Hot Chip

“Made in the Dark”

(Astralwerks)

The five Brits that make up the electro-pop band Hot Chip made a name for themselves in 2006 with the release of “The Warning,” a delightfully quirky blend of keyboard squiggles, house music and Pet Shop Boys-esque vocals. Boasting several bona-fide dance-floor hits with “Over and Over” and “And I Was a Boy From School,” it became one of the most popular and critically acclaimed albums of that year.

Follow-up album “Made in the Dark” isn’t quite the party album that “The Warning” was, but it offers its own set of charms. Its chief flaw is its lack of an accessible “hit” song – the bouncy “Bendable Posable” and the Prince-apeing “Shake a Fist” come close but fall short of the immediately wonderful electro-pop that was the hallmark of the previous disc.

The album finds Hot Chip slightly more subdued, and more interested in textures and layers rather than filling the dance floor. A few guitars sneak in, as on the driving “One Pure Thought.” Album closer “In the Privacy of Our Love” boasts some interesting drum programming. The pillow-soft vocals of Alexis Taylor shine on “We’re Looking for a Lot of Love,” reminding us that, if anything, Hot Chip is the musical heir to bands such as Erasure and Depeche Mode – albeit the nerdy, indie-pop heir.

“Made in the Dark” has its moments. It’s a good album. It’s just not great.

-EMILY BURNHAM

“Yardcore” (Bodog Music) – Fear Nuttin Band

Springfield, Mass.-based Fear Nuttin Band sets out to prove its name by twisting a flavorful slice of reggae into a hard-rock cocktail.

Vocalists Roosta and Prowla trade lyrics over a traditional hard-rock background of guitar, bass and drums. The duo’s tenor and bass voices work well together, but the rhythmic feel of the vocals does not always mesh cleanly with the rest of the band.

On some tracks (“Enemy,” “Runaway”), Roosta and Prowla show vocal prowess but sound uneven against the instrumentation. The brooding “Pon Di Black,” however, slows things down into a whole, hypnotic groove, and “Fears” injects bouncy rock fun that blends well into the singalong chorus.

Fear Nuttin Band, which has been featured on a reality TV show, “Bodog Music Battle of the Bands,” gives sincere and catchy social commentary on tracks such as “Police State.”

For nontraditional hard rock bands with a cause, Rage Against the Machine has set an imposing precedent. While solid, Fear Nuttin Band doesn’t flaunt any guitar genius on this record. The soulful, crooning guitar rock is more reminiscent of ’80s groundbreaker Living Colour than Sevendust.

With the continued growth of reggaeton’s popularity, the style is bound to influence other musicians. But not every pairing is palatable. Fear Nuttin Band is working on getting it right.

– JUDY LONG

Natasha Bedingfield

“Pocketful of Sunshine”

(Epic/Phonogenic)

Perhaps lyrics from the Brit pop singer’s biggest U.S. hit sums up her fledgling career: “The rest is still unwritten.”

Bedingfield’s second U.S. album, “Pocketful of Sunshine,” does show a lot of promise, however.

Her 2004 debut album “Unwritten” focused on independence and female empowerment, which was quite natural for a young woman making her own way after performing first in her family’s Christian dance-electronic group DNA Algorithm.

This time out, “Pocketful of Sunshine” focuses more on relationships and finding the right man. Good examples include the first single “Love Like This,” and the title track.

That’s not to say that there aren’t message songs on the album, such as “Freckles,” which encourages people to enjoy their idiosyncracies rather than try to imitate celebrities.

“Pocketful of Sunshine” represents quite a change from “N.B.,” her second European album, with only six of those songs coming across the pond after she received much critical panning in the UK.

Some may get on Bedingfield for the upbeat direction of her music, but let’s just be glad that not every young singer out there wants to become a pop tart. Instead, let’s enjoy Bedingfield’s catchy “Pocketful of Sunshine,” and let her do the same.

-DALE MCGARRIGLE

Sons and Daughters

“This Gift”

(Domino)

With so many bands in the indie-rock world increasingly aiming for the middle of the road and a shot at soundtracking the latte consumption at your local Starbucks, it’s refreshing to hear Sons and Daughters singer Adele Bethel belt out her tales of broken relationships and emotional trauma with a distinctive Scottish burr and absolutely no regard for decorum.

Bethel is the shining star of the Glasgow-based quartet, whose third album, “This Gift,” adds a pop sheen to its previously brittle folk-punk sound. The result is an addictive collection of songs from beginning to end, packed with riffs, hooks and melodies. If “This Gift” had come out in the mid-’90s, it would have been inescapable on modern rock radio.

First single, “Gilt Complex,” roars out of the gates, clattering guitar riffs and Meg White-style caveman drums jostling for room with a hyperactive bass line and Bethel’s sneering vocal. “Split Lips” shamelessly steals the piano melody from Patti Smith’s “Because The Night,” but keeps you too busy stomping along to care.

Guitarist and sometime-co-lead singer Scott Paterson grabs the reins on the throttling “Chains,” his “woah-oh-oh” backing vocals adding a touch more madness to Bethel’s own intense delivery. The rollicking “Darling” is pure pop magic and an obvious hit single, if only radio cared about “real” rock bands anymore. (Fortunately, the Internet and music blogs have rendered it obsolete anyway.)

Sons and Daughters doesn’t set a foot wrong over the course of these 12 songs; once the album wraps up (in a concise 40 minutes, I might add), you’ll undoubtedly be tempted to go back to the beginning and enjoy it again.

“This Gift” is just that, an unexpected present for anyone looking for genuine rock thrills during these cold winter months.

-TRAVIS GASS