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Top Live Shows / Hot Lava
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Hot Lava’s songs are buoyant affairs, with quick tempos that can seem rushed, daft titles ... Hot Lava’s songs are buoyant affairs, with quick tempos that can seem rushed, daft titles (“O Retorno Da Lovefoxxx,” “Apple+Option+Fire”), and lyrics detailing such somber matters as beach-bum mummies and vegan dragons with spinach stuck in their teeth. On the Web, the band can be found at hotlavaownsyou.com; its visual sensibility has room for plenty of hot pink. So what, exactly, makes this Richmond, Virginia, quartet so melancholic? For one, there’s the voice of frontwoman Allison Apperson, who injects loneliness and apathy into some unexpected lyrics—say, “These stinkin’ mummies are one smelly hassle.” And for all the pep of the band’s short debut album, Lavalogy (Bar None), its most effective song is “Iggy,” a dejected ballad about a lost dog, boyfriend or Stooge.
Lavalogy is awash in keyboards and samples, but the electronics never drive the action so much as add background color to old-fashioned guitar-pop songs. This impression becomes more pronounced at shows, where the group is a sloppy blur of noisy guitars and under-miked vocals. In other words, Hot Lava, though birthed in 2006, is a quintessential ‘90s indie-rock band, with all of that era’s charms and blemishes. Onstage, this includes a tinge of the under-confidence that ran rampant in that era, yet these are four musicians who should hold their heads high. In good spirits or bad, their melodies uniformly sparkle, the stuff not of mopes but of regional kings.—Jay Ruttenberg, Time Out New York
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beyonce, hot chip, hot lava, prodigy, snoop dogg, the game
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"3. Hot Lava, "Apple-Option-Fire"
This is easily the most amazing song about what to do when your g..."3. Hot Lava, "Apple-Option-Fire"
This is easily the most amazing song about what to do when your giant design project overloads your Mac's processor. Too bad young, urban, graphic designers don't like clever indie pop."
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Hot Lava - Lavalogy
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People of the Southeast take notice: your summer soundtrack has arrived! Courtesy of the Virginia-ba...People of the Southeast take notice: your summer soundtrack has arrived! Courtesy of the Virginia-based Hot Lava, Lavalogy is a blend of indie-pop and beach-timey rock. The record is laden with ocean sprays of synthesizers and whimsy echoes of electric guitar rifts that throw back to ‘60s surfer days. Still, this debut album is not a record that stands in any era’s shadow. Led by Alison Apperson’s loose-lipped singing, the record possesses a sort of indie grit. Think Clap Your Hands Say Yeah or Tokyo Police Club but with a suntan.
Lyrically, Hot Lava wraps sentiments of bliss, heartache and frustration in blankets of pop culture and fun images. There’s talk of “Ghosties” and even a “Mummy Beach” where the Egyptian frights roam the sand. There are also moments of personal revelation that are sneakily embedded within the tracks like “O Retorno Da Lovefoxx,” where the band sings, “You own me, like you bought me on eBay,” or the simple statement laid down in “JPG in the Sun,” where Apperson sweetly mumbles, “Now we’re together and we’ll be there forever.” The word choices throughout the album display how the band is in touch with human emotion but the band members manage to never take themselves too seriously.
Lavalogy is well-crafted, seamlessly transitioning from one song to another. Yet the continuity of the record does not equate to monotony. The group puts forth quirky beats, layered instrumentations and textured vocals making every piece of the album a must-listen. Even the production on the record is solid. Balance is given evenly to every player in the group, adding to the smooth flow of the record. With no glitches found in the recording and a fierce talent to back the band’s playful brand of tunes, Hot Lava will have people swiveling their hips and wishing for summer warmth all year long.
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Songs For Graphic Designers: Hot Lava's
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"The endearing, Virginia-based lo-fi pop band Hot Lava have written two of the most affectionate, wi..."The endearing, Virginia-based lo-fi pop band Hot Lava have written two of the most affectionate, witty odes to digital technology. EVER!"
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Oh Fortuna/ Marc With A C/ Hot Lava, PopFest
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"Lastly the quartet from Richmond, Hot Lava, took the stage. I felt myself feeling entranced from th..."Lastly the quartet from Richmond, Hot Lava, took the stage. I felt myself feeling entranced from the combination of the encroaching storm outside, and the smooth alto of Allison’s lead vocals. There’s something sort of late Pixies-ish about their music. Sleazy bass riffs, minimalistic key hooks and pop drum beats as their songs are structured on builds and releases of dynamic."
