Shake A Fist

I really don't understand the hype around DFA Records artists and the emergence of this whole "dance-punk" genre. Last year, James Murphy, the company's co-founder and brains behind the label's most household outfit (LCD Soundstystem) released Sound of Silver to universal praise. The record managed to garner an 8.6 rating on a Metacritic -- a score which catapulted the "band" into the top ten of 2007. Yes, they even managed to outrank near-perfect albums by the National and Spoon (but who's keeping score?). And don't get me wrong, Sound of Silver isn't awful. There are tunes on the record that are catchy ( see "Someone Great"), but for me, nothing that really goes above and beyond the anonymity of the background music you'd hear on an iPod commercial or while perusing through an Urban Outfitters.

Last month, DFA released the new Hot Chip record to very similar praise. I had heard great things about this band and read early reviews of Made In The Dark, so I decided to give it a chance. My analysis: much of the same. The record is not bad, but again nothing spectacular. Despite the sheer annoyance of some songs (see opening track "Out At The Pictures"), the album is at best average. The "dance" element of this brand of music is apparent, but I fail to see how this can remotely be classified a sub-genre of punk. But I got to give James Murphy credit. He has carefully crafted a brand under the DFA name, to the point where any artist associated with his label will get a free pass on the "coolness" meter. It doesn't matter how abstract and discombobulated some of his acts sound -- if it's DFA, hipsters unite! -- it will be praiseworthy. This kind of reminds me of Matador, except Matador's roster actually deserves the praise. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people sporting t-shirts bearing the crooked lighting bolt DFA logo.... this needs to stop.