Alexis Taylor & Co. were almost laughably adorable when they warned us, "Hot Chip will break your legs, snap off your head," but with Made in the Dark they've lived up to their promise. Hot Chip rolls through the first steps of "Sounds of the Studio," Rundgren's headphones game from Something/Anything?, blasting an assault of chest-rattling bass and fuzz. These songs are noticeably less smooth than those on The Warning, and most of them are downright challenging to listen to: if you follow the instructions and grab a set of headphones, it becomes clear that Hot Chip are letting us know that they're going for something a lot more interesting than British dance pop. Stay tuned this week for a feature review of this record from Tom Thornton.

Hot Chip official
Hot Chip MySpace
Sample Made in the Dark @ Clash music
Hot Chip "Ready for the Floor" (Live on Jonathan Ross)

Dave Brewis made an impression on me performing with his brother (and others) as Field Music, their first record producing one of the world's finest songs, "You're So Pretty." Don't judge it based on the saccharine titled -- seek it out and get back to me with the time signature, will you? Field Music songs are these little chasms of indecipherable composition and unconventional arrangements, and a lot of that is present on Brewis' solo effort as School of Language. Deeply mixed vocal layers (almost ELO-like), incomprehensible song structure (it's really jazz), and unabashed reliance on loops and the brave new world of digital recording all make a strong impression. "Rockist Pt. 1" is perhaps most guilty of this reliance, especially when considering the fact that Brewis is alone in the studio. That being said, each and every song offers such sickly sweet pop goodness, I find it hard to hold any technical crutches against the songs themselves. There's a strange heaviness, most apparent in tracks like "This is no Fun," thick synths and fuzzed-out bass lines creeping around a familiar sounding guitar loop accented with an undetermined amount of Brewis vocal tracks. He excels at giving the listener one supermodel hook and branching out, but the magic is in the branch: sometimes the method is so well-executed, the difficulty is hardly noticeable. It's hard to understand a song like "This is no Fun," because there is, on the surface, this chirpingly soothing singer crooning against a simple guitar lick and admirable rhythm section. Listening closer reveals a lot more complexity, though. These are not guitar songs, though Brewis often performs them as such, they're so dependent on the obtuse percussion and throttling bass -- without those elements there would be no room for the esoteric architecture. They at once provide stability and freedom for the rest of the arrangements in this brilliant way, brilliant because not many other songwriters could master the pop song within their dizzying cycles.

School of Language MySpace
School of Language "Rockist / Extended Holiday (YouTube)
Sample "Rockist Pt. 1"

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Adele: 19
Basia Bulat: Oh, My Darling
Bob Mould: The District Line
The Crystal Method: Drive
Dax Riggs: If This Is Hell Then I'm Lucky
Dead Meadow: Old Growth
Die! Die! Die!: Promises Promises
Ellis: Break the Spell
HorrorPops: Kiss Kiss Kill Kill
Hot Chip: Made in the Dark
Isis: Holy Tears (single)
Jack Johnson: Sleep Through the Static
Jason Collett: Here's To Being Here
Jill Scott: Live in Paris +
Kelley Stoltz: Circular Sounds
Lenny Kravitz: It Is Time for a Love Revolution
k.d. lang: Watershed
Josh Kelley: Special Company
Lightspeed Champion: Falling off the Lavender Bridge
Los Lobos: One Time One Night: Live Recordings Vol 1
The Loved Ones: Build & Burn
Morrissey: That's How People Grow Up (import single)
Nada Surf: Lucky
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: The Assassination of Jesse James (soundtrack)
Paul Weller: Wild Wood
Samamidon: All Is Well
Say Hi: The Wishes and the Glitch
School of Language: Sea from Shore
Sheryl Crow: Detours
Sons & Daughters: This Gift
They Might Be Giants: Here Come The 123s
Various Artists: Honeydripper
Various Artists: Led Box: The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Tribute
Various Artists: Live from the Artists Den: Season One
Various Artists: Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds and Nigerian Blues