July 14th: Boy From School

Good morning all,

Maybe it’s Alexis Taylor’s voice, but Hot Chip makes me more immediately nostalgic than almost any other group. I was waffling on what song I wanted to feature today, I put on Cut Copy radio at work and several hours in, Boy From School came on and my hand was pleasantly forced. This song came out just over 12 years ago and it’s as blissfully heartbreaking now as it was then. The immediacy of those Daft Punk rhythms drone in and out allowing the line, “We try, but we don’t belong,” to pierce as intended. The way this group created earworms is somehow still vastly underrated and my undying love for them is self-explanatory. Treat yourself; it’s what Hot Chip would want.

Enjoy!

November 24th: Huarache Lights

Good evening all,

I still feel like trash, but when members of Hot Chip come to town to DJ and you bought tickets months ago, you go. They spun a variety, it was a truly odd set, but everyone seemed to be having fun. Sure, there was that dude who was cocky, yet self-conscious, of his dancing so he moved his partner to the wall to grind off-beat and ‘allude’ to intimacy and surprise, but what concert/set isn’t loaded with secondary, obvious visual entertainment?

What managed to not be obvious was that these two seemingly tertiary members of the band played details from their full band’s hit Huarache Lights, and then everything made more sense. It wasn’t a disappointing Hot Chip set and it wasn’t a disappointing DJ show. Sometimes preconceived labeling makes things unnecessarily confusing.

Everything Hot Chip does is grossly under-appreciated.

Enjoy!