Well, it's 2003 and my first review of the New Year is about an album that came out in 2002. What a let down, right? Wrong! Damn wrong! For as I looked down the list of the "Best 20 Albums of 2002", as posted by the wonderful folks at Tiny Mix Tapes, I shook my head in grave disapproval for it was missing an album. As the year progresses, there are some records that are released along the way and are indispensable to a "Top X" list. Make Up The Breakdown is that kind of record.
At first listen, the record was too much fun not to go ahead and listen to again. I couldn't stop myself from putting it on when deciding what I wanted to listen to, and thus it was in extreme rotation among my own record collection.
How? How then could it be? No tip of the hat on the top twenty, for shame.
At first listen Hot Hot Heat weren't anything triumphant. Knock, Knock, Knock was, although, a solid enough EP to keep me interested in the band so that I would eventually take initiative and listen to their full-length. And when the day finally came I was left speechless and the most I could do was shake my hips in that "let's have sex" action. Had I misjudged them on a 5 track EP? My thinking was yes, I had thought of this band as a group of guys with slightly quirky sounding songs and a lead singer with an odd vocal tone. I was wrong. There was more afoot and brewing underneath the surface.
With Make Up The Breakdown, Hot Hot Heat shows the musical superiority they can muster. As a whole the album is a barrel full of energy, songs that have you wanting to dance the night away, regardless of whether or not you're a pretentious indie brat. It's true; Canadians and indie brats can have a good time and not be too bad about it. No executions needed here gov'ner.
"Naked In The City Again" opens the record up with low-key attitude when compared with the rest of the album. By track's end it builds up and explodes with layered choruses and comes to an abrupt stop. "No, Not Now" quickly follows, starting with choppy organs and the quirky sounding Steve Bays singing, "Oh no/she's not a secret now/But, nobody cares." Whatever the hell that means. The song has you hopping up and down like a drugged up mudskipper within the first 45 seconds of its unveiling.
Other songs follow suit, "Get In or Get out" (which has a fun keyboard solo), "Bandages," "Oh, Goddammit," "Aveda," and "This Town" all have that infectious "get up and dance" groove to them. Tracks like "Talk to Me, Dance With Me" and "In Cairo" are a little more subdued in their execution but still pack a punch, eventually blossoming in sound and popping like champagne bottles.
I've read that people have referred to these guys as being emo. Of all the evil things that you could pin on a band, why would you pin them with that? Maybe lyrically at times they can be a little emo, but emo never sounded this fun and good before. I don't think that I ever listened to an emo band that forced me into an uncontrollable fit to put their record on over and over again and not be able to stop to put something else on. That's what I call a spicy meatball. So, screw you if you didn't put them on your "Top X" list and screw you if you call them emo.
p.s. I love you tinymixtapes.com
1. Naked in the City Again
2. No, Not Now
3. Get in or Get Out
4. Bandages
5. Oh, Goddamnit
6. Aveda
7. This Town
8. Talk to Me, Dance With Me
9. Save Us S.O.S
10. In Cairo
More about: Hot Hot Heat
