Hot Chip release remixes of “Down” + announce UK instores
In April, Hot Chip announced their return with news of their eighth album Freakout/Release – due Aug 19th – as well as the first taste of it with storming single “Down”. They are now pleased to release three new remixes of the track.
First up are Sworn Virgins; signed to Soulwax’s Deewee label the duo have delivered an absolute epic remix. Conjuring up that heady, sweaty and sexy atmosphere of the dancefloor as the idiosyncratic moans of Clams Baker (Warmduscher) are wrapped around a pounding beat and the Universal Togetherness Band’s sample that Hot Chip’s original song builds from. The second remix comes from Sheffield born artist Nyra; a resident DJ at Adonis, he adds an italo-disco hue to “Down” bringing it into the synth-pop world of Bobby O and Pet Shop Boys. And the final remix is courtesy of Selector Dub Narcotic aka Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening) who slows down and distorts the original, adding layers of vocoder whilst uttering “Hot Chip has the answer”.
Upcoming instores
Friday 19th August – Resident @ Chalk, Brighton
Tuesday 23rd August – Rough Trade East, London (DJ set)
Full tour dates listed below
Freakout/Release is another dizzying high in a multi-decade career that’s seen Hot Chip continuing to innovate and develop a rich, resonant songcraft. Written and recorded in the band’s newly minted Relax & Enjoy studio in East London, a creative space that Al Doyle put together before and during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Coalescing in the Relax & Enjoy studio was essential in establishing the album’s lively, full-band sound and marks the first time Hot Chip began work on a new record all together as well as reuniting them in the same room for the first time following their touring behind 2019’s A Bath Full Of Ecstasy.
Fittingly, harnessing Hot Chip’s irreplicable live energy in a studio space was in the front of the band’s mind, as they found themselves particularly inspired by their cover of Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” that’s become a setlist staple. “The idea of being out of control is always there in dance music, in a positive sense,” Doyle explains while discussing the cover’s influence on the new album.
Lyrically, Freakout/Release explores darker emotions than previous Hot Chip albums have, drawing from the personal and the political to chart the ways people survive even amidst immovable struggles. “We were living through a period where it was very easy to feel like people were losing control of their lives in different ways,” Goddard explains. “There’s a darkness that runs through a lot of those tracks.”
Over the last 18 years, Hot Chip have established themselves among similar British luminaries like Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode—a true gap-bridging between the worlds of pop and dance music, with a catalogue of songs that move bodies and touch hearts with equal impact.
Upcoming live dates
16th July – Beat Herder, Clitheroe
5th August – Junction 1 Summer Series, Glasgow
6th August – Wide Skies & Butterflies, Norfolk
21st September – o2 Academy Brixton, London
22nd September – o2 Academy Brixton, London
23rd September – o2 Academy Brixton, London
24th September – o2 Academy Brixton, London
Tickets
Freakout/Release will be available on Dom Mart exclusive orange-coloured double vinyl, Indies exclusive brown-coloured double vinyl, standard double vinyl, CD and digitally. All vinyl editions have an exclusive track “The Most Painful Game”. Pre-order: Dom Mart | Digital