I can't hear your voice: do I have a choice?

"You're my number one guy-y-y..."

Enthralled of late with all things Hot Chip.* There's a bunch of unfamiliar new tunes on my main playlist of late (of the Discover This! variety) and much of it is disappointing AltRock forgetable garbage. Made in the Dark is filling that void happily...it is All I Listen To, sprinkled with Hot Chip's back catalog gems.

They are simply weird, and I mean that in the best most flattering and fanboy way. The sound is like some 80's synthesizer band with a big heart on for the Beatles and trippy 70's rock. They sound like a favorite forgotten cassette tape that's melted just a bit on the dashboard.

The track "If I Could Have One Pure Thought" is far too modest. These cats have stacked the decks with sonic ideas assaulting from all directions. It also might be the sleeper hit of the album.

I thought they were One to Watch with "Boy from School" and its amazing video off the (B minus!) previous album The Warning. Do yourself a favor and check out "Down with Prince" from the older (C plus!) Coming on Strong, which sounds nothing like Prince until it does. Miraculously, and snarkily. And funkfully.

This new album is pretty darn awesome (A minus!), and reviewers praising its ballads ("Made in the Dark", "We're Looking for a Lot of Love") are spot on. Having approached this album from its Monster Jam first two singles "Shake a Fist" and "Ready for the Floor", I am only opening up to the slow jams now, "Touch Too Much" currently playing in the background as I write this. Is it even a ballad by the time it is done? It's just jaw dropping. Odd, odd, crazy shit. Gooood shit.

*that is, in the spare minutes where the PS3 is not still gobbling my time (see also: feverishly monitoring eBay video game auctions, and obsessively downloading every Unreal Tournament map and Playstation Network downloadable in sight. Enough. I sense another blog coming on, sigh.)