Squirrel Nut Zippers | Hot | Vinyl

Recorded in October 1995 as a deliberate homage to vintage jazz records and released on Mammoth in 1996, Hot found the Chapel Hill sextet — led by Jimbo Mathus and Katharine Whalen — fusing 1920s and ’30s hot jazz, swing, and gypsy influences with an alternative-rock era sensibility. The surprise crossover single ‘Hell,’ with its calypso-tinged brimstone lyrics, climbed alternative radio charts and helped push the album to platinum certification and No. 27 on the Billboard 200, an unlikely feat for a band built around tenor banjo, baritone sax, and clarinet. The album also features ‘Put a Lid on It’ and guest violin from a young Andrew Bird, and its retro aesthetic helped spark a broader late-’90s swing revival alongside bands like Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. This 20th-anniversary edition celebrates Hot’s unlikely journey from lo-fi novelty to platinum-selling neo-swing landmark.

Track List

Side A

1. Got My Own Thing Now
2. Put a Lid on It
3. Memphis Exorcism
4. Twilight
5. It Ain’t You
6. Prince Nez

Side B

1. Hell
2. Meant to Be
3. Bad Businessman
4. Flight of the Passing Fancy
5. Blue Angel
6. The Interlocutor

Release Details

• UPC: 0050087347260
• Label: MAMMOTH RECORDS
• Format: LP Vinyl — 20TH Anniversary Edition
• Genre: Jazz
• Release Date: 7/29/2016