Hot Chip, "Transmission (Joy Division cover)"

I've personally heard more Joy Division tributes and cover versions than most music bloggers have had hot lunches. It's a crowded field with few standout selections, people tend to either go way faithful (boring!) or single out one element or lyric to hammer away on ad nauseum, like The Killer's enormous flail on "Shadowplay". Aside from my fondness for The Swans' fantastic cover of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (I like the Gira vocal version a bit better) and Moby's version of "New Dawn Fades" (which might actually just be due to my associations with Heat) I wouldn't give a toss for most reinterpretations of JD's material. I do however quite like Hot Chip, mostly because they're clearly influencd by a lot of bands I like without ever sounding slavish. Indeed, the kind of indie electropop they ply wouldn't have sounded out of place on any number of Factory releases, which is I guess why this cover of "Transmission" works for me so well. Actually, what I keep thinking of when I hear the weird vocal treatment and the piano is the Bowie/Eno Berlin trilogy, which itself was a pretty enormous influence on Curtis and company. It's a pleasant little surprise courtesy of a forthcoming War Child covers compilation which will also feature Franz Ferdinand covering Blondie (!) The Yeah Yeah Yeahs covering the Ramones and TV on the Radio covering David Bowie. It's enough to pique my interest, and I fucking hate covers compilations.

Hot Chip, "Transmission (Joy Division cover)"