The Warning (Hot Chip album)
Encyclopedia
The Warning is the second full-length release from the British electronic indie
Indietronica
Indietronica is a music genre that combines indie, electronica, rock and pop music. Typical instruments used in indietronica music are electronic keyboard, synthesizer, sampler and drum machine...

 pop band Hot Chip
Hot Chip
Hot Chip are an English electronic indie band. They have released four studio albums—Coming on Strong, The Warning, Made in the Dark and One Life Stand.-Formation:...

. The album was released in the UK on 22 May 2006 by EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 and in the United States on 3 June 2006 by Astralwerks
Astralwerks
Astralwerks is a New York-based record label that releases primarily electronic music. It is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the United States....

. Notable tracks include the UK singles, "Over and Over
Over and Over (Hot Chip song)
"Over and Over" was the first single from Hot Chip's second album The Warning. It was released twice in the UK in 2006 - first reaching number 32 in March and number 27 in October.-Music video:...

" and "Boy from School
Boy From School
"Boy from School" is a single by Hot Chip, released on 27 June 2006, from Hot Chip's second album, The Warning. The original title of the song was "And I Was a Boy from School", however, this was shortened on the request of EMI...

", as well as "(Just Like We) Breakdown", which was featured and remixed on the DFA Records
DFA Records
DFA Records is an independent record label and production team, launched in September 2001 by Mo' Wax co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. The label has an exclusive distribution deal with major record label EMI....

 compilation album The DFA Remixes – Chapter One. The album was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize.

The Warning explores the theme of contradiction as well as "slower and darker aspects of electronic music" with the use of "strange violence" in songs. This technique is best depicted in the song, The Warning, which uses antithesis
Antithesis
Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition...

; "soft glockenspiel notes" contrasted against "violent" lyrics. The chorus continues the idea with a "patent mismatch of violence and melancholy".

A number of reviews commented on the stylistic and lyrical changes between Hot Chip's first album Coming on Strong
Coming On Strong
Coming on Strong is the debut studio album by English electronic band Hot Chip. It was released in the United Kingdom on 24 May 2004 by Moshi Moshi Records and in the United States and Canada on 29 November 2005 by Astralwerks.-Critical reception:...

(2004) and The Warning. Coming on Strong was described as a "successful but safe entrée to the British electro-soul outfit" and although "graceful, delicate melodies of the debut" had been abandoned, they were replaced for "songs with more wallop". Hot Chip's music changed from the "quirky electro-pop" of Coming on Strong to create an album that was "much more focused and pop friendly", "a step away from Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

 and a step towards LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem was a prominent American dance-punk band from New York City. It was fronted by American singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy, co-founder of record label DFA Records...

".

Production

The production of The Warning was handled by vocalists Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard, who produced and recorded the album in the band's Putney home. NME commented that the "normality of [their] surroundings" works well for them. Tim Goldsworthy
Tim Goldsworthy
Tim Goldsworthy is a British record producer, DJ and recording artist, living and working in New York City since 1999.Originally a musician/producer for UNKLE, Goldsworthy co-founded James Lavelle's Mo' Wax label...

 and James Murphy of DFA Records
DFA Records
DFA Records is an independent record label and production team, launched in September 2001 by Mo' Wax co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. The label has an exclusive distribution deal with major record label EMI....

 were involved in the production of one song. Though the song "worked out well as a record", Taylor stated it wasn't "an enjoyable experience in terms of feeling involved". Taylor said that he and Goddard work best as a duo, the success of which he attributes to the years they have been acquainted.

An idea involving all five members joining together to write songs was rejected because Taylor "didn't think it would come up with anything interesting." Although the album isn't one of all five members, Taylor and Goddard approached the album with "the spirit of the live show[s]".

In an interview with Jim Carroll from The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...

, Taylor stated that Hot Chip had two different strands; one consisting of Taylor and Goddard who control the recording process, and a second involving all five members of Hot Chip for playing live versions of their albums. Taylor said he believed two groups were needed to avoid delivering repetitive performances; "You can do very different things in a room playing to people than when you're in a room layering sounds and getting embedded in production trickery".

The recording of the album took place in Goddard's bedroom, where Goddard had "an old Dell desktop that [he] bought maybe four or five years ago" running Steinberg Cubase. The album was recorded mostly using live instruments, including tambourines and bongos, but multiple vintage synths were also used in the creation of The Warning such as, a Roland SH-101, a Teisco 60F and a Casiotone MT-70. Goddard said the majority of the album was recorded with the Casiotone MT-70 due to its "soft, simple sound" that "fits with the sound that [they] try to create" and works well with Taylor's voice. Goddard stated a preference for using a mix of analog and computer sounds rather than a concentration of Virtual Studio Technology
Virtual Studio Technology
Steinberg's Virtual Studio Technology is an interface for integrating software audio synthesizer and effect plugins with audio editors and hard-disk recording systems. VST and similar technologies use digital signal processing to simulate traditional recording studio hardware with software...

