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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Kicking and screaming, Indie-inspired, electopop dance music, 14 Feb 2008
There's always that danger when you first listen to an album and it sounds exactly like how you expected it to sound. That's not to say that Made in the Dark isn't a good album, on the contrary, it's a great album, full of all the lovable electronic pop charm we've come to expect from Hot Chip, but just don't expect another massive leap, like the one they pulled off between Coming on Strong and The Warning, now that was a grand canyon affair. This album, however, feels like a more polished version of the things they were doing on The Warning, with a few extra dynamics chucked in for good measure and heck, even the slower songs with their ballad like progression, such as, `We're Looking For A Lot Of Love' sound more comfortable this time round.
So where The Warning was a bit of a rough around the edges pop affair, Made in the Dark is a slick, well-produced, ambitious album. The melodies here are so infectious, at times even schizophrenic, that you can't fail to start head-nodding, toe-tapping etc. `Out at the Pictures' begins with a slowly ascending synth, some shrill electronics that whirl around faster and faster until the drum beat kicks in and before you know it, Alexis Taylor has begun singing `It's on every street/ It's funky, cheap/ Sometimes you find/ You're in your mind' in his charismatic croon and you're going pretty much full on. And lead single, `Ready for the Floor' is instantly memorable with its bouncing bass, and a soaring chorus that Kylie would be proud of. But that's the thing about Hot Chip, they're not afraid to be as pop as pop can be, like album highlight `One Pure Thought', which starts off with an infectious blend of jagged guitars, sentimental synths and disco beats.
How much you like this album though, may well depend on two things, firstly how much you can take of Hot Chip flaunting their offbeat brand of pop when perhaps being too self-consciously fanciful. `Bendable Opposable' and `Wrestlers' seem to be quirky for the sake of being quirky and may lack some of the panache of the other songs. And secondly, how much you can appreciate their downtempo `lighters in the air' ballads, like `The Privacy of a Love', which is so laid-back it almost falls into Norah Jones territory, but not quite, though at one point Taylor sings `In the privacy of our love/ We're in each other as hand in glove'.
What this album also shows is how the band have managed to turn Indie-inspired, electropop, dance music kicking and screaming on it's head and filled it with a dry charm, `I'm only going to heaven if it tastes like Caramel' sings Taylor on `Hold On'; a syrupy polish as found on a `Touch Too Much'; and an at times manic, bouncy bass-filled pop fantasia like `Shake a Fist' and `One Pure Thought', and at others a slow-burning Gospel affair, like title track, but above all it's an album filled with a capricious sense of fun and one that does credit to the bands quirky nature. It's not one to shy away from anytime soon.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A bold and inspired collaboration deserving of a much wider audience, 23 Dec 2008
Hot Chip add Robert Wyatt to the list of music legends they have collaborated with (having previously remixed Kraftwerk).
According to the sleeve, these 4 tracks are remixes by Robert Wyatt (and "Geese", whoever they may be?), whereas the group's website states that they are re-recorded versions. They SOUND like re-recorded versions but either way this is a great EP. Wyatt adds vocals ("duetting" with Alexis Taylor) and instrumentation and makes the songs his own (I can think of no higher compliment). The last two tracks have some additional electronic enhancements and something that sounds like a kora - not at all what you'd expect on a Hot Chip record but it really works.
Overall a much more downbeat vibe than "Made in the Dark" but it just serves to highlight the strength of the song writing on that album - both lyrically and melodically.
So why is this limited to just 500 copies for the world then? Maybe it's a Christmas present for their fans - which no doubt their fans will treasure - but it has so much more potential than that. No doubt the late John Peel would have earmarked this for heavy rotation.
Belated single of the year 2008.
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13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Even Better than The Warning, 23 Jan 2008
Lucky enough to get a chance to listen to a preview copy and think this is definitely better than The Warning, which itself was a cracking album. Much more listenable and with more stand out tunes than its predecessor, this album gets so much better the more you listen to it. On initial hearing I wasn't sure about this, but with every play the album improves. Some of the album's songs are amongst the best Hot Chip have produced. Lyrically obscure and with very little meaning at times, this does not diminish from the quality on offer. Favourites include "We Re Looking for a Lot of Love" which has a start reminiscent of Fix You by Coldplay (don't let that detract from it). This is a cracking ode to a loved one. The opening single "Ready for the Floor" is instantly memorable, "Shake a Fist" , "Touch too Much" and "One Pure Thought" all share fantastic production and are dance-orientated. Overall this is an album to be listened to at least 10 times before you can seriously have an opinion. It contains a real mixture of styles & songs and shows how Hot Chip are becoming one of the nation's musical national treasures. I've already been on the blower to get odds for them to win the Mercury Music Prize with this. Anything around 10/1 would be a steal.
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