I love the geekiness of Hot Chip. I also love the music and the tender yet essentially maudlin lyrics. The essence of good disco music, basically.
I also recall hearing an interview with one of the members of Hot Chip and hearing how despite being a successful modern pop band they were basically brassic. The music industy by the 2010s had changed dramatically, and in large part that was down to one thing – streaming. And as over the decades I’ve moved from vinyl to cassette to CD to download, in the 2010s I became a part of the problem as I shifted to Spotify.
Except… I spend more on music and consume more music as a result that I did in the decade previously. The supply chain model in the music industry was always dreadful – a venture capital market that left most invested start-ups (read: artists) penniless. The world of compilation albums siphoning up money for the record labels with little or nothing going to the bands involved.
Maybe I should buy more albums (not that I have any devices to play them on these days)? Maybe I should go to more gigs (and that is on my list as my kids get older and I can take them along, Covid-willing)? The answer on both is yes, and maybe being a more conscious (and spending) consumer of music in my 50s is now one of my personal goals…
In the meantime, wallow in the maudlin geeky glory of Hot Chip.
You can see the #51for50 project to date here: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/category/projects/51-for-50/
mmitII 