Hot Chip – “Night and Day”

About a month ago, Hot Chip released “Flutes” via a spinning video. Thankfully, the first official single from their upcoming album In Our Heads doesn’t come through such a nauseating medium.

“Night and Day” is built around a thumping synth line similar to “One Life Stand.” The chorus has some disco flair, and I can’t help but think of Michael Jackson’s “Working Day and Night.” “You’ve got me working night and day” is just so similar to Jackson’s “You got me workin’ workin’ day and night,” especially when it grooves like that.

Check out the track below. In Our Heads is out June 4 on Domino.

Hot Chip – “Flutes”

Hot Chip offered a first taste of their upcoming album with a nauseating in-studio video. It features a new track, “Flutes,” the first single from In Our Heads, the band’s fifth album and first for Domino Records.

My head hurts just thinking about the video, which is mostly just a spinning camera, but “Flutes” is definitely worth a listen.

Top 20 of 2010: 15. Hot Chip – One Life Stand

15. Hot Chip – One Life Stand

Hot Chip’s always been pretty good at making electro-pop albums. They’ve created a solid discography of four albums, but One Life Stand will be the one that fans will constantly revisit.

Vocalist Alexis Taylor described the album as “the most warm and soulful sounding record we’ve made,” and it’d be hard to argue with that. Hot Chip upped the melodies and focus more on vocals than the electronic instrumentals, especially on slower tracks like “Slush” and “Alley Cats” – both with very little electronics. As a result, One Life Stand has a very nostalgic feeling.

The band has definitely moved beyond the standard dance beats. One Life Stand proves Hot Chip’s not just a mindless electronic band – they’re pop musicians at heart.

Converse’s strategy: a mix of tradition and innovation

Converse shoes have been associated with popular music for the past three or four decades. The company is continuing to expand on this relationship in its integrated marketing campaign.

Recently, Converse has been pairing artists to create original tracks to promote the brand. The first was “My Drive Thru” in 2008, which featured rapper Pharrell Williams of N.E.R.D., producer and singer Santigold and The Strokes’ frontman Julian Casablancas (all three pictured on the right). This year brought, “All Summer,” a collaboration between Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij, indie beach-pop artist Best Coast and rapper Kid Cudi. The latest of these original songs to come out, “Didn’t Know What Love Was,” features indie dance artist Hot Chip and New Order’s Bernard Sumner.

“All Summer” has over 870,000 views on YouTube, and “My Drive Thru” has over 3 million.

Now, in addition to the songs and Converse’s string of free concerts in New York this summer, the company is building its own studio, Rubber Tracks, which will offer artists the chance to record for free. Converse is taking applications for time in the Brooklyn studio on its website. The site will also feature clips and tracks from the sessions.

But Converse isn’t neglecting social media. The company’s YouTube account has been posting tons of Rubber Tracks videos. As the project progresses, it looks like social media will also be a huge part of promotion for the artists involved in the process.

Converse is already listed as one of the top 20 growing Facebook pages. This could push them to the top.