Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

Anyway, this means that if you want to read all my latest reviews and articles you'll have to catch them over their as I promised not to directly republish.

So for example if you to see my Story Of The Year review you'll have to catch it on their website, I will be providing links.

Anyway FEAR NOT, this does not spell the end of the Cultural evaluation instead I will focus more on single's review and my lists.

However I am a mainstream reviewer for a US site, so all my arty reviews and UK based album reviews will still be hear, like last weeks Hot Chip review.

Anyway here's the link. I'll post the Story link when they up it.

Hot Chip enter this new decade in an awkward place. Made In The Dark their third full length LP was their most commercially accessible and successful record to date, but it left much their core fan base cold. While not without it's charms Made In The Dark felt like a watered down and almost cynical follow up to the creative break through The Warning. This didn't stop Hot Chip courting mainstream success with Ready For The Floor turning into a full fledged sensation, which actual managed to dislodge Over And Over as the bands definitive hit (in large part thanks to an uber stylish video). However the Jonathan Ross/Radio One audience is often fickle and their attention quickly turns to the next shiny new act on the horizon. To make matters worse it seemed that since the afore mention break through Joe Goddard has spent more time as writer's for hire, dispensing diamond studded disco classics like Stuck On Repeat to Little Boots, rather than giving his full attention to Hot Chip itself. So it's with this back drop that Hot Chip's latest offering One Life Stand arrives and it's perhaps unsurprising that there has been little buzz. One Life Stand therefore finds itself in the unenviable position of having to earn it's place in the public consciousness without an all conqueroring single to sweep the record effortlessly to the top of the charts.

Thankfully this is Hot Chip and when the pressure is on and they have to deliver there are no song writers more trustworthy than Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor. One Life Stand immediately imposes itself and almost instantaneously feels more vital than Made In The Dark. Thieves In The Night kick starts the album and sets the tone perfectly, encapsulating the album as a whole. It has everything that makes this album, and Hot Chip as a whole so great; it starts with a thudding bass pedal to grab your attention before the group launch into one of the most gloriously addictive album openers of recent years. Behind a suitably groovy backing track Alexis' vocals goes to work. His voice cuts across the backing track divinely it's calm and unassuming managing to convey deep emotion and sincerity without ever having to strain or grand stand. The track is pitched perfectly between a wannabe club banger, a radio slayer and a heartfelt indie anthem. The chorus is truly remarkable as Hot Chip appear to have let their guard down displaying their inner fragility with a heart breaking chorus "Happiness Is What We All Want, May It Be That We Don't All Want". The tone has been set, and the album effectively splits in to two distinct sections from here on in.

The first half of One Life Stand is built around a string of sure fire singles, complete with slick hooks that feel somewhat retrospective without sounding remotely dated. In this section you first notice Hot Chip's real leap forward creatively. Goddard has truly said good bye to obtuse song writing, these new pop gems no longer rely on slick sound bytes, instead he opens up his heart and produces a series of grand gestures that ramp up the emotional stakes. Early stand outs Hand Me Down Your Love and I Feel Better both reach wonderfully emotive climaxes. The former pleads desperately "I've Known For A Long Time, You Are My Love Line, So Why Can't I Be Bright Like My Lover's Light?", whereas the latter offers a more uplifting seize the day message (albeit against a dark background) "I Only Want One Life...Nothing Is Wasted and Life Is Worth Living...Everything's Nothing and Nothing Is Ours". Both tracks use string sections gloriously adding remarkable depth and polish to their usually lo-fi and squelchy sound. The whole first half of the album has been consumed by love and relationships concluding with the starry eyed wish to be "Your One Life Stand".

The second half of the LP sees all this emotion spill over into heart break as One Life Stand becomes absorb by melancholy and tragedy. Slush which almost feels like a parody at first before revealing it's power house core which tugs remorselessly at your heartstrings. It deals with age, stress and how it takes it's toll on even the most dreamy relationship, giving the impression that the wide eyed optimism of I Feel Better has come full circle and been replaced by age and routine. With Alexis suggesting that remembering their love is now the most important task left in his life. Alleycats is one of the albums most sombre moments, as the usually in your face electronic hooks are toned down allowing Goddard to tackle his most private and intimate subject matter to date. He explores the death of someone he loved, he's reported as saying that this was a song written for his late mother, and it proves to be the down beat centre piece of One Life Stand's second half. We Have Love almost feels like a throw away by contrast, with it's trademark skipping beat and obvious hooks, but they had to offer something to lighten the mood (well sort of) before Goddard unleashes another low-key atmospheric piece in the form of Keep Quiet.

