mixtape maestro (2.0)

If there was any one track on Hot Chip‘s grower of a fourth set One Life Stand that perfectly expressed the UK four-piece’s current obsession with marrying dancefloor euphoria with romantic yearning and could justify all on it’s own why the band’s hot streak will remain afire throughout the rest of the year, hands down it would be “I Feel Better”.

So soaked in ’90′s dance-pop theatrics that you expect some anonymous house diva (or an old incarnation of Madonna) to start wailing over it’s insistent house pulse at any given moment, “I Feel Better” bursts with an anthemic appeal from the get-go, it’s main hook, an icy string loop that’s later mirrored with the saddest steel drum sounds you’ll ever hear, drawing this mesmerizing rave prison you’ll never want to break out of.

In betwixt it’s four-on-the-floor clubby throb, singer Alexis Taylor injects his best T-Pain/ Kanye West-as-sad-robot imitation, with Auto-Tuned whimpers documenting a couple at a crossroads (“She said ‘How did we get ourselves so lost’”) followed by longings of having “one night/ together in our arms”, pitched as if it’s the sole way things can get back at track.

“I Feel Better”:

One of London alt-synth-pop quintet Hot Chip‘s main selling points has always been there off-kilter way of balancing geeky, urban-posturing with a sweet-toned bedroom-pop melancholia: check the R. Kelly/ WWE-inspired “Wrestlers” or their cover of Snoop Dogg’s “Sensual Seduction” or songs like Coming On Strong‘s kazoo-highlighted “Keep Falling” or The Warning‘s title track, which amusingly boast lines like “Give up all you suckers we the tightest muthafuckas/ And you never seen this type of shit before now” and “Hot Chip will break your legs/ Snap off your head” in the most non-threatening way ever.

That same endearing juxtaposition can be found on future addiction “One Life Stand”, the first single and title track from the Londoners’ forthcoming fourth album.

The cut jerks to life in it’s opening seconds with a thumping crunk-club strut that brings to mind Jacki-O’s 2004 raunch jam “Pussy (Real Good)” while, for a split-second, evoking the awesomely awkward image of these eternal wallflowers “making it rain” at the local strip joint. Lyrically though, Chip avoid any detours into goofy gangsta rapper braggadoccio, keeping things oh-so-smoove (or oh-so-creepy, depending on your P.O.V.) by latching onto a touching plea for eternal monogamy: “I only want to be your one life stand”, warmly croons Alexis Taylor on a hook that suddenly transforms the song into some lost, John Hughes-ian prom ballad.

A great first taste to one of the most anticipated new releases of the 2010 first quarter.

One Life Stand arrives in February. Check their site for current touring info, including the April-set US dates with supporting act The xx

Hot Chip – One Life Stand (MySpace Exclusive)

Hot Chip | MySpace Music Videos

BONUS DL: “Wrestlers (Sticky Dirty Pop Mix)” (alt)