Product Description

'Make Up The Breakdown' is the second album release for theCanadian angular post-punk pop act, who have been compared to XTC and The Cure. It follows 2002's 'Scenes One Through Thirteen' which brought together tracks from their early EPs.The single, 'Bandages', is included.

Track Listing

1. Naked in the city again
2. No not now
3. Get in or get out
4. Bandages
5. Oh goddamnit
6. Aveda
7. This town
8. Talk to me dance with me
9. Save us SOS
10. In Cairo

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95718 in Music
• Released on: 2003-03-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition

Amazon.co.uk Review
Riding the wave of retropunk with their debut Make Up The Breakdown, Vancouver natives Hot Hot Heat look set to sweep away Canada's reputation for bland beigepop in a flash flood of jagged riffs, ska-flavoured skips and post-mod(ern) hits.

Despite their spiky and spangly leather-coated exterior, Hot Hot Heat are far more concerned with fun than fashion: frontman Steve Bays' hyperactive shrieks on "Oh Goddamnit" bring to mind a young Elvis Costello with a better sense of humour, while "Aveda" brings together the best (non fist-shaking) bits of the Clash and early XTC. "Bandages" is destined to occupy indie disco playlists and ring throughout halls of residence for the foreseeable future.

For Hot Hot Heat, the beat is king, and Make Up The Breakdown's unrelenting three-minute anthems holds the court firmly in its thrall. --Leslie Gilotti

Customer Reviews

bah.
(Straight in comes everything, washing in and being fronted by extremely annoying vocals. Or is it just unique? It is certainly a distinguished taste.)

A key signature to this act is the crazy rhythms that jerk around and feature on more than a few tracks, making it an interesting listen that cannot be easily judged. A modest track that opts for a disco beat is `No, Not Now', that has a catchy verse, chorus and whatever else you care to mention. So when it isn't tugging you around, it's laying its spawn on the front of your memory.

It could be a bit too quirky. `Talk To Me, Dance With Me' with its coco cabaña Latino beat (which features a `break it down' section - eek) is going to force dancers en masse to prance. That alone should say it all.

It's so 2003, y'know? You can almost smell the posing pricks in clubs downtown. It is rather trendy and takes the place of where The Vines were last year. Furthermore, there's something distinctly Strokes about the bassline in `Oh Goddamnit'... And components of many others...

Something, just something, feels right. Something that is more outstanding then in others like The Vines. They have that rare quality: you'd know it was them from the very first syllable of the singing.

(Nah, the vocals are ANNOYING. If it isn't because of the sound, it could be because there is the trusty one-vocal-line-fits-all scheme or that they jump about the place with squeals whines and whimpers. And they have one song.)

Even better live
I feel slightly unoriginal giving this album 5 stars along with all the other reviewers, but it is a phenomenal album - one of the best of the last few years from anywhere in the world. Nobody does those spiky, catchy, repetitive choruses - the ones that build and build until you are swept away and find yourself jumping up and down - better than HHH. On top of that, their gig in 2003 at the Electric Ballroom in Camden remains one of my all time best gigs.

Amazing and fun music
This album is HOT HOT HOT and what I like about this band is their use of irony and their vocal style. Wow, something new yet "Bandages" reminds me of the Breakfast Club era and it's funny that one of the reviews below mentions XTC, lovely! It is kind'of grunge but also wave'ish: Cairo. I think there is a lot of versatility on this album and the music reminds me of Pilate and Flannelmouth. I am sure you can draw your own conclusions but you just have to buy this cd. Be prepared to suck all the energy from HOT HOT HEAT.