Hot Gossip - You Look Faster When You Are Young
To music fans of a certain age, the name Hot Gossip conjures images of cavorting women in leotards or hot pants and ‘I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper’, however I suspect ‘You Look Faster When You Are Young’ has not come from that same stable.
This Hot Gossip have emerged from the back streets of Milan and play a kind of muscular Indie music with a hint of something funky and a definite chunk of pop catchiness. They certainly sound as if they could have emerged from the UK Indie scene, if you’d have told me they were fresh out of Hoxton I would easily have believed you.
This record is the follow up to 2006’s ‘Angles’ and shows how the band have honed their sound over two years of relentless touring around Europe, the songwriting is more ambitious and mature, the sound is fuller and more adventurous.
The opener, ‘Everybody Else’, sets the tone (other than the fact it fades in and out rather strangely) for the album. A lolloping bass and slightly angular guitar riff drive this one along, think Ordinary Boys meets Franz Ferdinand, and a catchy chorus tops it off. ‘And Again’ follows up with a similar template, driving bassline, jerky guitars and the singers slightly nasal voice picking the lyrics over the top in a very passable impersonation of a London accent.
The songs are all sharp and to the point, only two tracks even approach the four minute mark and most clock in under three and while few of them deviate from the pattern set down in the first two tracks they do it well and with considerable verve. ‘Fast In The Rain’ comes on like a heavier version of the first track and ‘You Better Know’ slows it all down and has a distinct Blur-ishness to it.
The stand out track is ‘Cops With Telephones’, a song that starts out with a slow lollop but then winds up towards a big, fun chorus and has some great bluesy guitar work. I could very much hear this one on being played by the likes of Zane Lowe.
A very polished album of radio friendly songs that given the right exposure could easily see these guys stepping out on the summer festival circuit alongside the best of the current crop of British mainstream Indie bands.
Top Tracks: 'Cops With Telephones', ‘Fast In The Rain’.
Released Febuary / March on Ghost Records