Hot Chip
Apart from guitarist Al Doyle from Leeds (ooh, outsider...), the rest of Hot Chip - Alexis Taylor on guitars and keys, Joe Goddard on synths and percussion, Owen Clarke on synths and Felix Martin on drum machines respectively - all hail from London. Their lives were utterly boring, barren, devoid of worth dwelling on whatsoever until the 2004 release of their debut album as Hot Chip, \'Coming on Strong\' on Moshi Moshi. It had a song on it, \'Down With Prince\', built around a credible moan focusing on how other members of their electro-pop scene spent most of their time brown nosing the Paisley Prince rather than attempting to pen tunes that surpassed the pint sized purple one\'s own work. A whole scene thought \'that sounds about right\', and started paying attention.
Not content with limiting themselves to one scene, and as such potentially becoming candidates for the kind of mild, cheeky vitriol they had themselves directed against the less inspired of their kin, Hot Chip began branching out, Taylor boasting that "traces of RTX, Anti-Pop Consortium, \'I\'m Your Man\' era-Leonard Cohen, Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty, MadLib and Will Oldham, for example, may all be somewhere in one song, rather than becoming the blueprint for an entire album." The game had a name, and that game\'s name was eclecticism.
Apologies. We went a bit \'E! True Hollywood Story\' on you there for a moment. But unlike those tantalising tales of rags to riches to rags again, things weren\'t about to take a turn for the worse. The potential hinted at on \'Coming on Strong\' was more than fulfilled in 2006\'s \'The Warning\', released on EMI here in the UK and on uber-cool dance punk label DFA (home to The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem and Black Dice amongst others) over in the states.
With dancefloor fillers \'Over & Over\' and \'Boy From School\' sharing a disc with the contemplative likes of \'Colours\' (released as a single on August 14th - this coming Monday, chaps), brazen attack of \'Arrest Yourself\' and the title track\'s assertion that \'Hot Chip will break your legs, snap off your head\', it\'s a record with humour, vibrancy and the distinct presence of a very human heart beating underneath its pretty, synthesised exterior. A Mercury Music prize nomination followed, and subsequently did our assertion that we really think the prize should go their way. Investigate, and agree.
HOT CHIP OFFICIAL: The most up to date news, tour dates, garish colour schemes and the opportunity to listen to \'The Warning\' in full is a gift horse, the looking in to the mouth of which is not advised.
MY HOT, CHIPPY SPACE: \'Reggaeton / Bluegrass / Turntablism\', they describe themselves as here. The weird thing is we can\'t really argue! The wallpaper here\'s bloody lovely, as is the video for \'Over and Over\', the songs, and all their bezzie mates.
MOSHI MOSHI: \'˜Yeah, but, like, I knew them when they were on Moshi Moshi, mate, none of this \'Over and over and over and blah blah\' rubbish, I was \'Down With Prince\', which makes me better than you...\' - If you want to carry off conversations such as this, you\'ll need to check out the website of the first label to unleash their craft on the world. Be warned - you\'re a prat.
\'COLOURS\' VID: August 14th will see shelf after shelf adorned with Hot Chip\'s new single. Here\'s the video.
\'THE WARNING\': We\'d been dancing in clubs to \'Over and Over\' for ages, but even we didn\'t expect Hot Chip\'s sophomore effort to be full of as much variety and emotion as this. It was superb, we raved embarrassingly about it, as we so often do.
MERCURY MUSIC PRIZE SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED: Here\'s how we reported the unveiling of those in the running for this coveted award, and pinned our allegiance to the \'Chip right away.
CARLING WEEKEND 2006: The lads will provide what will surely be one of the most anticipated sets at this year\'s Carling Weekend. See who you can waste the rest of the weekend watching whilst you await their arrival on stage.