Joe Goddard

Joe Goddard's profound passion for dance music alongside his penchant for offbeat pop has established him as one of the United Kingdom's busiest and most esteemed figures, whether through projects involving Hot Chip, the 2 Bears, and HARD FEELINGS or via his activities as producer, DJ, remixer, and co-founder of the Greco Roman label. Inventive combinations of melodies and rhythms on Hot Chip's 2006 album The Warning opened doors for Goddard's wide array of partnerships, ranging from the propulsive 2011 single "Gabriel" alongside Valentina and the loose-limbed house sound of the 2 Bears' 2012 full-length Be Strong to the 2017 Grammy-nominated rework of the Chemical Brothers' "Wide Open" and the sharp-edged electro-pop of HARD FEELINGS' self-titled 2021 debut. On his own, Goddard highlighted the connective emotional force of music through 2017's Electric Lines and 2024's Harmonics, the latter preceded by the Neptunes EP recorded that same year with synth specialist Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.

Raised by a father whose film-editing work included music videos for acts such as the Cure, Goddard encountered both pop sounds and the tools behind their production during childhood. At Putney's Elliott School in 1991 he encountered Alexis Taylor, bonding through shared appreciation of the Beastie Boys plus American indie singer/songwriters including Will Oldham and Bill Callahan; the pair also began crafting original material and received guidance from fellow student Kieran Hebden of Four Tet. Goddard's listening habits soon expanded to encompass jungle, house, drum 'n' bass, and garage, elements that surfaced once he and Taylor launched Hot Chip in earnest in 2000. The lineup expanded into a complete group with the arrival of Owen Clarke, Al Doyle, and Felix Martin, issuing their first album Coming on Strong in 2004 on Moshi Moshi. Hot Chip achieved wider recognition two years later with The Warning, a more cohesive realization of their clever electro-pop that earned gold certification in the U.K. and a Mercury Prize nomination while the tracks "Over and Over" and "Boy from School" reached the domestic Top 40.

Goddard launched Greco Roman in 2007 as a dedicated home for his house-music interests, beginning with David E. Sugar's 12-inch "Oi New York, This Is London" and later featuring Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Drums of Death, and Disclosure. He maintained equilibrium between Hot Chip's rising profile—their 2008 album Made in the Dark reached the U.K. Top 10 and its single "Ready for the Floor" received a Grammy nomination—and his independent endeavors, producing Little Boots' Hands in 2009, forming the house-and-techno duo the 2 Bears with Raf Rundell, and delivering his own debut solo album Harvest Festival on Greco Roman. Amid Hot Chip's 2010 release One Life Stand and 2 Bears EPs, Goddard issued further singles on his label, among them the 2011 U.K. chart success "Gabriel," while also handling production for rapper Dels' Gob that year.

Throughout 2012 Goddard stayed active as Hot Chip unveiled its varied fifth album In Our Heads and the 2 Bears delivered their debut full-length Be Strong. The next year he contributed production to a track on Franz Ferdinand's Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action and put out the solo single "Taking Over." The 2 Bears returned in 2014 with The Night Is Young, a set shaped by travels in South Africa, while Hot Chip reemerged in 2015 with the post-punk and disco-inflected Why Make Sense?. Goddard joined Michael Mayer for the 2016 !K7 single "For You" and partnered with Mixhell on that year's Crocodile Boots EP. He participated in the supergroup A Pulse Train alongside Floating Points and Caribou's Dan Snaith for the EP Tactus Tempus, then issued his second solo album Electric Lines in 2017, which peaked at number 77 on the U.K. albums chart; additionally, his remix of the Chemical Brothers' "Wide Open" earned a Grammy nomination. He produced a song for bandmate Taylor's 2018 album Beautiful Thing and teamed with Matthew Dear and Eats Everything for the September single "Love Games."

Goddard rejoined Hot Chip for the restrained 2019 album A Bathful of Ecstasy yet sustained a high volume of outside work, including 2019 singles with Mixhell and Lyzza. With Marcus Marr and Justin Strauss he created Extra Credit, whose Emotional Make Up EP appeared late that year. Lightbox of Magic Unknowledge, featuring Igor Cavalera and Laima Leyton, debuted with 2019's L M U EP and followed with L M U Volume Two the subsequent year. Also in 2020 Goddard collaborated with former Wild Beasts vocalist Hayden Thorpe on the single "Unknown Song." Further singles with Franky Rizardo and Lyzza arrived in 2021 alongside production duties on Teleman's Sweet Morning EP and the self-titled debut from HARD FEELINGS, his electro-pop project with Horse Meat Disco vocalist Amy Douglas. Hot Chip released Freakout/Release in 2022 while Goddard produced material for Talk Show, Warmduscher, and Sparkling. In 2023 he issued the singles "Do It All Again" and "Loverboy" with singer/songwriter Fiorious, who also featured on Goddard's ensuing solo album. Harmonics, released in July 2024, delved into instinctive creativity and styles spanning disco, U.K. garage, house, and hip-hop, incorporating appearances from Guinean vocalist Falle Nioke, Ibibio Sound Machine, Thorpe, and Hot Chip members Taylor and Doyle. Neptunes, an EP with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, emerged on Domino's collaborative imprint Smugglers Way.