Top 10 Albums of the Year: #8

Various Artists - DJ Kicks (Hot Chip) (!K7)

If you were so inclined, you could throw this album on at a club and it really should keep people moving for the duration of the album. People would call you lazy and you wouldn't be much of a DJ or really have much integrity, but I'm just saying, it could be done. That said, the content here is straight party from top to bottom. Brilliantly sequenced, this has everything a great mix should. Awesome throwback tracks you didn't even remember you loved which instantly pull your mouth into a smile? Check: Positive K's fantastic "I Got a Man" (which my good friend Joel would recite the refrain of at random intervals in ye olden days) and New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" are particularly great examples. Symphonic electro-pop? Check: "Short Road" by Wax Stag is a wonderful jetstream of thick keyboards and tinny drum machines. Classically styled techno (or what sounds like it to me)? Check: a live take of Gabriel Ananda's "Doppelwhipper" fills this order nicely. Self-conciously peculiar techno? Check: Nôze's "Love Affair" twitches along with a vocal part about personal grooming.
And so on. Dominik Eulberg's "Der Buchdrucker" slows things down at the start then ramps up into a skyward-arching melodic line. Al and Felix from Hot Chip apparently make up the duo Lanark, who contribute the somber but infectious "The Stone That the Builder Rejected." And yes, Hot Chip contribute an exclusive track to the mix, "My Piano," which stands easily, in my mind, among any of their other great singles. It's not the deepest listening experience by any means, but if you're looking for a good time, straight up, you'll find one here.