Review: Hot Hot Heat / The Red Light Sting

Hot Hot Heat / The Red Light Sting
“Self-Titled”
(Ache Records)

A split LP from Ache with Canadian acts Hot Hot Heat and The Red Light Sting. The latter act, which will be listed as TRLS, slightly resembles the calmer cousin of Blood Brothers, minus the heavy barrage of vocals. Instead, the band tends to focus on more on tempo vocals, emasculated synthesizers and a slightly steady rock beat in unison to the sound of fellow LP mates Hot Hot Heat. Because I’m too accustomed to the novelties of CD players and digital track and, let’s face it, just not quick enough, I found it difficult to keep up with the song listings. Does TRLS really have seven songs on here? After ‘Cork up the Stink’, I lost track. I’m assuming that the last minute or two was ‘God damn, Will Somebody Tell Me Why I Read These Damn Spy Novels’ but then again, I could be totally wrong. Hot Hot Heat, on the other side of the clear vinyl, sounds TOTALLY DIFFERENT then the CD I just heard from their major label debut on Warner Brothers. This is either because a) they progressed in their sounds or b)production influences direction. I tend to think it’s a combination of the two, as, for comparison, Blood Brothers on Artist Direct is a different meal then Blood Brothers on 31G Records.  So yeah, HHH is about abstract noisy rock and keyboards, but has more defined song starts/stops and structures in their music, as compared to TRLS.