Have You Heard?

Hot Chip - "Shake a Fist"


Last week Hot Chip announced its third album Made in the Dark is set for a Feb. 4 release. The band's official site promises "rhythmical chaos...soulful introspection...and contemporary widescreen pop." Whatever the latter is, I'm sure it'll bust my bifocals.

Thankfully, in this age of rampant piracy, fans won't have to wait until February. In fact, you don't have to wait at all to hear first single "Shake a Fist." Just bop on over to the band's MySpace and get clickin.

Immediately "Shake a Fist" asserts itself as quintessential Hot Chip, albeit a much darker, more rockin' incarnation. Midway through the song, suavest-nerd-alive Alexis Taylor suggests in a song-stopping voiceover, "This game is called 'Sounds of the Studio'...If you have a pair of headphones, you better get em out and get em cranked up."

Hot Chip is a band that graciously reminds us all that as we get older, being weird/goofy/dorky suddenly makes you cool. That, and, even dorks can dance.