Hot Chip

It begins with the strong arpeggiation of a lonesome acoustic guitar -- then sparse piano plinking. Quietly, a sad, beautiful voice, at first faraway and then breathtakingly intimate, enters the picture. What follows is surely as moving as anything Jeff Buckley ever created, but minus his sometimes-distracting vocal acrobatics. Such is "Beeting," the opening track of London's Hot Chip's 2000 Mexico EP. A duo in the studio but a quintet live, Hot Chip's primary members are Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard. Minimalist and straightforward in their melancholia, "Beeting" is one of the most gorgeous songs committed to tape in ages, perhaps since the death of Nick Drake, and its simplicity is half of its charm, especially in a musical climate dominated by pretentious popsters (read: Radiohead) and rap-rock phonies. The songs tend to latch onto short musical riffs and repeat them to a brilliant, almost hypnotic effect. The swirling bliss of "Tape Spool Sound" again finds a gorgeous voice leading the way, while "Perfect Circle" showcases a sleepy techno track with the vocals handled by a quiet-voiced man speaking, barely singing, rather like speaking musically, like breathy poetry. "The Only One, Yeah" is eerily quiet, played on an acoustic guitar with creepy feedback in the background and haunting, almost intoxicated vocals in the foreground (perhaps most easily described as being loosely similar in timbre to a sedate Damon Albarn or Andy Cairns). Returning to Hot Chip's understated beauty is "Sometimes All I Need," which features the spot-on opening line, "Sometimes all I need is to lie on my floor/Stereo headphones/Crown of thorns." Released through London's uber-indie label Victory Garden Records (run by members of the label's own Southall Riot), Hot Chip's Mexico EP is a testament to the sad fact that some of the most poignant music in the world will probably go overlooked by the mainstream. But thanks to some kindred spirits, like the folks at Victory Garden, great music is out there, listeners just have to turn off the radio and go look for it. ~ Karen E. Graves, All Music Guide