Hot Chip
Hot Chip are a hard band to pin down. An electronic act that play completely live, they write folk inspired songs about real life and wrap them in delicious pop rhythms but don't take our word for it, this is how the boys describe themselves.
"We started making music because we were bored with alot of other music. We loved the idea of 'pop' music but not the people who make 'pop' music now.
We loved Phil Spector and the Beach Boys, Kraftwerk and Robert Wyatt, Timbaland and Madlib, Brian Eno and Devo, Anti-Pop Consortium and Aphex Twin, Will Oldham and Royal Trux. We decided to make our band different from most electronic music by playing everything live - no backing tracks, no computers."
"We decided to make our music different from most indie music - 4 keyboards and a drum machine, not all guitars. We decided to write folk songs and record them on old synthesizers. We decided to sing honest words about food and love, and try to make people laugh the way you laugh at Richard Pryor in the same song too. We made one album in Joe's bedroom for Moshi Moshi records, then we made another album for EMI still in Joe's bedroom. We used a computer to make them but almost everything on them was played by us with a keyboard on our lap whilst sitting on the bed. We loved dancing to 'foggy Mountain Breakdown' by Flatt and Scruggs, and 'Cut the midrange, drop the bass' by Cylob. We thought pop music should be more imaginative than it is at the moment, that it should affect you and inspire you."
And with the release of their third album Made in the Dark earlier in the year, Hot Chip have continued on their rise through the ranks of the alternative scene. 2008 sees them touring the world to spread the word and also sees them make a triumphant return to Bestival's hallowed main stage for the 4th time (out of 5!) for a show that promises to be more than a little bit special.
www.hotchip.co.uk