Thursday, July 17, 2008

Listening to: The Chap "Mega Breakfast"

It's to The Chap's credit that I've invested so much time in trying to figure out just what it is that they're on about on their new album Mega Breakfast. The sound here is an airless bedroom dance pop similar to that delivered by Hot Chip or Fujiya & Miyagi, and a lot of what I've read about the group has attributed their lyrical content to an opaque and dada-esque sense of humor. But am I also hearing in their music some of the sharp-eyed cultural criticism and deconstructionist aesthetics of Entertainment! era Gang of Four and their ilk? Lines like "Come into my bathroom-showroom/Approach me slowly, visit my body" certainly seem to speak to the commoditization of the self, but are also so absurdly on-the-nose that they could just as easily be a complete pisstake. Anyway, whether they are purveyors of cerebral agit-pop or simply a bunch of snarky smart-asses, the fact remains that I can't stop listening to their album. So they've won either way, basically.

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