Hot Shots II

The second album was co-produced by the band and Colin Emmanuel, known as C-Swing, and released by Regal on 16 July 2001. Astralwerks issued it in the US the next day. Earlier records had used dense experimentation, and this one had a minimal style influenced by R&B, hip hop and electronica. It reached 13 in the UK, 1 on the UK independent chart and 200 in the US. The Japanese and US editions end with a bonus track, Won.

The Guardian's Maddy Costa heard the band concentrating on what they do best, wondered whether the restraining influence of Emmanuel was behind it, and thought the closing Eclipse eclipsed the nine songs before it. She also found the tone stuck at muted and the tempo lethargic. Pitchfork's Matt LeMay made Al Sharp the standout, praising its xylophones, sampled strings, groovy bassline and multi-tracked vocals, and called the whole a pretty damned fine album, more accessible if less adventurous than its predecessors. Mason said Al Sharp was written during the American presidential campaign and was a composite of American presidents.

Pitchfork later put the album at number 118 on its list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s, and it is included in the 2010 edition of 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It scored 77 out of 100 on Metacritic. Mason later told Record Collector that it was the band doing what they had promised and making something that did not sound like anything else.