Hot Chip are marvelous and I don’t care what you think. The world suffers a disgraceful shortage of indie-rock bands who wish they were techno heroes (Soul Wax...erm...) and Hot Chip are a welcome addition. One itsy-bitsy criticism – the song suffers a threadbare chorus. Window-lick beats and a yammering melody mean we’re prepared to forgive a lot, however.
Poised between the understated electro-sounds of LCD Soundsystem and the playfulness of The Chalets, London’s Hot Chip have struck gold with the lead single from new album The Warning. Like its name implies, the track makes an art out of monotony. There are no inspiring middle eights or climatic finishes. Instead, the same mid-tempo beats are slowly drummed into our heads, before its subtle end, when we wake up from our trance, dust ourselves off and walk away, oddly content.
From the goodtime vibes of Hot Chip to the full-on sonic assault of Primal Scream, this year's Electric Picnic was even more fab than its predecessors.
"...in almost every respect, Made In The Dark is an immaculately poised record, the poptronica super geeks at last striking the perfect balance between head and heart..."
The synth-rock (or electro-indie if you like) bedroom ascetics – who heretofore brought you the charming line “I’m like Stevie Wonder, but I can see things” – have by their own acknowledgement looted the mechanical music museum, spending a lifetime distilling their record collection into manageable, tongue-in-cheek precipitates like whiskey or MSG.
The spiky, boshing nu-electro original is notable only for its eye-catching title. Hot Chip and Ragga Twins pay a sneaky homage to ‘Super Sharp Shooter’ over skippy two-step beats and a wild bassline while Skream unexpectedly/unsuccessfully goes 4/4 electro-house.
A mouth-watering remix package sees Hot Chip, Carl Craig, Kode9 and German artist Tensnake getting stuck into JB’s selections. Hot Chip’s nine-minute take on ‘In The Morning’ is melancholic pop magnificence; Carl Craig’s slow-building, meaty ‘Like A Child’ rework bubbles with menace before the beats drop while Kode 9 (with vocal assistance from Space Ape) flips ‘Double Shadow’ into a dark dubstep monster. Tensnake finishes last with an unexciting electro-house meander.
Eight re-mixes of this track taken from the debut album of Ireland’s answer to Hot Chip might be seven too many for most people. But there’s no denying the skill and studio wizardry going on here especially if you like your tunes to come in different flavours. The ‘Corrugated Tunnel’ mix which is a kind New Order-meets-the Human League stands out among the bunch but with this much choice on offer there’s a version for everyone in the audience.
Internationalist jet-setting dance-pop playboy Sam Sparro has been propelled to ubiquity by the single 'Black And Gold', but he's not above offering HP a bite of his cheese toastie. Ahem.
We hope you're feeling hungry because on September 1, 2 and 3, over 50 of the hottest live acts and DJs around are descending on Stradbally Estate in Laois for the Electric Picnic.
Irish fans will be able to catch a live earful of the new Rapture album when the New Yorkers jet in for the Electric Picnic, who lead the new set of acts on the bill.
As if Gwen Stefani wasn’t enough of an attraction, CSS will be taking care of support duties when the No Doubt woman visits Odyssey Arena, Belfast (October 1) and RDS, Dublin (2).
As it’s back-to-school time, Hit The North thought it would be fun to ask one of our class swots to write a ‘what we did with our summer’ report. So, find below how Rocky from electro-pop duo Oppenheimer spent the last month wooing New York suits, Hells Angels and Jersey cops. If they keep doing their homework, we predict great things this year.
Get your dancing shoes on. Electro newcomers Magistrates are here to rock your blocks off. They talk about hanging out with Damon Albarn, worshipping Michael Jackson and living up to the legacy of heroes like Bowie and Talking Heads
Hot Press is again among the big winners in the latest JNRS results, with an increase of over 50% in readers over the past twelve months making it the best performing magazine in the survey for the second period in a row. This is the sixth six-month period running that Hot Press has increased its reach.
The first batch of acts for Scotland's T In The Park Festival have been announced, giving a strong indication of who'll be coming to Punchestown this year.
Garlanded with muchos praise by the hipster cliques for their edgy electro-pop, Cansei De Ser Sexy arrived in Cork for a Heineken Green Sphere’s event promising a riot of colour and noise.
From the goodtime vibes of Hot Chip to the full-on sonic assault of Primal Scream, this year's Electric Picnic achieved the impossible by being even more fab than its predecessors.
From the goodtime vibes of Hot Chip to the full-on sonic assault of Primal Scream, this year's Electric Picnic was even more fab than its predecessors.
Fresh from strutting their stuff at Oxegen, Kasabian will be joined by The Rapture and Hot Chip to play a special show in Belfast as part of a new Channel 4 music programme.
Think you've got them all right? Or maybe you fancy a sneaky peak (you're only cheating yourself you know!). Either way, you've got the questions – we've got the answers....
America may be a conservative place in many respects – but in fact we owe our modern sense of sexual freedom to great American pioneers, from Alfred Kinsey to Annie Sprinkle…
Music Review | Live
19% | 7 Sep 2006
They said it couldn’t be done, but this year’s Electric Picnic achieved the impossible by being even more joyous, vibey and action-packed than its predecessors. Hot Press was in the thick of things as 200 acts and 30,000 music lovers descended on one very big house in the country.
