bar italia Some Like It Hot
bar italia's Some Like It Hot arrives as a bolder, cleaner statement that pushes the trio from foggy intrigue toward arena-aspirant rock and stylized glamour. Critics parsing the record's nine professional reviews find the album at once more polished and less mysteriously alluring, with a consensus that rewards its biggest thrills while questioning the cost of newfound clarity.
Across reviews that produced a 69/100 consensus score from nine professional reviews, critics consistently praise several standout tracks as the album's chief proofs of concept. “rooster” emerges repeatedly as the record's centerpiece for its driving bass, swelling feedback and stadium-ready crescendo; reviewers also flag “I Make My Own Dust”, “Fundraiser” and “Cowbella” for marrying hooks to grit. Praise centers on tightened production, widened dynamic range, vocal interplay and moments of glamour and satire that turn into genuinely anthemic passages. Where songs like “Marble Arch” and “Plastered” offer intimate counterpoints, critics agree the album's shift toward cleaner power-chord pop and retro pastiche sometimes flattens the unsettling tension that made earlier work distinctive.
The critical picture is mixed rather than unanimous: some reviewers celebrate the band’s growth from touring and the record's unpredictable peaks, while others argue the polish trades away mystique and leaves several tracks feeling underwritten. For readers wondering what the best songs on Some Like It Hot are, the consensus points to “rooster”, “I Make My Own Dust” and “Fundraiser” as the clearest highlights. In sum, the collection stakes a confident, often thrilling new direction for bar italia, even as professional reviews debate whether that direction sacrifices the band's earlier menace and mystery.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
rooster
9 mentions
"it comes into play for “Rooster” as well, in the palm-muted guitars and wandering vocals of yesterday’s new wave"— Dusted Magazine
Cowbella
6 mentions
"Observe the Cars-like tension of “Cowbella,” a staccato yelp running straight into a wall of guitar noise"— Dusted Magazine
I Make My Own Dust
8 mentions
"building their voices and riffs to towering heights on the standouts "I Make My Own Dust" and "Rooster"— AllMusic
it comes into play for “Rooster” as well, in the palm-muted guitars and wandering vocals of yesterday’s new wave
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Fundraiser
Marble Arch
bad reputation
Cowbella
I Make My Own Dust
Plastered
rooster
the lady vanishes
Lioness
omni shambles
Eyepatch
Some Like It Hot
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 10 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
bar italia arrive on Some Like It Hot with a clearer, bolder sound that lets standout tracks breathe. The review singles out “I Make My Own Dust” and “Rooster” as towering moments where voices and riffs swell, while “Plastered” shows the band pared back to heartbroken whispers. The record's cleaner production and widened dynamic range make the best songs on Some Like It Hot ring with newfound confidence and tension between rawness and sophistication.
Key Points
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The best song moments like "I Make My Own Dust" stand out through widened dynamics and towering riffs.
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The album's core strength is its cleaner production that expands dynamic range and heightens tension between rawness and sophistication.
Themes
Critic's Take
In his energetic appraisal Rob Sheffield sings the praises of bar italia's Some Like It Hot, insisting the best songs - notably “Marble Arch” and “I Make My Own Dust” - are where the band's seductive guitar buzz and emotional turmoil collide. Sheffield keeps his sentences punchy and vivid, calling the album “one of the year’s kickiest indie-rock thrillers” while parsing the languid vocals and steamy guitars that make tracks like “Marble Arch” and “I Make My Own Dust” stand out. He frames the record as cockier and steamier than their past work, and makes a clear case for those songs as the album's best tracks because of their melodic bite and accelerating grooves. The result reads like a compact love letter to the band's moody, melodramatic flair and why listeners searching for the best songs on Some Like It Hot should start with those cuts.
Key Points
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The best song is a hook-forward track like "Marble Arch" because of its vivid metropolitan angst and vocal climax.
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The album's core strengths are seductive guitar textures, languid but emotional vocals, and a mix of postpunk, Britpop and shoegaze influences.
Themes
Critic's Take
In his vivid account Ben Broyd frames bar italia's Some Like It Hot as a band hitting full-bodied conviction, singling out tracks such as “Fundraiser” and “rooster” as the album's best songs for their compelling hooks and belting guitar solo. He praises the gentler best tracks like “Marble Arch” and “Eyepatch” for their haunting intimacy and infectious riffs, while noting the record's genre-fluid strengths on cuts like “bad reputation” and “I Make My Own Dust”. The result reads as an album that balances performance and vulnerability, and answers the question of the best tracks on Some Like It Hot with both muscular rockers and hushed closers.
Key Points
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The standout best song is “rooster” for its belting guitar solo and powerful outro that showcase production command.
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The album's core strengths are its balance of muscular rockers and hushed, intimate moments, and its confident genre-fluid storytelling.
