Hot Chip Covers Joy Division

Covering “Transmission” is like repainting the Mona Lisa – with source material so perfect failure is inevitable. Kudos to Hot Chip for trying though.

The unenviable task was entrusted upon the UK five-piece by the remaining members of Joy Division aka New Order, for use in the War Child covers album which we have previously blogged about.

Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor explained the cover to Radio 1 claiming it “is totally different from Joy Division’s original version.”and “It is much more Caribbean-sounding because it features steel pans as the lead instrument,”. Though Manchester via Barbados sounds inventive enough, my undying love for the original prevents me from appreciating reinterpretations. What can I say, I’m an unreceptive douche bag purist .

The most irreplaceable instrument in Joy Division’s formidable arsenal, Ian Curtis’ voice, is substituted instead with Hot Chip’s trademark coy delivery, stripping the lyrics of all its doomed pathos. Out-emoting Ian Curtis is damn near impossible, we shouldn’t even try.

Lets just bask in the originals glory instead…

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