Released On: EMI / Astralwerks
If you've ever seen Revenge Of The Nerds then you've seen the part where the titular nerds win a talent competition by playing a so-80s synth pop song with homebuilt equipment (and robots). This, in essence, is Hot Chip. British indie kids attracted to electronica early in their career, they were relatively unknown before The Warning took over the blogs in 2006, and subsequently the charts (at home anyway - the most they managed over here was a top 20 berth on the Electronic Albums chart). The album was an earthy mixture of live instruments and warm, well-loved analog synths. The combination produced a friendly, dancefloor-ready sound that was often at odds with the lyrical subject matter. That side of the album is quite a bit darker than electronic albums usually get; it can be quite jarring to hear the refrain of "We try, but we don't belong" over the breezy, relaxed butterscotch beats of "And I Was A Boy From School" or the rather violent posturing of the title track ("Hot Chip will break your legs, snap off your head" goes one memorable line). This was perfectly in keeping with the Revenge Of The Nerds idea, too; the protagonist-nerd in the movie technically rapes his love interest by pretending to be her boyfriend, and thinks no worse of himself for it. After all, there's always been a resentful, revengeful streak to the nerd motif in society - if you were constantly picked on you'd be seething with rage too.
Where You'd Know It From: Blogs and music mags alike adored it; it was a top 40 hit in the UK.
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Track Listing:
1. Careful (3:28)
2. And I Was A Boy From School (5:19)
3. Colours (5:28)
4. Over And Over (5:47)
5. (Just Like We) Breakdown (4:12)
6. Tchaparian (3:20)
7. Look After Me (4:50)
8. The Warning (4:51)
9. Arrest Yourself (2:31)
10. So Glad To See You (4:05)
11. No Fit State (5:38)
12. Won't Wash (2:35)
("And I Was A Boy From School")
("Over And Over")
("The Warning")
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