Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith teams up with Hot Chip's Joe Goddard for new EP, 'Neptunes'

Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith teams up with Hot Chip's Joe Goddard for new EP, 'Neptunes'

Alan Pedder

A new collaborative EP is on the way from experimental electronic artist Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Hot Chip's Joe Goddard, due 22 November by Domino imprint Smugglers Way.

The five-track Neptunes includes one new song from Smith ("Around You") and one from Goddard ("Rapid Fire" feat. Laima) plus remixes of those songs where both artists put their own spin on the other's work, and one song – the title track – composed by the two of them together.

The genesis of "Neptunes" sprang from Goddard's urge to make something that sounded like the work of The Neptunes, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo’s brilliant creative partnership that did much to define hip-hop and pop music in the late '90s and early 2000s. “I loved what the rhythm made me feel when I first heard it,” says Smith in a press release. “I actually thought he was tapping into Neptune as a planet, and the qualities I felt it possesses. So my side of things brought out more space-themed sounds as a result.”

Watch the video by Aron Sanchez-Baranda below.

Neptunes is the first new music from Smith since last year's remix album of her 2022 release Let's Turn It Into Sound, and follows the July release of Goddard's third solo album Harmonics. The nod to The Neptunes name is perhaps unintentionally poignant – earlier this month, Williams confirmed to Billboard that he and Hugo are no longer on speaking terms after Hugo brought a legal case against Williams' continued use of The Neptunes name.

Neptunes tracklist:
1. Neptunes
2. Rapid Fire feat. Laima
3. Around You
4. Around You (Joe Goddard remix) 
5. Rapid Fire (Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith remix)

Ahead of the album, Smith and Goddard will perform back-to-back DJ sets next week in four US cities:

10/02 Denver, CO @ Meow Wolf
10/03 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
10/04 San Francisco, CA @ Club 6
10/05 Dallas, TX @ It'll Do

Goddard also has his own shows lined up over in Europe for November:

11/08 Glasgow, UK @ King Tut's
11/09 Manchester, UK @ The White Hotel
11/12 Brighton, UK @ Patterns
11/13 London, UK @ Colour Factory
11/16 Amsterdam, The Netherlands @ Bitterzoet
11/17 Paris, France @ Bellevilloise
11/18 Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique Rotonde
11/20 Berlin, Germany @ Kupellhalle at Silent Green


The Needle Drop may earn an affiliate commission via purchases on ticket links through this article.

Alan Pedder

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