Hot Chip

With their incisive, emotionally resonant compositions paired to the instantly identifiable singing of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard, Hot Chip fuse indie and dance elements through fresh approaches. The group summoned the sharp wit of Talking Heads alongside the emotional depth of the Pet Shop Boys on their initial releases, among them the Mercury Prize-nominated The Warning from 2006. Over subsequent years the sound of Hot Chip expanded and gained greater emotional range, taking in the gentle reflections on lasting partnership heard on 2010's One Life Stand together with the free-ranging stylistic collisions of 2015's Why Make Sense?. Although they amassed only a modest collection of chart successes, among them the Grammy-nominated "Ready for the Floor" from the 2008 album Made in the Dark, Hot Chip cultivated an audience large enough to secure festival headlining slots, a development mirrored in the rave-inflected anthems of 2019's A Bath Full of Ecstasy. Entering their third decade, the band explored darker yet still rhythmic terrain on 2022's Freakout/Release as well as the non-album single "Fire of Mercy" alongside Yunè Pinku.

Vocalists and multi-instrumentalists Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor first crossed paths in 1991 as students at Putney's Elliott School. There they connected through shared admiration for the Beastie Boys and American indie singer/songwriters including Will Oldham and Bill Callahan, while also beginning to create their own music under the guidance of schoolmate Kieran Hebden of Four Tet. Even after enrolling at separate universities in 1999, with Taylor reading English at Cambridge and Goddard studying history at Oxford, the pair sustained their partnership and incorporated fresh influences drawn from U.K. garage, pop, and R&B.

Goddard and Taylor formally launched Hot Chip in 2000. That March they issued the Mexico EP, a hypnotic blend of barely audible pulsing techno rhythms, acoustic guitars, and delicate piano lines, on Victory Garden Records. Following graduation they delivered the more playful Sanfrandisco E-Pee in October 2002, which incorporated elements such as beatboxing. The release attracted Moshi Moshi Records, the label that put out Hot Chip's debut album Coming on Strong in 2004. At that point the project expanded into a full band with the arrival of Owen Clarke, Al Doyle, and Felix Martin.

Before recording their follow-up, Hot Chip joined EMI Records in the U.K. and DFA Records in the U.S., the latter issuing The Warning stateside in late 2005 via a co-release with Astralwerks. When The Warning appeared in May 2006 it expanded the group's sonic palette. Besides reaching number 34 on the U.K. Albums Chart and number 13 on Billboard's Top Electronic Albums chart, the album drew widespread praise that encompassed a Mercury Prize nomination and eventual gold certification in the U.K. The singles "Over and Over" and "Boy from School" also entered the U.K. Top 40. Hot Chip followed with a DJ-Kicks mix album in 2007. They returned with Made in the Dark in February 2008, which showcased some of their most concentrated rhythms and brightest melodies yet. That set climbed to number four on the U.K. Albums Chart and earned gold status like its predecessor. The single "Ready for the Floor" reached number six on the U.K. Singles Chart and received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording. Closing out the year, Hot Chip released Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt and Geese, a collaboration with the singer/songwriter and string quartet that reinterpreted and reworked tracks from Made in the Dark.

Once the supporting tour concluded, Hot Chip commenced work on their fourth album in early 2009. They enlisted This Heat drummer Charles Hayward, the Invisible's Leo Taylor, and Trinidadian steel pan player Fimber Bravo to introduce varied percussion approaches on One Life Stand, which surfaced in February 2010. Beyond strong reviews, the record rose to number 11 on the U.K. Albums Chart and topped the U.K. Dance Albums Chart; in the U.S. it reached number five on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart.

The members of Hot Chip subsequently paused to explore separate endeavors. These encompassed About Group, a project uniting Taylor with Hayward and Spring Heel Jack's John Coxon; Goddard's 2 Bears alongside producer Raf Rundell; and Doyle and Martin's New Build. In 2012 Hot Chip moved to Domino Records, which issued the buoyant, expansive fifth album In Our Heads that June; it peaked at number 14 on the U.K. Albums Chart. The Dark and Stormy EP arrived the following year.

Hot Chip resurfaced in May 2015 with Why Make Sense?, again working with In Our Heads collaborator Mark Ralph while traversing territory from disco through '90s R&B to post-punk. The album became a U.K. top 20 entry and reached number three on Billboard's Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart. For the next record the band drew on experiences including parenthood and their contributions to Katy Perry's 2017 album Witness. They enlisted outside producers Philippe Zdar and Rodaidh McDonald for the first time to refine their material. The outcome, A Bath Full of Ecstasy, appeared on Domino in June 2019. It attained number 11 on the U.K. Albums Chart and number 12 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart. The subsequent October saw the release of their Late Night Tales mix, a spacious collection containing four previously unreleased pieces, among them their version of the Velvet Underground's "Candy Says." In 2021 Taylor and Goddard focused on solo work, with Taylor delivering the album Silence and Goddard unveiling the self-titled debut from HARD FEELINGS, his electro-pop duo with Horse Meat Disco vocalist Amy Douglas. Hot Chip reemerged in 2022, producing Ibibio Sound Machine's Electricity while issuing their own album Freakout/Release that August. A darker collection examining both liberating and unsettling aspects of surrender, it was tracked at the band's East London studio Relax & Enjoy and included contributions from Lou Hayter, Soulwax, and Cadence Weapon. The year after, they teamed with producer and songwriter Yunè Pinku on the independent single "Fire of Mercy."