 (VST) instruments. However, one VST instrument was used, the Arturia Moog Modular, because Goddard felt it created vintage sounds that weren't "too shiny or new-sounding".

Musical style

The musical influences of Taylor and Goddard, such as R. Kelly
R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly , better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play...

, Wookie, krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...

, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

, Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

 and Madlib
Madlib
Otis Jackson Jr. in Oxnard, California, known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer...

, were brought together on The Warning. Taylor stated that he wanted the variety of musical interests to sound as if they had "all been mixed together in a good way" rather than "bolted together crudely", because of his belief that music shouldn't sound like "just a load of instruments". "No Fit State" gathers large influence from "Svetlana" by the group Xex
XEX
XEX is the callsign of the following broadcast stations in Mexico:*XEX-TV, channel 8 in Altzomoni, Méx.*XEX-AM, 730 kHz*XEX-FM, 101.7 MHzXEX is also a mode of operation of a block cipher....

.

Release and reception

According to Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...

 data reported by Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

, The Warning sold 49,000 copies in the United States and peaked on the UK Album Chart at number 34 and number 13 on Billboard Top Electronic Albums.

"Boy from School
Boy From School
"Boy from School" is a single by Hot Chip, released on 27 June 2006, from Hot Chip's second album, The Warning. The original title of the song was "And I Was a Boy from School", however, this was shortened on the request of EMI...

" was the first single released from The Warning, peaking at position number 40 on the UK chart. The second single released, "Over and Over
Over and Over (Hot Chip song)
"Over and Over" was the first single from Hot Chip's second album The Warning. It was released twice in the UK in 2006 - first reaching number 32 in March and number 27 in October.-Music video:...

", entered the UK chart twice, beginning with the 27 February 2006 release that reached position number 32. It re-entered the UK chart on 9 October 2006, peaking at position number 27 in the UK Singles Top 75, and reached position number 44 in the Ireland Singles Top 50.

Promotion

Hot Chip embarked upon a tour of America in March 2006 to promote The Warning. Felix Martin wasn't able to participate due to severe illness, so fellow band members "had to figure out how to do his parts whilst [doing their] own" and enlisted the help of LCD Soundsystem drummer, Pat Mahoney.

Critical reception

The critical reception to the album was generally favourable and was given a score of 79% by review aggregate website, Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...

 based on 27 reviews.
Allmusic said that "Over and Over" had "DFA signature production" and described the chorus as sounding "hauntingly similar to something Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

 would write had he been paying attention to the music of the youth in his own backyard." The production of the title track, "The Warning", was likened to outtakes by The Postal Service
The Postal Service
The Postal Service is an American electronic indie pop band composed of vocalist Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and producer Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel and Headset.-Background:...

 and it was said that it "wouldn't [sound] out of place on I Am Robot and Proud
I am Robot and Proud
Shaw-Han Liem, better known by the alias I am Robot and Proud, is a Canadian indie electronic artist from Toronto, Ontario. He has released albums under the labels Darla and & Records.-History:...

's last few records". Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 described the song as one of the centrepieces on the album and that "like a lot of the band's best songs, it splits into three and four parts, veering into bridges where there should be choruses, verses where there should codas, and dirges where there should be melodies". Prefix magazines review discussed the idea of antithesis
Antithesis
Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition...

 in the song, "The Warning", which had "soft glockenspiel notes" in contrast with "violent" lyrics. "Boy from School" was described by NME as "a sweet, melodic mid-tempo dance anthem", whilst Pitchfork Media said the song was "marked by Alexis Taylor's sweetly thin vocals and the heartbroken line, 'We try, but we don't belong.'" "Tchaparian" and "Arrest Yourself" were named by Pitchfork Media, as songs that were "needlessly jagged on an album full of round edges". Pitchfork Media also said that "momentum and retraction" of "Careful", which "opens softly and quickly erupts into choppy sample darts, then cools back down again" was "a good metaphor for the [whole] record".

Two reviewers noted similarities between Hot Chip and New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...

, with NME stating, "there’s something of New Order in Hot Chip [...] [with] the same mix of art school-meets-working man demeanour", whilst Allmusic stated that The Warning was "like listening to early New Order records for the first time, waiting for the next one with a little bit of excited anticipation".

