NiteTalk: Hot Chip's Felix Martin Shares Party Playlist

The key to a great party is simple: Dim the lights and make sure you can hear the music over everyone's chatter. In the case of Hot Chip's recent takeover in NYC, including a packed free secret MySpace show at the Highline Ballroom, these UK boys dimmed the lights down low, cranked up the volume, and evoked the beams of light hitting a disco ball in the background with their sound. But for your own personal shindig, just throw on the track listed below by Hot Chip's beat master Felix Martin.

When it comes to performing what's more fun: DJing or live band performance? Performing live with other musicians when it goes well is an infinitely more satisfying experience and one that we all very much missed after a year away from touring. DJing is a more focused, lonely task that can still become more than the sum of its parts but requires a much greater contribution from the crowd to create something special and unique.

Grizzly Bear recently covered "Boy From School" showcasing some more of the harmonies, which really echo on your new album. How do you feel about the cover and why is One Life Stand much more stripped back than your previous records?
I like it when other artists we respect cover our music, of course. It's a great compliment. But it's a mistake to think that the version Grizzly Bear made is really anything too radically different from what ended up on "The Warning." People in general are very keen to categorize "One Life Stand" as a gentle or mature album but the truth is that we have always relied on balancing soft and melodic elements with more rocky or dancey things. You don't need to look any further than the original version of "Boy From School," which is, in truth, an extremely gentle song rather than some kind of club banger -- just as stripped back as most things on "One Life Stand."

If you were to name a club/bar/lounge after one of your songs, which would it be and why? Maybe "Alley Cats" -- rather a low dive with some sad characters dotted around the place, slumped over the bar, hats pulled down over their faces. Sad music playing -- Tom Waits, maybe? The kind of place you could drown your sorrows and find some like-minded company.

If you were to make a Dance Party Playlist what songs would definitely have to be on there?
End of the World - Aphrodite's Child
Love Wars - Womack and Womack
Sensation - Ron Hardy
The One - planningtorock
Taxi to the Airport - Grovesnor
Lights in My Eyes - Riley Reinhold
Psychotic Photosynthesis - Omar S
I'm Your Brother - Round One
Love is Stronger Than Pride - Sade
Bodenständig 2000 - In Rock 8 Bit

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