Hot Chip are an English synthpop band formed in London in 2000. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally joined by former member Rob Smoughton for live performances and studio recordings. The group primarily produces music in the synth-pop and alternative dance genres, drawing influences from house and disco.
Outside of Hot Chip, the band members, individually and in partnership with each other, are active in other musical acts and occasionally perform DJ sets.
History
2000–2005: Early releases and Coming on Strong
Hot Chip were formed around 2000 by the duo of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard, who met as students at Elliott School, Putney.[1] With a shared love of R&B and house music, they started collaborating on music around 1998, initially playing in a more stripped back acoustic style before gradually becoming more electronic over time.[2] Early formative releases included 2001's Mexico EP on Victory Garden Records (VG14),[3] and the self-released San Frandisco EP in 2002.[4] After years of self-releasing records, they signed with Moshi Moshi in 2003 and released their debut LP Coming on Strong in 2004.[5] During this period, they were joined by Owen Clarke, Felix Martin and Al Doyle. They started working on their second album and signed a UK and US record deal with DFA Records and EMI. DFA and Astralwerks released their debut album for the first time in the United States in late 2005.
In 2006, Hot Chip released their second album, The Warning. Now signed to EMI in the United Kingdom, the band gained more mainstream appeal as well as the attention of critics. The album was shortlisted for the 2006 Nationwide Mercury Prize and was Mixmag's Album of the Year 2006.[8] This album spawned also two UK top 40 singles: "Over and Over" in March 2006 and "Boy from School" in May 2006. "Over and Over" received attention for its music video, which was directed by Nima Nourizadeh, and was also named as the best single of 2006 by British music magazine NME.[9]
Having completed a world tour in February 2009, Hot Chip returned to London and began writing and recording their fourth album, One Life Stand.
In early 2009, Alexis Taylor told NME that the band recorded new songs including "Alley Cats", which the band played regularly while touring in 2008/2009. Initially, Taylor hinted that the album was going to be "a bit calmer this time" in comparison to Made in the Dark with songs that are "more mid-tempo and disco influenced", although the two tracks released prior to the album, "Take It In" and "One Life Stand", suggest that it will be more upbeat than first suggested, and may be more influenced by early house music.[13] Alongside the regular band members, Hot Chip collaborated on several of the album tracks with the drummer Charles Hayward from This Heat[14] and Camberwell Now, Leo Taylor, drummer from the London-based band The Invisible[15] and the Trinidadian steel pan player Fimber Bravo.
Their self-produced fifth studio album In Our Heads was released on 11 June 2012 by Domino.[16]
About the album, Taylor stated, "I think In Our Heads was a bit speedier, and made with less pressure, but more fun – partly due to people in the band not having too many hang ups about how good the material was – we seemed to be happy with the songs we were writing and they came quickly – and partly due to the fact that we had been enjoying ourselves elsewhere, whether at home, or on tour, or recording with our other projects, or DJing. I think that is right about [having a] subtler confidence, but it may also be that we are a bit more accepted these days as we keep doing what we want, and gradually people stop saying 'why' to everything and each decision. The songwriting developed quickly from songs that were dreamt ('Now There is Nothing'); songs that were written via email file sending (fully fleshed out instrumentals from Joe developing into songs with added percussion/chord changes and singing by me; e.g. 'Flutes'); songs that we bashed out in collaborative writing sessions between Joe and myself ('Don't Deny Your Heart', 'How Do You Do?'); songs that one or the other of us wrote largely separately 'These Chains'– Joe/'Look at Where We Are'- Alexis); songs that a few of us in the room wrote more of: 'Dark and Stormy', or to some extent "Let Me Be Him" (at least in chorus terms); or finally songs that were written after we completed the last album and which were still in our minds: 'Always Been Your Love', 'Doctor'."[17] "Dark and Stormy" has been since released as a non-album single.
2014–2018: Why Make Sense?
Hot Chip performing at Lollapalooza in 2015
On 10 February 2015, the band announced their sixth studio album, Why Make Sense? and released the first single, "Huarache Lights". The album was released on 18 May 2015.[18]
2019–2021: A Bath Full of Ecstasy
On 4 April 2019, the band announced that their seventh studio album, A Bath Full of Ecstasy, would be released on 21 June 2019. The first single from the album, "Hungry Child", was released on the same day.[19] They released the second single, "Melody of Love", on 29 May 2019.[20]
On 23 October 2020, the band released the single "Straight to the Morning", featuring Jarvis Cocker.
2022–present: Freakout/Release
It was announced on 19 April 2022 that Hot Chip would release their eighth studio album Freakout/Release on 19 August 2022, with the lead single "Down" preceding the release. The announcement coincided with Hot Chip's US, UK and European tour, which began in San Francisco on 19 April 2022.[21] They released a second single, "Eleanor", on 7 July 2022, which is about Samuel Beckett driving André the Giant to school.[22]
Tours and appearances
Joe Goddard at Popaganda Music Festival 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden
The band is also known for its DJ talent; they have released several mix CDs and mixes for national and international radio stations and they all DJ regularly worldwide.
Hot Chip released a DJ-Kicks compilation album in 2007, and the mix album A Bugged Out Mix by Hot Chip in 2009 on the Bugged Out label.[26]
In 2007 some official remixes were released, which they produced for Kraftwerk.[27][28]
In 2008, the band released an EP which included collaborations with Robert Wyatt. Wyatt sang and reworked versions of three tracks from Made in the Dark, and the Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt and Geese EP also included a remix by Geese, a string quartet based in London who have regularly contributed to Hot Chip's recordings.[29]
Alexis Taylor released a solo album in 2008, Rubbed Out, which saw him focusing more on the fundamental sounds used by Hot Chip. This led to a more downtempo and bluesy album than his works with Hot Chip.[30]
Felix Martin – drum machines, synthesizer, programming (2004–present)
Former members
Rob Smoughton (aka "Grovesnor") (2001–2003) - Left to start the solo project Grovesnor. In 2009 he returned as the band's drummer for the One Life Stand tour and in 2012 moved to guitar, bass, percussion, backing vocals and synths. He appears in the videos for "Night and Day", "Don't Deny Your Heart" and "Down" and regularly records with the band, featuring more prominently from the album In Our Heads onwards.
Sarah Jones – drums, backing vocals, began playing live drums and backing vocals for Hot Chip's 2012 tour and featured in their official music video for "Night and Day" directed by Peter Serafinowicz; left the band sometime prior to A Bath Full of Ecstasy (2019) to join the backing band for Harry Styles[33]
Charles Hayward – drums
Fimber Bravo – steelpan
Jim Orso – drums during US tours, Fallon/Kimmel appearances, and Coachella week 2 in 2012–2013
Hot Chip were parodied in an episode of pre-school children's TV show Hey Duggee, as an a capella band Hot Cheep, made up of four birds.
The band was mentioned in a series 8 episode of Peep Show, with Mark playing the Name Game and incorrectly guessing their name as Hot Potato.
Their song "Flutes" from their 2012 album In Our Heads was featured in the re-release of Grand Theft Auto V on the fictional radio station Radio Mirror Park.
Their song "Straight to the Morning", featuring Jarvis Cocker, appeared in the game Forza Horizon 5 on the fictional radio station Horizon Pulse.
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