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Video Hippos + Lymbyc System + Hot Lava + The Blue Leader
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Boys Lie’s “high melodrama” component was also keyboardist for their Richmond tour partners Hot Lava...Boys Lie’s “high melodrama” component was also keyboardist for their Richmond tour partners Hot Lava, who kicked things up a bit with more solidly rock-oriented live arrangements of their take on electro-pop, embellished by glossy synthetic flourishes, catchily distinctive vocals, and a surprise appearance by like a Sousaphone or something. (My horn IDing skills are notably lacking.)
http://www.imposemagazine.com/mag/index.php/2008/05/12/video-hippos-lymbyc-system-hot-lava-the-blue-leader-death-by-audio-williamsburg-bk/
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Virginia foursome pays homage to inner-techie in all of us
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"With enough pop to fuel an army, the next logical step seemed to get the word out internationally. ..."With enough pop to fuel an army, the next logical step seemed to get the word out internationally. The band is set to debut Lavalogy in Japan this December. “The Japan release will have some bonus songs. We're really excited about Japan, it's the place to be.”"
http://www.venuszine.com/articles/music/features/4812/Band_of_the_Month_Hot_Lava
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Top live show Hot Lava
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Hot Lava’s songs are buoyant affairs, with quick tempos that can seem rushed, daft titles (“O Retorn...Hot Lava’s songs are buoyant affairs, with quick tempos that can seem rushed, daft titles (“O Retorno Da Lovefoxxx,” “Apple+Option+Fire”), and lyrics detailing such somber matters as beach-bum mummies and vegan dragons with spinach stuck in their teeth. On the Web, the band can be found at hotlavaownsyou.com; its visual sensibility has room for plenty of hot pink. So what, exactly, makes this Richmond, Virginia, quartet sound so melancholic? For one, there’s the voice of frontwoman Allison Apperson, who injects loneliness and apathy into some unexpected lyrics—say, “These stinkin’ mummies are one smelly hassle.” And for all the pep of the band’s short debut album, Lavalogy (Bar None), its most effective song is “Iggy,” a dejected ballad about a lost dog, boyfriend or Stooge.
Lavalogy is awash in keyboards and samples, but the electronics never drive the action so much as add background color to old-fashioned guitar-pop songs. This impression becomes more pronounced at shows, where the group is a sloppy blur of noisy guitars and under-miked vocals. In other words, Hot Lava, though birthed in 2006, is a quintessential ’90s indie-rock band, with all of that era’s charms and blemishes. Onstage, this includes a tinge of the under-confidence that ran rampant in that era, yet these are four musicians who should hold their heads high. In good spirits or bad, their melodies uniformly sparkle, the stuff not of mopes but of regional kings.
— Jay Ruttenberg
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AMG Review
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Virginia's Hot Lava isn't the kind of band that goes in for deep thought or weighty musical gestures...Virginia's Hot Lava isn't the kind of band that goes in for deep thought or weighty musical gestures on their debut for Bar/None Lavalogy, a reworked and improved version of their 2007 album Owns You. The group's sound is 100-percent fun indie pop with an extra 10-percent of silliness thrown in for good measure. Songs about mummy-filled beach parties, dragons with spinach stuck in their teeth, JPG's, and New Year's resolutions show that the band has nothing much of import on their minds. No matter, the way they say nothing is perfectly fine. Singer Allison Apperson delivers her lines with deadpan sweetness, the band rocks pleasantly, and bandmember Jared Sosa's production coats the fairly straightforward instrumentation in a fuzzy halo of reverb and fuzz. A couple of the tracks ("Apple+Option+Fire" and "Mummy Beach") are perfect mixtape tracks for when you need to come out of a ballad with something light and fun. The rest of the record (apart from the unfortunate "O Retorno Da Lovefoxxx," which is a semi-obscene ode to CSS's lead singer that is too sexual by half and totally out of place) manages to escape all the pitfalls that bands who try to be cute and silly often fall into, namely, the sins of being too wacky vocally or presenting the music with too much polish or skill. It's not easy to do that and their ability to pull it off makes Hot Lava a band to watch and Lavalogy a near-perfect album to play when you need some extra sugar sprinkled on top of a cloudy, humdrum kind of day.
-Tim Sendra
