"Over and over and over and over, like a monkey with a miniature symbol," or so Hot Chip's top 30 single, 'Over and Over', goes. Following support slots with Mylo, LCD Soundsystem and Goldfrapp, the band are about to release their highly anticipated second album, 'The Warning'. Laidback? They'll give you playback...

Experimental electro-soul pop combo Hot Chip are led by co-writers/co-vocalists Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor. The band is completed by Owen Clarke (synthesizer), Felix Martin (drum machine/percussion) and Al Doyle on whatever else is needed to be thrown into the mix. You may have seen the videos for 'Over and Over' and recently released 'Boy From School' on E4 Music or heard their Clor-esque tunes in your local indie disco.

When listening to both their albums (the other being 2004’s debut 'Coming on Strong') - despite sounding thoroughly original and like nothing else in particular, you can definitely pick out their influences. A mix of Beach Boys, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno, Ween, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young and Devo.

Ask the band themselves to describe their sound if they were music critics and they exclaim, "we've been described pretty badly a lot of the time."

"When we had our first single 'Down with Prince' out, the NME described us as slapcore," explains Al. "We didn't even really know what that meant," continues Joe. "I guess it's because of the slappy bass in the track I suppose. We tend to get lumped in with a lot of electro stuff so we’ve been called "the electro Belle and Sebastian," and Alexis' voice has been compared to Mick Hucknall from Simply Red. Some crazy things like that which seem to have no relevance at all." Hmm, slapcore? That bass sounds more like Seinfeld-core to me.

"What we would like, is for people to see references like Brian Eno and the sounds of some of his records. The way that some of his albums build up out of simple things. The playing is sometimes not incredible but the ideas are really great. That's what I'd like people to pick up with us. Good ideas. We all love bands like the Beach Boys and that is something we like to be likened to."

"I don't mind if it's called soul party music," Al says in conclusion.

How long has the band been together? Joe: "I met Alexis and Owen at secondary school when we were 12. We used to share lunches together. Alexis and I started playing together when were 17 really. Then Alexis met Al and Owen when they were at university together and the band got together just after that. So really we've only been together for over two years."

What kind of music were you raised on and what are you listening to now? "My dad used to be into dub reggae and then he used to listen to a lot of folk stuff like Fairport Convention, Richard and Linda Thompson, so that's what I grew up with. Felix and I like quite a lot of the stuff coming out of Germany at the moment like house and techno and sounds from Ghostly International," says Al.

"I grew up listening to two tapes that I got when I was really little. One was the Rolling Stones' Greatest Hits and the other was the Beatles' 'Rubber Soul'. My dad tried to be very cool in his music when he was growing up. He grew up with punk and bought me all the Velvet Underground albums when I was young. At first I couldn't understand them at all but I got into them after a while," Joe continues.

So, how does the magic happen in regards to your own music? Do you do it all in the studio on the spot or do you bring stuff in before you start recording? "Sometimes Alexis writes songs at home and then I kind of think of a good drum beat to go with it or something. That’s how it used to work. Quite often I’ll hear a drum beat and then Alexis will get excited when he hears it and pick up a keyboard and write a song on the spot. When he’s travelling anywhere on the bus or the tube, he writes different lyrics into his mobile like a text message. Then he'll go through the different lyrics to see what fits with the song and records that. Then everyone gets involved," explains Joe.

Is there a story behind calling the album 'The Warning'? "'The Warning' comes from a real love of two-step garage rhythms and melodies ...the rhythmic devices used in programming garage appear everywhere in Hot Chip, and I still find some garage records to be amongst the most funkiest and most soulful."

A track on the album called 'Look After Me' is about the growing distance between a couple. Alexis: "Ever since seeing it on The Box in the late 90s, I had been hooked on Sparkle's duet with R Kelly, 'Be Careful'. Eventually I tried to rip off the chord structure, melody and mood to make the beginning of 'Look After Me'. For the middle-eight section’s descending chord progression I mimicked the synth-line in Prince's 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' almost note for note. Joe heard what I thought was a take on the modern r&b ballad to be more in keeping with an old-fashioned soul classic of the Al Green ilk, and we were soon adding plucked live violins and very soft drumming."

The space between conception and realisation is where you find Hot Chip; and it’s what makes them so distinctive and fascinating. That and the fact they are happy to leave imperfections in: "the idea of including the inaccuracies that occur when people play instruments in the song is extremely important to us. It is the antithesis of a lot of modern record productions, where every mistake is ironed out digitally. When I think about the producers and the songs I really cherish, I think that certain rash decisions or mistakes in the playing or mixing are often the very things that I love."

Hot Chip have made quite a leap with 'The Warning', in terms of sophistication and clarity. A simple tune and lyric such as 'Colours', transcends its initial childlike innocence to seem gorgeous and, somehow, profound. "I wanted to write lyrics as direct as the ones you'd find in Kraftwerk songs. We'd just seen them at Brixton Academy and I was struck by how well they said something about motion or light, or radioactivity, in so few words," says Alexis.

"For a while I wanted this album to sound a lot like Can or Neu - I wanted the propulsive force of the song to be powerful but seem effortless and for the keyboard sounds to be glistening and beautifully sculpted, in the way that Kraftwerk make their instruments sound. We were after simplicity and directness."

'The Warning' is probably the only record you will hear this year that is brave enough to try and better all of the best records of yesteryear and tomorrow. Heed this advice when listening: "Fire is hot, steel can cut/Glass will break if you’re not careful!"

THE  SINGLE 'BOY FROM SCHOOL' IS AVAILABLE NOW AND ‘THE WARNING’ IS RELEASED ON MAY 22ND BOTH THROUGH EMI RECORDS.