Bedroom Funk

Before I go any further I need to give some love to Hot Chip.

They've had plenty of support from other mp3 blogs, so i've been in kind of a dilemma whether to post these. I mean if something has been covered elsewhere does it preclude me from promoting it as well? Should I be striving to only go where no man has gone before? Is this some sort of competition?

The answer - of course - is no. Firstly you may not have checked other blogs and so you may be in the sorry position of having a life without Hot Chip. Secondly I don't remember seeing either of these tracks posted before. And they are fantastic.

I have been deliberating today about what direction to take this blog in... should I specialise in a particular genre? Should I be trying to highlight new releases? Should I be bringing peoples' attention to things they may have missed? The conclusion i've come to is that I shouldn't think about it, and I certainly shouldn't give a toss. All I can do is reflect what i'm enjoying at the moment - be it old, new, electro, grime, indie, soul, funk, reggae, death metal, slovenian hip hop or norweigan dance hall (now that's something i'd like to hear).

And at the moment i'm (still) enjoying this.

I've listened to Hot Chip's album 'Coming on Strong' more than anything else in the last 6 months. It's the way the songs creep up on you unawares so that you don't realise how much you're loving the track until half way through. They invariably begin sparsely with just a drum machine... and then some vocals... and then the harmonies when Joe (or Alexis?) joins in... and then the funk... and then you realise that you have a warm glow inside and that you wish the track would go on forever.

It's been hard to decide which track to post, but I think this sums it up best:

Hot Chip - Crap Kraft Dinner

I was talking about b-sides in my last post, and this next song was inexplicably tucked away as the fourth (!) track on the 'Down With Prince' single. I can somehow imagine them crouched over a drum machine and 4-track recorder in an airy first floor flat in Putney.... making tracks just like 'a-b-c'.

Hot Chip - A-B-C

You will be hearing more Hot Chip on this site...

p.s. according to the fascinating and informative 'Air Guitar Australia', the above move is a 'Hot Chip'. This involves 'Pulling a Rock Head involving concentration and heavy exhale of air'. Why not try it at home.