Themes
Critic's Take
In Jennifer Kelly's brisk, observant voice the best tracks on Some Like It Hot are the bruising, immediate moments like “Cowbella” and “rooster” which marry lounge-y irony to full-on guitar nastiness. Kelly writes with a critic's ear for contrast, praising how “Cowbella” yelps into a wall of noise while “rooster” drifts from Cars-like palm-muted guitars into Nirvana-sized billows. She also flags calmer pleasures, noting the dream-pop drift of “the lady vanishes” and the Julee Cruise-ish hush of “Plastered”, but emphasizes that the album's real power is its unpredictability. This review answers the question of the best songs on Some Like It Hot by pointing listeners to the abrasive highs that define Bar Italia right now.
Key Points
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The best song moments are noisy, unpredictable tracks like "Cowbella" that pair lounge-y hooks with ferocious guitar.
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The album's core strengths are its balance of lounge irony and rock nastiness and its relish for sudden, satisfying turns.
Themes
mu
Critic's Take
At their most combustible - think the palm-mute punk of “Cowbella” and the sleazy fuzz of “Fundraiser” - the band are irresistible, even if some piano-led detours like “Plastered” and “the lady vanishes” feel less certain. Overall, the record's grandeur and vocal multiplicity make the best tracks on Some Like It Hot feel like revelations rather than retrograde moves.
Key Points
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The best song, "I Make My Own Dust," is best for its raw, divine vocal climax and arena-scale aggression.
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The album's core strengths are its maximalist, stadium-ready noise-pop and striking multi-vocal crescendos.
Themes
Critic's Take
bar italia's Some Like It Hot finds the band sharper and clearer than before, and the best songs - notably “Fundraiser” and “rooster” - showcase that newfound focus. The reviewer praises opener “Fundraiser” for how it "slowly layers" hooks until it barrels forward, and singles out “rooster” for its furious-to-dreamlike swing. Even tracks like “bad reputation” and “omni shambles” are lauded as excellent indie moments, though the record sometimes sacrifices the band’s earlier phantom oddities. Overall the album's strongest moments are the playful, cinematic scenes where the band’s craft and chemistry leap into sharp, immediate songs.
Key Points
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Opener "Fundraiser" is the best song because it layers hooks into an unprecedented, barreling momentum that exemplifies the album's clarity.
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The album’s core strengths are sharpened songwriting, cinematic playfulness, and a clearer, more immediate indie-guitar pop sound.
Themes
Critic's Take
bar italia push a new, more marketable direction on Some Like It Hot, but the best songs - “bad reputation” and “rooster” - show why their earlier intrigue mattered. The reviewer praises the hypnotic waltz and lyrical mania of “bad reputation”, and the driving bass and feedback bloom of “rooster” feels like the record's true payoff. Elsewhere, tracks such as “Fundraiser” and “Marble Arch” suffer from forgettable instrumentals or fumbling riffs, which undermines the album's attempts at storytelling. Overall, the few standout moments cannot quite rescue a clumsy indie-rock pivot that loses the band’s distinctive spark.
Key Points
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“bad reputation” is the album’s best song because its hypnotic waltz and lyrical mania recapture the band’s alluring je ne sais quoi.
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The album’s core strength is occasional strong songwriting and vivid storytelling, but inconsistent instrumentals and a flattened sound undermine the record.
Critic's Take
The reviewer frames bar italia’s Some Like It Hot as a band trying to trade shadowy charm for cleaner power-chord pop, and it lands unevenly. They single out “Fundraiser” and “Rooster” as emblematic — the former feels Oasis-trained and the latter’s chord work is compelling but flattened by a singalong chorus. They praise guitar interplay on “Eyepatch” and the angsty arpeggios of “I Make My Own Dust”, but argue the album lacks the unnerving tension that once made the band compelling. Overall, the best tracks are those where the old scruff shines through the polish, even if too often the record favors sterile release over haunted build.
Key Points
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The best song is "I Make My Own Dust" because its chord-arpeggio tension recalls the band's former unnerving power.
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The album's core strength is cleaner production and guitar interplay, but it loses mystique and undercooks necessary tension.
Themes
Critic's Take
bar italia’s Some Like It Hot often dazzles in surface flash, but the best tracks - notably “Fundraiser” and “Cowbella” - only intermittently justify the hype, their retro nods and chugging grooves offering the album’s clearest pleasures. The reviewer’s tone is cutting and sardonic, describing moments of late-Britpop b-roll and a chuggy groove that “slaps a bit on impact”, while arguing the record is too keen to be fashionable rather than substantial. Where the title track and “Plastered” evoke 1960s louche charm, the lyrical thinness and production distancing often leave vocals feeling dislocated and the songs underwritten. Overall, the assessment answers which are the best tracks on Some Like It Hot by privileging those with immediate hooks and retro warmth, even as the review insists the album mostly trades in style over meaningful content.
Key Points
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Cowbella is the best song because it injects immediate fun and a chuggy groove that briefly overcomes the album’s stylistic shallowness.
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The album’s core strength is its stylish, retro-flavoured production and art-fashion positioning, but its weakness is thin, underwritten songwriting.