Make Up the Breakdown

Hot Hot Heat: Make Up the Breakdown

Make Up the Breakdown
2002Sub PopDance Punk

Maybe it’s because they’re from Canada and don’t know that music here in the U.S. is supposed to suck, but Hot Hot Heat manages to put it all together like no other band around. Mixing new wave, post-punk and danceable beats, HHH defies categorization and somehow makes it hip to dance again. Throw in a lead singer who sounds as if he’s had fourteen cups of coffee and a plug on a helium balloon and you have amazing frenetic pop that all at once makes you want to bang your head, shake your ass and play the air keyboard. We can only hope that Americans quit treating our neighbors to the North like the no-culture, neutralists that they are and embrace this album for all the fun and artistry that it embodies.