Skip to main content

Hot Cha Cha :: It's Hard to Be a White Boy in 1992


Sounds Like: You wandered into the flat of some hipster college kids who've stolen a black-and-white copier and have decided to revive the zine scene.


RIYL: Sleater Kinney, The Chills, Elastica, cut-and-paste with left-handed scissors.


Quick Review: Hot Cha Cha's EP, Rifle, I Knew You When You Were Just a Pistol, begins like many grrrrl rock indie punklettes begin, with big guitar, big drums, and tommy gun staccato vocals. Yet it's the direction they take the next three tracks that makes Hot Cha Cha worth watching. They sing in French. They sing in German. They're from the Midwest. Go figure. But their talent is most evident by the third song, "It's Hard to be a White Boy in 1992." Mirroring the grammatically jarring tense shift of the title, the song bounces from contemporary indie pop to meandering riffs more reminiscent of alt-rockers in the previous decade like Pavement and Yo La Tengo.


Check out the video, and don't pass up a chance to see them if they play nearby--I hear their live shows are not to be missed.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow. Hotchacha is gonna be huge. I've been trying to dig on some CSS lately, but it's not quite right--now I find this. I just listened to "J'acusse" about a million times.

How ya been, James?

Love,
Dave
Anonymous said…
I fucking love it. Great guitar licks. Thanks.

Drew

Popular posts from this blog

May Day Is Lei Day

For the past 31 years in Honolulu, the Brothers Cazimero have hosted an annual May Day variety show at the Waikiki Shell Ampitheatre (because May Day is Lei Day!). When living there, I had the privilege of attending twice, the last time being the 30th anniversary, and just after the sad passing of the legendary Don Ho. Both times were, at the risk of allowing my cynical mask slip, magical. The May Day show is great fun, and follows the format of an old time variety show -- there is an aura of glamour interspersed with a decidedly camp sensibility, with hula stars of past and present gracing the stage. Spirits are high, and the banter among the performers is priceless; at times it feels as though you've wandered into a family reunion, and are a long lost cousin -- instantly at home and enveloped in the warmth. It's a time to celebrate the spirit and culture that truly do make the islands such a special place. There's a song that plays before the Sunset On The Beach movies...

Contest! Design the Official Decemberists Show Poster

On March 18th, The Decemberists will give the debut live performance of their epic new song cycle The Hazards of Love when they headline NPR Music's SXSW showcase at Stubb's in Austin. To mark the occassion, Capitol Records (who will release the album on March 24) and Imeem are inviting fans to design the official poster for the showcase with a contest -- the winning design will be hand-picked by the band and contestants can enter on the Decemberists' Imeem page . The Decemberists will play The Hazards of Love, in sequence, in its entirety. Joining all five members of the band on stage will be Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden, who lend leading vocals to the album. Opening bands are North Carolina trio The Avett Brothers, set to debut songs from its forthcoming album produced by Rick Rubin, and bluesy rockers Heartless Bastards, riding the success of its third record, The Mountain. The concert will begin at 10pm CST and will be str...

Odd Stories in the World of Music

As it's Friday, we like to round up a few of the stranger music-related stories and share them with our beloved readers. First, there was the TechDirt article about bands (or the labels who represent the bands) who pull their songs from iTunes after said songs have become popular. Apparently, they think it will force people to buy more CDs, which is kind of like selling tires, then shutting all the stores and telling people they have to buy cars to get the tires they want. TechDirt reacts with the appropriate "WTF". Moving on, we find a lovely post about the "peculiar pocket trumpet" from Trumpet Instruments. Finally, there's this: a homemade hurdy gurdy built from circut hacked Furbies, appropriately named the "furby gurdy."