Take It In serves as an apt final statement, Goddard closes an album where his own heart ache has loomed large with a more existential experience that recalls the cooling airy pop of the mid nineties. The track feels completely weightless and is almost a release from an album that has been over wrought by emotion. All this heart break and deep emotion has proved remarkably purposeful; it has simultaneous helped Hot Chip evolve both their song writing palette while also tying One Life Stand together as a single piece, creating Hot Chip's most coherent and focused effort to date. It may lack the rough around the edges underdog charm of Come On Strong and The Warning but in sacrificing their ice cool facade they've managed to push through to the next level. Before One Life Stand Hot Chip could be considered, in Alexis own words, "a balloon with air escaping, nothing but a play thing" but now Hot Chip are no longer simply ice cold dance floor conqueror's they now set themselves alongside Wilco and the other great songwriters of the new millennium. Of course Hot Chip still have their feet firmly on the dance floor and their fingers on the pulse, but One Life Stand may just be the first step towards immortality and the elusive masterpiece they've always threaten to make. But unfortunately once again we'll just have to wait and see, the next LP can't come soon enough.

Sometimes follow up albums take a long time, and sometimes it just feels like they take along time, and it certainly feels like an age since Kate Nash's 2007 debut Made Of Bricks. Since then Lily Allen returned with the commercial supernova and definitive naughties state of the union address It's Not Me It's You and the pop landscape has changed beyond recognition. It has become more open, but the old guard has also pulled rank and tightened up with a remarkable rear guard action that has seen JLS, Leona Lewis, Alexandre Burke & Taylor Swift dominating the singles chart. There simply doesn't seem much room left for the nonplussed charms of Miss Nash, and as much as she hates to admit it, she is a post-Lily Allen act, and with La Roux and Florence Welsh crowding the market place Nash will really have to go some to stand out.

Thankfully, it seems Miss Nash is nothing if not bold, and it seems she's doing everything in her power to step out from behind Miss Allen's shadow. The result, I Just Love You More is somewhat mixed, it's certainly a dramatic departure for Nash, but unfortunately it feels more endebted than original. I Just Love You More starts with a sleek bass hook and some ice cold guitar work that has a knowingly nineties alternative feel without ever sounding dated. It's sparse, brooding and abrasive in tone if not texturally and recalls some of the best work of Nick Zimmer and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Vocally there are huge nods to Karen O but even more prominent is Love Is All lead singer Josephine Olausson; the tracks final screamed vocal breakdown feels more like a Josephine tribute act than a subtle nod. Lost in new make over is a sense of Kate Nash's own personality; gone are the highly personal lyrics, gone is the semi-rapped delivery and gone are the densely packed quick fire verses. In it's place is a sparse verse, in fact there is no traditional verse to speak of, and instead a brooding, desperate semi-psychotic atmosphere is created through repetition. Thankfully Nash's manages vocal retains it's charm, it still feels detached and her intonation oozes sarcasm and disdain, which while undeniable cool, does somewhat detract from the tracks sincerity. Despite these short comings the track is so sleaky produced, so direct and so to the point that it can't help but thrill. I Just Love You More certainly won't help her climb to the top of the pop charts but it is cooler and heavier than many would have anticipated. It's undeniably thrilling and a bold statement, Miss Nash may be wearing borrowed clothes but if she can find her own voice and creat a niche of her own, then her forthcoming album might just turn out to be a true revelation.

