8. Hot ChipOne Life Stand
I first met Hot Chip through Japanese-born musician and producer Susumu Mukai (known as Zongamin). Alexis Taylor had played a track written by Susumu and myself on a radio show and then they invited me to play on their cover version of Joy Division’s ‘Transmission’ for the War Child Presents Heroes charity album they were doing. To be honest, I never even knew what kind of music they played until I reached the studio, but I loved what they did on the track. The band sounded tight with great chopping riffs, and I really liked them as people, especially Alexis, and ended up asking if he would sing on my next album Con-Fusion.
It’s difficult to choose a favourite track on One Life Stand, I think it is ‘Thieves in the Night’, the organ is like something from a Blackpool ballroom. The song has some great guitar effects and Donna Summer disco drive with a fairground wall of sound. On One Life Stand you can hear Hot Chip’s great original brand – the lyrics are clever using the vocals with three or four changes, inter-crossing them with waves of chopping synths underneath. And then there’s that light high pitched dominant sweet voice of Alexis that so touches people.
