passion pit

[30] Passion Pit, ‘Chunk Of Change EP’

Chunk Of Change

Michael Angelakos’s champion Valentine’s effort didn’t just impress his girlfriend; it also caught the ear of a whole bunch of tastemakers who don’t buy any records. A rather more impressive mixtape than most of us manage (although, try stringing it out for a whole C90, Angelakos), Chunk Of Change cynically reached beyond the wooing to make Passion Pit a top tip for globe-wide very minor success. I’ve Got Your Number is our concern here, keeping to the now-patented Passion Pit template of killer chorus, deafeningly shrill production and nauseous falsetto vocal – and yeah, in a good way. It’s especially apt for Jukebox Junior, because it sounds as if it was knocked together in a school musical workshop, with its cheap diddy keys and that percussion instrument that sounds like a stick being run over the ridges of a wooden frog (you know the one). Angelakos is the wildly over-enthusiastic supply teacher. Or Jonathan Cohen.

Junior says: “It’s fine and good.” That was to I’ve Got Your Number, but we carried on through. Sleepyhead’s Disney woodland creature trills warranted, “I like this bit,” while the rest of the EP passed without comment. Passion Pit slope away with a sackful of faint praise.

Best bit: The tacit suggestion that I’ve Got Your Number might go on forever, as waves of chorus die away to leave the unbowed plinky synth line.

[12] Passion Pit, ‘The Reeling’

Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos made their debut Chunk Of Change EP as a Valentine’s gift for his girlfriend. It was awesome, so I hope she appreciated it. The long player’s not quite as great, but perhaps that’s familiarity with the shrill, sugary tunefulness of the Pit. Maybe it’s an analogy for the relationship too. The initial charge has gone, now the couple’s treading water, seeing where it goes from here, refuelling, cleaning their visors, waiting for the lollipop to turn over. Perhaps the passion’s in the pits. Let’s hope the nozzle doesn’t get stuck.

Still here? ‘The Reeling’ is crazed, giddy euphoria with the treble set to nausea. I think it’s twee electro magic and wanted it at No.11, but Junior insisted I swap this and the other song around. Yes, boss. Not that she didn’t like it: it prompted high-speed dancing, some sort of hand jive, twirls (“I’m doing ballet”), and eventually pure chaos with both sisters chasing each other around screaming until I got chopsy.

Oh no (Oh no):

2009 Top 20 Singles?

We did this about this time last year, so why change a vaguely popular feature? These are the Top 20 Most Played 2009 Singles on the ever-honest iPod:

[1] Yeah Yeah Yeahs, ‘Zero’
[2] Dananananaykroyd, ‘Black Wax’
[3] The Horrors, ‘Sea Within A Sea’
[4] Passion Pit, ‘The Reeling’
[5] Animal Collective, ‘My Girls’
[6] James Yuill, ‘No Surprise’
[7] Sunny Day Sets Fire, ‘Adrenaline’
[8] TV On The Radio, ‘Dancing Choose’
[9] Frankmusik, ‘Better Off As Two’
[10] Röyksopp featuring Robyn, ‘Girl And The Robot’
[11] Jamie T, ‘Sticks ‘n’ Stones’
[12] Coldplay, ‘Life In Technicolor ii’
[13] U2, ‘Magnificent’
[14] The Phantom Band, ‘The Howling’
[15] Eg, ‘Broken’
[16] Junior Boys, ‘Hazel’
[17] Lily Allen, ‘The Fear’
[18] Fischerspooner, ‘Supply & Demand’
[19] Saint Etienne, ‘Method Of Modern Love’
[20] Red Light Company, ‘Arts & Crafts’

But will it bear any resemblance to the year-end chart? Be sure to check in 18 or 19 weeks.