Pitchfork

No, not Lionel Richie's "Hello". Nor Steve Winwood's "While You See a Chance". Nope, not even Genesis' "Man on the Corner". When you listen to UK electro-pop outfit Hot Chip's new DJ Kicks mix, the first sounds you hear are the curiously smooth synths of Grovesnor's "Nitemoves", which carries the futuristic soul DNA of all those 1980s oldies. Grovesnor is actually former Hot Chip drummer Rob Smoughton, and this track eventually leaves behind its opening Rhodes torpor for buzzing electronic percussion-- and still more than enough heart-on-sleeve vocals to justify the title's apparent Bob Seger reference.

MP3:> Grovesnor: "Nitemoves"

"Nitemoves" is currently available on a 7" via Hi-Beat. Grovesnor has also released a CD-R album with the defiantly out-of-step name of Metrosexual on the same label. Metrosexual opener "House of Many Windows" is a cover of a 1970 UK psych-rock nugget by Bobak Jons Malone (aka Motherlight). Smoughton gives this tune a similar electro-soul update, adding the cokadelic twist of a few pitch-shifted vocals and a Peter Frampton-style talking-guitar solo. It's not the kind of sound you expect to hear these days, but then again, that's pretty much what you'd expect Hot Chip to pick out.

MP3:> Grovesnor: "House Of Many Windows"
["Nitemoves" from the "Nitemoves"/"Wallflowers" 7" and "House of Many Windows" from Metrosexual; both out now on Hi-Beat]