Allmusic said that "the core of what made The Warning [...] enjoyable right from the onset" was a result of Hot Chip "focusing more on song arrangements and structure rather than technology and programming showmanship". Prefix magazine said that alongside exploring the theme of contradiction, "the duo explore[d] the slower and darker aspects of electronic music" with "a number of slower, adroitly manoeuvred songs". bbc.co.uk
Bbc.co.uk
BBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...

 said that Hot Chip had managed to "meld wonky electronics, pillow-soft soul and lyrics [together] to weave strange violence into gorgeous soul songs". NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

 described the album as being "underpinned by a ‘fuck you’ attitude" resulting from the audience's "past ambivalence towards them" but also said that "in channelling this anger they’ve produced the finest album of electronic rock since Mylo
Mylo
Myles MacInnes , better known by the stage name Mylo, is a Scottish electronic musician and record producer.-Career:...

's Destroy Rock & Roll
Destroy Rock & Roll
Destroy Rock & Roll is the first album by Scottish record producer and DJ Mylo, released in 2004. The album was re-released in 2005, containing a new remix of "Drop the Pressure", called "Doctor Pressure" , which was also released as a single...

."

Accolades

The album received a number of accolades, including a nomination for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize. Certain tracks received recognition such as "Boy from School", which was ranked at number seven on Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's list of the top 100 songs of 2006, while "Over and Over" was ranked at number 16. "Over and Over" was also named "Track of 2006" by NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

. Additionally, the album was ranked number 26 on Pitchfork's list of the top 50 albums of the year and number 81 list of the top 200 albums of the decade. The Warning also placed on Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...

's list of best albums of the 2000s at number 93.

Track listing

  1. "Careful" – 3:28
  2. "And I Was a Boy from School
    Boy From School
    "Boy from School" is a single by Hot Chip, released on 27 June 2006, from Hot Chip's second album, The Warning. The original title of the song was "And I Was a Boy from School", however, this was shortened on the request of EMI...

    " – 5:19
  3. "Colours
    Colours (Hot Chip song)
    "Colours" is the third single released by Hot Chip from their 2006 album The Warning. It was released on 14 August 2006, shortly after The Warning was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Prize. The single did not chart due to the inclusion of non-promotional stickers with each format.-Critical...

    " – 5:28
  4. "Over and Over
    Over and Over (Hot Chip song)
    "Over and Over" was the first single from Hot Chip's second album The Warning. It was released twice in the UK in 2006 - first reaching number 32 in March and number 27 in October.-Music video:...

    " – 5:47
  5. "(Just Like We) Breakdown" – 4:12
  6. "Tchaparian" – 3:20
  7. "Look After Me" – 4:50
  8. "The Warning" – 4:51
  9. "Arrest Yourself" – 2:31
  10. "So Glad to See You" – 4:05
  11. "No Fit State" – 5:38
  12. "Won't Wash" – 2:35 (Unlisted bonus track
    Hidden track
    In the field of recorded music, a hidden track is a piece of music that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, vinyl record or other recorded medium in such a way as to avoid detection by the casual listener...

    )
  13. "Bally" – 3:24 (Vinyl-only bonus track)

Album personnel

  • Owen Clarke – artwork design, art conception, guitar, bass
  • Al Doyle – guitar, synthesizer, percussion, backing vocals
  • Tom Elmhirst – mixing
    Audio mixing (recorded music)
    In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...

  • Joe Goddard – vocals, synthesizer, percussion
  • Felix Martin – drum machines
  • Matt Paul – assistant engineer
    Audio engineering
    An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

  • Alexis Taylor – vocals, synthesizer, guitar, percussion, piano
  • Richard Wilkinson – engineer

Album

Chart Peak
position
Irish Album Chart 42
Swedish Albums Chart
Sverigetopplistan
Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....

38
UK Album Chart 34
U.S. Top Electronic Albums
Top Electronic Albums
Dance/Electronic Albums is a music chart published weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music albums in the United States. The chart debuted on the issue dated June 30, 2001. It originally began as a fifteen-position chart and has since expanded to twenty-five...

13

Singles

Song Chart peak positions
Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...


UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...


"Boy from School
Boy From School
"Boy from School" is a single by Hot Chip, released on 27 June 2006, from Hot Chip's second album, The Warning. The original title of the song was "And I Was a Boy from School", however, this was shortened on the request of EMI...

"
40
"Over and Over
Over and Over (Hot Chip song)
"Over and Over" was the first single from Hot Chip's second album The Warning. It was released twice in the UK in 2006 - first reaching number 32 in March and number 27 in October.-Music video:...

"
44 27

"—" denotes releases that did not chart.
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