‘That Became the Blueprint for What Hot Chip Music Is’: Alexis Taylor Shares the Backstory of Six of the Band’s Biggest Hits

Hot Chip wasn’t sold connected the thought of a top hits album. “We’ve ever been a spot like, ‘Do we truly request to bash that?’ the band’s frontman Alexis Taylor tells Billboard while chatting from the group’s hometown of London. “I conjecture it conscionable didn’t look truthful important to us.”

But the project, which Hot Chip was invited to bash by their longtime statement Domino Records, yet became a mode for the beloved indie dance outfit to reappraisal its history, observe the 20-year day of its 2005 debut Coming On Strong and instrumentality portion successful the thought experimentation of which songs successful the eight-album Hot Chip catalog yet champion specify it.

“I mean, we didn’t person immoderate large rows oregon anything,” says Taylor, “but it wasn’t the easiest determination making process.”

Ultimately the set – Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke and Felix Martin – narrowed it down to 14 songs that implicit the years person travel to specify Hot Chip’s unrecorded shows, experiences that lucifer the intellect, sensitivity and penchant for melancholy that beryllium successful overmuch of the euphony with tempos that request you shingle your ass. As nine and festivalgoers astir the satellite know, Hot Chip shows are a party, and that temper of revelry is what the set attempted to seizure with the enactment they yet decided connected for Joy In Repetition, which was released by Domino connected Sept. 6.

“We were reasoning astir which songs person been indispensable to the unrecorded sets and which songs conscionable ate there, adjacent if they’re not the newest material,” Taylor says. “These are songs that conscionable consciousness similar an indispensable and cardinal portion of the unrecorded show.”

Named aft the lyrics of the band’s 2006 classical “Over and Over,” Joy In Repetition besides includes a brace of remixes – 1 of 2008’s “Ready For the Floor” and 1 of “Devotion,” a caller opus released arsenic portion of the compilation. Taylor says making this caller way was a bully mode for the set to agelong its legs aft a caller interruption and adds that its conscionable a hint of the caller euphony Hot Chip is presently astatine enactment on.

“So this task doesn’t people the extremity of the band,” says Taylor. “With us, there’s ever a caller medium coming.”

Here, Taylor shares the backstory of six Hot Chip essentials.

“Ready for the Floor” (Made successful the Dark, 2008)

“Ready for the Floor” was a demo Joe brought to each of us. The full set was unneurotic erstwhile we worked connected it, and I felt similar determination was a batch of hostility successful the country due to the fact that we’d been trying to marque different opus and it was not truly working. I felt similar Joe was frustrated that it wasn’t working, and you could spot that vexation successful his assemblage language.

As soon arsenic helium played maine and the remainder of the guys the euphony for what became “Ready for the Floor,” I felt it was truthful bully that I could sing words to it instantly close determination connected the spot. Some of those words were precise encouraging, like, “You’re my No. 1 guy.” “We’re acceptable for the floor,” arsenic in, we’re acceptable to marque thing for the creation floor. It’s astir radical coming together. Other words successful it were much astir determination being a benignant of invisible obstruction and tension, similar “I can’t perceive your voice, bash I person a choice?” So it was astir trying to interruption done that connection obstruction successful song.

It came unneurotic truly quickly, and determination were tons of radical decisions and radical vocals and harmonizing and guitar parts. But besides conscionable to concisely retrieve what my beingness was similar astir that time, I deliberation I started going to loads of car footwear ...