Hot Chip

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• Genre: Electropop
• Hometown: London
• Hot Chip Website

About

An underground UK phenomenon rapidly moving their way up the international ranks, Hot Chip began as the two-man production team of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard. The pair made beats and sang their soft falsettos in Goddard's bedroom and released their debut EP, Mexico, on a small London imprint in 2001. Hot Chip evolved their lazy, hip-hop inflected sound over the years, adding scraps of toy percussion and analog synths and taking on new members. They gained critical attention on the strength of 2005's Coming on Strong, their American debut, but it was 2006's Mercury Prize-nominated The Warning that exposed the band now a fulltime four-piece to larger audiences. While their albums are mostly laid back, toe-tapping disco affairs, their live shows are explosive and sweaty, especially for four pasty-white English guys playing synthesizers.

- Jonathan Zwickel