Hans-Peter Lindstrom was one of the last decades most prolific artists, forging a reputation as one of the most critically acclaimed and artistically respected producers in contemporary electronica. The undoubted highlight of his work to date remains the awe inspiring majesty of spacious beautifully and groovy I Feel Space. While he has never courted the mainstream it felt at times that his work was becoming rather too self indulgent, open ended and purposeless. Many hoped that his collaboration with Christabelle would lead to a more focused, slick and definable package, an album that his many fans (myself included) could show to the unconverted and say this is exactly why you should take heed of Hans-Peter Lindstrom. With that back drop January saw the arrival of the brilliantly named Real Life Is No Cool, Lindstrom's first statement in a new decade, would it usher in a new era in Lindstrom's artistic evolution or simply offer up more of the same?

It's immediately apparent on Real Life Is No Cool that Lindstrom's trademarks all still remain in place, his work and production remains subtle understated and sparse with the burble of album opener Looking For What immediately recalling I Feel Space. It plays tricks at first, with it's warped sampling distorting Christabelle's vocal beyond all recognition before dropping into some ice cool soft electro funk. Christabelle immediately takes centre stage and begins to steal the show, with her dead pan and occasionally haunting delivery. Looking For What is an instant standout and it's real strength is it's subtly, while Christabelle sets about a knowing ironic parody of ice cool electro, Lindstrom's beats remain understated and subversive, he never seems tempted to do too much. This becomes a theme across Real Life Is No Cool as Lindstrom provides a collection of sharp and slickly produced beats, never over producing, and he appears happy to play second fiddle, every inch of this track and this record feels natural, providing an almost metronomic presence against which Christabelle can cast herself as an ice queen sex siren. Lovesick follows quickly suit with a not so subtle nod to Justin Timberlake's superb FutureSex/Lovesounds and it's another utterly addictive low key affair that chooses subtle subversion over big hooks and huge beats.

You could be mistaken for thinking that Real Life Is No Cool is simply too cool for it's own good, it certainly starts out dripping with irony almost as if it's rolling it's eyes at the listener, but thankfully as the album develops both Lindstrom and Christabelle begin to let loose, and show that this isn't a super serious affair. Infact this feels more like a magical mystery tour through the pop, soul and funk of the 70s and 80s than an underground avante guard electro art piece. Nods to Michael Jackson lace the album from top to bottom, most prominently on Baby Can't Stop which feels like the Jackson Five have been turned into five little Daft Punk robots, only that their childish enthusiasm has been traded in for the stand offish cool of Christabelle. At times Real Life Is No Cool begins to feel like Lindstrom's answer to Daft Punk's Discovery albeit in a radically more opaque fashion. Lindstrom plays around with pop's past whether it be the Jackson Five, Donna Summer, Motown funk or faux-disco shimmer he seamlessly blends these tones and references points into his burbling groove based electronica. It gives Real Life Is No Cool a wonderful sense of balance, for every chillingly serious Music Is My Mind or Let's Practise they then cut loose with a frivolous Baby Can't Stop or So Much Fun. This well considered trade off makes this Lindstrom's most accessible effort to date.

By the time Real Life Is No Cool reaches its conclusion with the charm of High And Low, which feels like a more sophisticated but distinctly less catchy answer to Something About Us, you'll be amazed at just how fast and how smoothly this LP has flown by. This record truly feels like a well considered and coherent piece, but most importantly it feels utterly organic. This is not a phrase that is often uttered in electronica reviews, rather than placing empathises on the electronic or robotic, Real Life Is No Cool manages to feel remarkably human. It's largely achieved through Christabelle, who starts as a superhumanly cool spectre, almost like a ghost in the machine, but by the records culmination feels like a well rounded and fragile human being. The contrasting emotions between the detached Lovesick, the dancing queen-eske Baby Can't Stop and the tragic melancholy of High And Low strike a powerful and unexpected achord with the listener. Much of the credit must go to Lindstrom who never imposes, never goes over the top, allowing the beat to evolve, flow and migrate but always keeping it focused and contained; there are no thirty minute explorations of sound to test your patience here. The final product is remarkably sleek and incredibly listenable, while Real Life Is No Cool is not an album you have to hear, it doesn't have the stand out quality you look for in an album of the year, it is nonetheless a brilliant album. If your one of those people who would like to get into the daunting world of electronica but are unsure where to start, well your prayers have been answered, this is the place to start, it's as accessible as it is excellent, and make no mistakes about it, this is an excellent record.

Tracks To Download: Looking For What, Lovesick & High And Low.