- In the last few months you'd be forgiven for thinking that Hot Chip had stumbled into a human cloning experiment, because despite an upcoming album, the quintet have spawned three new side projects. Capturing much of the press directed their way in the last few months has been The 2 Bears, Joe Goddard and long-term friend Raf Rundell's paen to feel-good house which has spawned an album, Be Strong. Hot on their heels is trio New Build: Al Doyle and Felix Martin with sometime Hot Chip producer Tom Hopkins. Their debut Yesterday Was Lived and Lost, following two EPs on their own Lanark imprint, was only five days old when they came to London to round off their short UK tour ahead of hitting mainland Europe.
Corsica Studios in Elephant and Castle seems to be an apt venue for such a sortie into their young live careers, tucked away under the South London arches behind the cavernous Coronet. It also served as a chance to return to an intimate venue of the sort now lost amongst Hot Chip's festival-sized ambitions. As the distinctly East London crowd filtered onto the compact dance floor, seemingly bussed in en masse from Dalston with default beard, thick-framed glasses and coloured chinos, they were surprised to see Alexis Taylor take to the stage with Rob Smoughton, as offshoot project Bang & Olufsen, as if the remaining member of the quintet couldn't allow himself to be left out. A half-hour of wistful electronic love songs was a well-received warm-up, eliciting nods of approval at least.
Squeezing four more associate members onto the tiny stage, New Build eschewed their short-lived existence with an impressively tight performance, turning previously cool nods to wild cheers in two songs. With a live sound far more organic and raw than the album's taut electronic edges, frontman Doyle was a delight, his gruffer vocals a contrast to Hot Chip's usual sound, and his guitar, like him, taking centre stage and displaying another side to the rangy multi-instrumentalist that's been hidden from view. Passing through '80s-infused "Medication" and "Misery Loves Company," the band joyously wore their influences on their sleeves, and Doyle was soon stripped to a vest, clearly enjoying his elevated status. Even stuttering slightly through their non-album track "Your Love"—“the only one Radio 1 plays, and we never play it live,” joked Doyle—they still carry it off.
As focus shifted away from the stage to the DJ booth, The 2 Bears banished memories of less polished Hot Chip DJ sets of yesteryear with throbbing, energetic house. Raf Rundell and Joe Goddard's musical camaraderie is emblazoned across their album, and this extended easily to their time on the decks, the pair bouncing around the booth like a couple of mischievous uncles at the disco, the Dalston haircuts shaking themselves with uncharacteristic abandon. "Cooler" artists would be easily smattered with accusations of riding on the coat tails of a successful album by packing in lazy DJ sets, but there's something gloriously enjoyable about this pair, and judging by their band alumni's presence tonight, you'd expect to see them still propping the bar up at 4 AM, grinning from ear to ear.