To loosely paraphrase Charles Dickens, New York is the best and the worst of everything. File newcomer NYC band HotSocky under the "best" category. This quartet bursts onto the scene with an impressive array of powerful music -- 12 incredible cuts of melodic thunder guaranteed to make true pop/rock fans smile. The music is energetic and fun with a hint of glam rock, some 1970s anthem rock, great crunchy guitars, hook-laden melodies, sunny harmonies and darkly cynical lyrics.
Of course, these four served apprenticeships elsewhere before becoming HotSocky, masters of what they term "power pop punk" music. Lead vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Lattimer was the creative force behind Thin Lizard Dawn, lead guitarist/keyboardist Jerry Stereo was in the Kraftmatics, drummer Buz (just one z please) was stickmeister of percussion for the likes of Psychotica and Numb, while bassist Mick Addams was in Red Eye. The most important thing is that they've found each other and have converged into one solid musical unit, delivering 12 fully realized visions in song.
I adore the way HotSocky has no illusions about an overly happy world. Lattimer espouses what I like to term "harshly realistic optimism", a darker wry route toward love and happiness. In "Love's Sick", we get promises that things might turn out all right in spite of this wacky world ("everyone's afraid of someone who's afraid"), and indeed the ultimate advice is to "love someone right now".
The infectious "Hang On" is another glimpse of sunshine in surrounding darkness: "When the walls come caving in / Take a deep breath and count to ten / If life's a sea of suffering, then the trick is if you're sinking / Swim / Hang on / Don't leave so soon / Hang on / Some dreams come true". This is a great performance from everyone in the band on what should be the kind of music radio should play (perfect build, great melody, sing-along oohs, and well-executed musicianship).
"Meltdown" is another vocal tour-de-force for Lattimer. Riding beefy guitars (and a great solo from Jerry Stereo here) and a charismatic rhythm section, Lattimer warns against a recurrent meltdown and we believe him that anything's better.
These songs have structure and craft to them, middle bridges and solos and great sing-along choruses. "Time Bomb" is about someone whose time has come: "You're a live one, you're like an accident just waiting to happen".
Things are hot, hazy and humid in the sticky city streets now, so there's plenty of empathy for the singer's point of view in "Cali Easy Living", an ode to heading to the left coast for solace: "I need a holiday / It doesn't matter where I'll pay any price / I need to get away / Somewhere the people are oh so nice, a paradise / I'm sick of New York and I'm leaving / Back to California where the living's easy".
"Put Me Down" is about dealing with the truth of one's insulting ways; "Believe" is a harder-edged rocker about finding real self-confidence rather than mere bitching: "You'd better believe in yourself / 'Cause you got nobody else, take a look around, it's a long way down / You'd better believe and don't ask why and it won't kill you to try".
"Panic" is another perfect "hope amid hopelessness" anthem: "Algebra / One plus one minus one / Dominoes / Been sad for so long / Add it up / One plus one life goes on / So alone now that you're gone / Don't crash / It's not your time yet / Don't panic / If it doesn't work out".
"Ego" is very retro Britpop and features superb drumming from Buz (has a hint of "Rain" about it -- must be why I love it so). This is a glorious takedown of a negative greedy American blowhard: "Egomaniac man keep your mouth in check / Instead of always getting what you want, trying wanting what you get / Egomaniac man don't get so stressed out / 'Cause none of this is really gonna matter much a year from now".
This CD has one great track after another. There's a Bowie feel to the superb "Full of Love", wherein the singer tells us bluntly the way things are: "I know you think I need to get a handle on my mood swings, they come and go / what should I like, do you want me to pretend that I'm all right when you know I feel like hell / I'm full of love / I'm full of love / I'm full of love but not enough love".
The closer, "Tough Love", has music that seems very John Lennon-influenced. This delicious ballad has great harmonies, moody lead vocals and plenty of Beatle accents. It leaves you wanting more in a way that's a rarity these days.
Your references may vary: Cheap Trick, Redd Kross, Plimsouls, Deathray, Matthew Sweet and many, many more. The key is that these guys really manage to make it all work so well. There's energy and an excitement to this uplifting music, even though much of it deals with the downtrodden. You get great slickly produced songs and a tight high-energy band to play them -- what more could one want?
While this is certainly not the kind of music you'd likely hear in today's corporate controlled radio empire, it will make you wonder why that is. As you listen more to the music of HotSocky, it grows better over time. Lattimer explains that the band name can be used as an exclamation, like "Hot Damn!" or "Holy Cow!" or "Hallelujah!" After giving repeated ear time to this accomplished self-titled debut, you'll exclaim it yourself -- "HotSocky!"
— 14 October 2003
