Straight Up Random

CD Review: You Should Know Better By Now by Hotspur

The Band: Hotspur

The Album: You Should Know Better By Now

Stand Out Tracks: “Heads/Tails,” “Chandelier,” and “Atlantic”

The Review: Hotspur is not your average band. I mean, yeah sure, they have a guitar player, a bass player, a singer, a drummer, and a pianist, but they don’t play songs that sound like your typical pop rock songs. So maybe I should re-phrase this – Hotspur doesn’t make your average music. Whether it’s the perfect blend of the piano throughout all of their songs or the pleasing vocals of singer Joe Mach, Hotspur is doing something different, but doing it right.

Although they don’t make your average music, the songs off of their album You Should Know Better By Now are definitely polished enough to be considered mainstream friendly. Some of their songs like “Atlantic” sound like they’re ready to be played from your local radio station, and there are even a few songs that sound like they were recorded specifically to be on the soundtrack of a heartfelt chick-flick. (“Heads/Tails,” “If These Walls Could Talk,” and “Up & Away” are the perfect examples of this).

The lyrics on most of the songs have the dominating theme of love, relationships, and so on and so forth; but even though a lot of other bands write about the same topics, Hotspur manages to do it in a more mature and emotional way. Maybe since their singer doesn’t have a nasally and whiny voice it helps them avoid sounding like they’re singing about teenage heartbreak. Instead, they sound more like they’re singing about a mature relationship gone wrong and how they deal with it. Listen to “Too Young,” and “$$$” and you’ll know what I mean. Another contributing factor is how they skillfully intertwine the piano and synth along with melodic guitar hooks. Examples of this are “Alphabetic File,” “Gunfight,” and really, all of their songs (with the excpetion of the synth on some songs).

Don’t think for a moment that all of their songs are soft and romantic. There are only a couple of songs that can be described like that such as the aforementioned “Heads/Tails,” and “Up & Away.” Most of their songs are actually rather upbeat, danceable, and catchy. The very first track “Hypochondria” that opens the album is a real head bobber/toe-tapper. You can’t help but want to move some part of your body along with the beat to the song. The same could be said about the song that comes on next “Chandelier.” Skip down a few songs and the listener reaches the melodic and hooky chorus of “Sold!” The album even ends with a bang with their title track “You Should Know Better By Now.”

The direction this band is heading is definitely the right one. They’re making music that doesn’t follow any trends, but still sounds amazing. If you don’t know who Hotspur is, after reading this review, You Should Know Better By Now to check them out!

The Rating:4.5 out of 5