Hot Hot Heat

Who are this band and what have they done with Hot Hot Heat? Happiness LTD fails from the get-go — the title track is middling and forgettable, setting the tone for the release as a whole. The swell of an orchestra on "Let Me In” is out of character for a band that originally based their frenetic sound on the raw simplicity of garage rock. The baffling inclusion of "5 Times Out Of 100” (originally from the band’s excellent Knock Knock Knock EP released five years ago) feels like a lazy way to force momentum, which carries over to "Harmonicas & Tambourines” but is promptly lost on the pallid "Outta Heart.” While upbeat, "My Best Fiend” and "Give Up?” fail to compare to the excitement of the band’s previous tunes, the latter smacking of pandering to a major label’s demands for a "rilly big hit.” If this is what musical maturity sounds like, I will surely pass. Give me back those jagged adolescent amateurs.