HOT CHIP THE WARNING ALBUM EMI RELEASE: MAY 24 2006 REVIEW: JUNE 26, 2006

Hot Chip is an amalgam of almost everything that is seductive to me in music right now: two voices blending in sweet vocal harmonies, exquisite pop sensibility cast in electronic bleeps and beats as well as sufficiently inventive sound engineering to keep it all interesting. It might have something to do with the amount of time passed since the peaking of UK garage, or just be a mark of the genius of Hot Chip, but the frantic breakbeats starting the first track "Careful" actually gives me goose bumps.

The track soon turns into something else entirely, and the album moves far off dance territory into a friendly place where the beats feel more like a warm summer rain. Few bands manage to radiate this sort of gentle affection without turning into a boring syrupy mush, but Hot Chip have a distinctive musical edge that keeps them from falling into the Simon & Garfunkel trap. The pleasantness just makes "The Warning" instantly likable, and since its charms remain weeks later, this may well be something more than a brief infatuation.

MATTIAS HUSS

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