CityLife

Hot Chip are hip geeks of choice

POPTASTIC: Hot Chip

SINCE Hot Chip burst into the big time with their infectious dance floor filler Over And Over, the musical climate has undergone something of a sea change.

Then the illuminous and nerdy sore thump of pop surrounded by a sea of sharp-suited – and even sharper coiffed – indie boys, Hot Chip were a peculiar spectacle lined up behind their Korgs and Yamahas in a Littlewoods range of winter woollies.

Two years on, and it’s hip to be square. Which makes Hot Chip trailblazers (in blazers). How does their bearded co-frontman Joe Goddard feel about the nouveau pop crowd?

“I saw Alphabeat interviewed on a programme the other day and they were talking about being pop music,” he muses, unconvinced.

“That’s always what we’ve said and what we loved, great pop music, and I’m pleased to see people not being ashamed of that.

“There’s lots of reasons why people have bad mouthed pop music. I guess Oasis and Britpop was the last time people identified something as pop, but it wasn’t, it was just noisy indie boys.

"People think pop means Westlife or manufactured pop, but it doesn’t have to be.

“I think the new Kanye West song, Love Lockdown, is very catchy and has a new pop sound. It’s hard to lead those big changes, but when people pull it off it’s so thrilling – like the first time you heard Donna Summer sing I Feel Love.

Cynical

“But as I get older, I’m more cynical about these things. I notice there’s only a handful of real pop geniuses out there.”

Hmmm… Joe is a little less impressed than CityLife expected.

Perhaps he’s just tired from a year of tireless touring with bandmates Alexis Taylor, Owen Clarke, Felix Martin and Al Doyle? Or maybe he’s shrunk one of those trademark sweaters? 

Whatever the cause of this scepticism, it doesn’t stop Joe from being remarkably talkative. He enthuses about the fourth LP the band are currently working on – the still untitled follow up to Top 5 album Made In The Dark.

They’ve squeezed in writing and recording sessions between appearances, meaning Album Four has a little of the home studio feel of The Warning and a little of Made In The Dark’s polish.

“We want to make something more simple,” Joe explains. “More melodically beautiful. And more singing – I’m thinking like classic Fleetwood Mac or the Beach Boys, songs that are about strong vocals.

“The idea is to create something that has a bit more of a flow and distinct sound, so we might go into the studio and re-record the whole thing.

“The album as an art form as we know it is dead. I flick through songs on my iPod like everyone else. So we want to create a record that works as a whole – which is typical of us, while everyone else is stopping doing something, we get interested.”

Chaka Khan

That, though, is why they’ve become such a talked about band. No one could doubt how far they’ve come in such a short time; this summer, they shared stages with Chaka Khan and Wiley (the man behind Wearing My Rolex) and even managed a weighty crowd at Glastonbury in a head-to-head listings battle with Amy Winehouse. 

The highlight? “Going to Björk’s backstage bash,” Joe laughs. “She has a clause in her contract where the festival have to set up a sound system in her backstage area and she will just DJ there until 6am!”

Events like that mean Joe and co haven’t fallen out of love with touring. Which is a good job, because they’re currently back on the road in the UK and hit Manchester again on Saturday.

When we meet, Joe’s sporting a sedate Diesel jumper given to him while the band were on tour. Which makes us wonder: what winter wardrobe is he packing for his trip up north?

“You’ve definitely got to have a good selection of cardigans in your touring case,” he laughs. “Knitwear is increasingly important as we enter winter.

“And lots of vodka.”

Hot Chip play the Apollo on Saturday, November 1, £16.50. Wiley, Max Tundra support. They will also be DJing at The Warehouse Project afterwards.