Hot Hot Heat - Scenes One Through Thirteen download free

There's always something amusing about a popular band having its roots in a style of music that's so diametrically opposed to the sound that made them popular. Like how soft-rockers turned pop-sellouts Maroon 5 started out as Grunge as you could get (Kara's Flowers - ...We Like Digging?). But I'm not here to stroke Adam Levine's ego; I'm here to talk about Hot Hot Heat.In the mid-to-late 2000s, this Canadian group were indie pop/dance rock darlings, who were most known for "Talk To Me, Dance With Me", "Middle Of Nowhere"... and completely fading into obscurity after their second album. But what isn't commonly known (or is perhaps ignored) is their beginnings in punk rock.Originally founded and fronted by the mysterious Matthew Marnik (who never did anything before or after this), this version of the group released two EPs and a split across a three-year period before Matthew was kicked out of his own creation, the remaining members heading for greener, poppier, more lucrative pastures. And while what they did after that was pretty good, it's a shame that they didn't do at least a little more in this style, because I feel that this compilation is a forgotten gem in the much-deprived genre of Synth-Punk.While reviewers often compared them to The Screamers (the only synthpunk band most people can name), their style was more similar to early VCR, with tinges of Nervous Gender. It's a raw, lo-fi concoction of eerie, carnival-like synths, pounding drums, reverberated wailing vocals and sharp bass stabs. But, through all that, you can hear the basis of what Hot Hot Heat would be in the future; the catchy melodies and angular, dancey underpinnings are all here. Some songs, like Matador At The Door and Spelling Live Backwards, could have worked on Make Up The Breakdown with a more pop arrangement. Others, like Word To Water, I Blew a Fuse in My Personality and Tokyo Vogue, border more on total noise (but not in a bad way).It's a raucous, head-bobbing ride the whole way through, and deserves a lot more attention than it ever gets. A great starting point for someone new to synth-punk. A not-so-great starting point for someone new to Hot Hot Heat.