, aggregators and compilations that compose the current musical taste-making landscape.
It seems Hot Chip is the band that built the blogosphere, and I can pinpoint exactly why: this band is the distillation of what everybody wants to hear. A few years ago there was a real yearning for synth-pop. The five-piece group from London came at the right time.
They had some catchy club songs, some slower introspective pieces and a geeky image that fit the thousands of nerds flocking to sites like Gorilla vs. Bear, Brooklyn Vegan and most importantly The Hype Machine to get their fix of the newest trends.
But, a band that pleases everybody rarely pleases me. Good bands polarize listeners for a reason. Everybody loves Hot Chip because they’re really, really mediocre. I can’t help wonder if this is a result of being able to tweet, share, scrobble and blog your music.
Founding member Alexis Taylor has uninteresting, compressed vocals on One Life Stand. Put this next to decidedly mid-tempo rhythms and synths lines lifted from the late 1980s, this is a perfect record for an afternoon nap. As the album progresses, it only gets worse when the slow jams appear.
“Slush” is a Meat Loaf-level piano ballad with heart on sleeve. A lot of critics are talking about how earnest this album is lyrically, but that’s just another word for lack of depth. That song would be shot down if it wasn’t sung by a British electro-band in skinny pants.
If you look deeper, there’s quite a spectrum of sounds on this record. There are string and acoustic instruments not usually found on dance-pop records, but they are buried or fleeting before they have a chance to make an impact. “We Have Love” is an oasis of fun on a really downer record, but only because it’s a photocopy of a Eurodance single from the early 1990s.
For a band with so many influences and obvious talent, they take no chances and never challenge their listeners. You can’t please everybody, so don’t bother.
—Tyler Ball
A+ (91%)
Marina and the Diamonds
The Family Jewels
Neon Gold/679
I suppose I should begin this review by employing the use of full disclosure: I’m a diamond. No silly—not the sparkly, girl’s-best-friend kind, but the term of endearment Welsh singer-songwriter Marina Diamandis uses to refer to her fans.
Although some may not be familiar with Diamandis’ surname, her tunes have been floating around the Internet under the stage name Marina and the Diamonds since the release of her Crown Jewels EP, homemade tapes and singles in 2009.
Following along the same titular theme as her previous work, the Feb. 20 release of The Family Jewels is a highly anticipated one that’s absolutely been worth the wait. A tendency to lump Marina and the Diamonds with the likes of Little Boots, La Roux, Bat for Lashes and other synth-heavy pop songstresses has been a prevalent and lazy trend online. To do so neglects to highlight Diamandis’ penchant for piano over synth, theatrical dramatic delivery, and belting rolling vocals that both emphasize and solidify her cleverly analytical lyrics.
Her voice is so distinct that I dare you not to recognize her tracks after taking a listen to her wry, sarcastic, honest, vibrant and sometimes bizarre record.
Diamandis’ vocal aerobics are central in each track, each of which boasts a killer chorus, hooks and subject matter giving the opportunity to act as a single. With ballads like “I Am Not a Robot” proving intelligent pop still exists and “Mowgli’s Road” providing a gleefully mysterious break, the record is anything but a safe one. Her one-liners and humorous phrases like “I’m obsessed with the mess that’s America,” in her satirical “Hollywood” and “TV taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal” in “Oh No!” help nod to making sense of life as a young woman in the spotlight in 2010.
A piece with great depth, stripping away Marina and the Diamonds’ sparkly exterior will yield sadness, anger and insecurity ultimately making Family Jewels an interesting and engaging album with a colourful, intriguing and real character at the helm.
—Ally Hall
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].