Hot Hot Heat
Happiness Ltd.
(Warner Bros., 2007)

The dance-punk and electro-pop that had everyone dressing like idiots back in the first half of the decade has received more than its fair share of critical scorn over the past few years, and while the old “better late than never” adage provides at least a small bit of comfort, one still wonders what exactly took so long for people to realize the whole thing was a tasteless mess from day one. At the very moment things here in the U.S. started going completely crazy, with terrorism and massively unpopular wars wreaking havoc on our day-to-day lives, purveyors of this carefree brand of pop music chose not to face anything head on, but to simply recreate and pay homage to the sights and sounds of the 1980s, a decade that was marked by a flourishing economy and great national pride—provided, of course, you were white and, at the very least, middle-class. That so many of our musicians fell into this trap was shockingly irresponsible, and a massive slap in the face to rock ‘n’ roll’s politically-conscious past.

But it’s probably about time I stop getting so upset about all of that, since, like I said, it seems the whole thing is pretty much over, and even Hot Hot Heat seems to know it. On their new album, Happiness Ltd. (ew), they’ve reworked their approach ever so slightly, toning down the aggressively quirky schizo-pop that took them from the indies to the majors a few years ago, and the result is a big, boring mess of a record by a band that can’t figure out what they’re supposed to be anymore.

All things considered, the British Columbia-natives were among the best of the bands that got swept up in the dance-punk thing, mostly because a) their taste in production style was impeccable, and b) their melodies were completely undeniable. On Happiness, the production is still top-notch, boasting a drum sound nerds the world over will love, but beyond that, it’s hard to get too worked up about any of it. There’s a serious lack of effective melodies at play, and because there’s not the unshakably fun vibe of their previous efforts, it becomes difficult to look past the band’s many flaws: a newfound tendency toward mid-tempo tracks, silly lyrics, and frontman Steve Bays’ affected vocal style, which grates more and more with each passing verse.

Taken as a whole, Happiness Ltd. is incredibly boring and incredibly frustrating, the sound of a band that knows they’ve become irrelevant and has absolutely no idea what the fuck they’re supposed to do about it.

Listen: Various Tracks [at myspace.com]