The heat is on

It was never going to last. Hot Hot Heat managed to create something unique on their last record, 2002's Make Up the Breakdown -- it was the sound of human exhaustion, of too many stimulants and not enough sleep combined with an ear for shiny, snappy pop. Nevermind the alphabet soup lyrics and shrill pogo-stick voice, Make Up the Breakdown was the pitch-perfect soundtrack to an amphetamine-laced road trip taken by rolling down a hill in a shopping cart.\nNow they're back with their fourth release, Elevator. From the opener "Running Out of Time" to the ending title track, you can hear the same ear-twisting keyboard stabs and sharp-edged guitar cartwheels that earned Hot Hot Heat their credit; however, there's nothing so eyebrow-raising as "No, Not Now," "Bandages" or "Talk to Me, Dance with Me." It's longer and more slipshod, not to mention lacking focus. "Goodnight Goodnight" (the first single) apes the Strokes' melodies, but it lacks anything to keep your attention.\nStill, there are some amazing songs. "Island of the Honest Man" starts with a mouthful of words and immediately starts chugging toward its sugary chorus. It's one of the few songs that carries Hot Hot Heat's old sense of motion and urgency, and it's just stunning. "Jingle Jangle" starts as a ho-hum track, but reveals a surprise chorus and diverges into a brilliant closer, demonstrating once again the honed pop sensibilities that this group has to its advantage. \n"You Owe Me an IOU" sounds like the Cars, but there's something redeeming about the interplay between frontman Steve Bays' off-kilter voice and the relentless high-pitched keyboard stabs. "Pickin' It Up" is just a simple, fun track that could have been made by junior high basement rockers with above-average ears.\nMake Up the Breakdown wasn't Hot Hot Heat's first album, so it's not as if this album's low points can be chalked up to a sophomore slump. There's just something missing on the majority of these tracks -- call it ferocity -- that makes this release seem half-hearted. There's a reason I made the road trip comparison -- if their prior release was like the musical equivalent of careening down a hill in a grocery cart, this album is like a more traditional road trip: a few sunny, ecstatic moments interspersed with a lot of fatigue and boredom. In the end though, there's a vaguely positive feeling about it, but note that "vaguely positive" isn't a good step from "amazing"