Customer Reviews

Made In the Dark (CD/DVD)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Personally, I've never been happy with most electropop and dance music -- they take a beat, repeat it for five-to-ten minutes, and add in some lame lyrics about dancing. No thank you.

But after two albums of doing the exact opposite, Hot Chip.... are STILL not doing it in their third full-length album, "Made in the Dark." Instead, they sound even quirkier and wilder, and their songs are crammed with deliciously tight electropop, some wild flourishes and beats, and occasionally... a soft little reflective pop ballad.

"It's on every street/It's funky, cheap... Are you at the pictures?/Or out at sea?/It's better this way/Trust, do you believe me?," Alexis Taylor sings over a funky, angular melody. But the mind-bending really sets in with "Shake A Fist," a dark rhythmic pop song that mutates halfway through into a colourful, insane tangle of jabbing synth.

Apparently Hot Chip are aware that their audiences' brains might explode with more songs like that. So after the warm, catchy electropop of "Ready for the Floor," they try some easier fare -- clattery rock'n'roll, razor-edged electronica, rambling electropop tied in twisting rock riffs, and a shimmying electropopper that evolves into a shimmering... video game theme. Yeah, that's what it sounds like.

And there are a couple softer songs woven in there -- a gently catchy ballad wound in twitters and streams of synth, little soft ballads, and the closing song "Whistle For Will," which is all echoing synth and solemn piano.

There was obviously a lot of time and care taken with "Made in the Dark," because this album has few -- if any -- weak spots. In fact, the only one I can really take issue with is "Bendable Poseable," for its schizophrenically catchy sound -- and even then, I strongly suspect that Hot Chip intended for it to sound that way.

Their music is all tight, dancey, sharp-edged melodies from blazing electric guitars, shimmering twisting synthesizers, and some sharp drums to set the beat. Just about any one of them will get you bouncing in your chair. And Taylor plays some really beautiful, poignant piano melodies in the ballads, strung with softer, less dancey synth.

But rather than letting the catchiness carry the songs, they throw in some odd twists -- chants of "weather," horns, wind chimes, twists of jabbing synth, and a monologue (""Before we go any further I'd like to show you all a game I made up...."). You can never predict how these songs are going to go.

And Taylor sounds like he's having a GREAT time -- he can turn his quirky voice into the core of a dance song, or he can sing a low, soulful ballad. And he sings songs that are usually solid -- with a few odd moments ("I'm only going to heaven if it tastes like caramel") -- with the occasional lyrical brilliance ("I've never seen your love again/I'll never be your love for sure/Except for that day.... except for that day...").

And this version contains a bonus DVD, which basically has (ta da!) live performances of some of their music. Two are from the German Melt Festival (big, dark stage!), two full of the joyous primal energy of their performances at the Glastonbury Festival, and "Hold On" in the Electric Ballroom in London. Nice stuff.

Hot Chip astounds with the blindingly catchy, brilliantly complex "Made in the Dark" -- they keep polishing their music, and it just keeps getting better and better.

I've been a fan of Hot Chip for a couple of years now and this album has some of their best work on it. It's very well done and has a wonderful variety of tempos and styles. I'm very glad they're touring the US to promote this album (albeit briefly). I can't wait to see them in person.

The album opens with four dance floor shakers, then dips into intimate territory for about three songs before dropping the dance beats again and eventually pulling them back again for the last two songs. So you will hear reviewers cling to individual sections and state that the whole album is danceable or the whole album is tender, when in fact it contains both qualities in divided portions. The wonky humor of Hot Chip has been dialed down to a few subtle one-liners, with the exception of the song "Wrestlers" (think Ween meets Har Mar Superstar) which in some ways mocks their own tenderness. Overall this is a much more musically developed album than their previous two in both the rhythms and in the melodies & vocals. The live DVD (five songs from a couple of concerts) that comes with the deluxe edition sets the album in a live context (when coupled with the live intro of the album) but as an album it's a confusing rollercoaster ride. Compared to their other albums, none of the songs TOTALLY suck, but none of them are as perfect as "Playboy" either.

CD: 4 Stars; DVD: 5 Stars.

Hot Chip released an excellent 3rd studio album "The Warning" in 2006, which collected critical acclaim everywhere, and which also brought the band some commercial success, mainly due to the irresistible "Over and Over" single. The band toured tirelessly behind "The Warning", and the expectations for the follow-up album have been huge. Now finally comes the new album.

"Made In the Dark" (13 tracks, 54 min.) starts off with a long instrumental opening before crashing in with a nervous "Out At the Pictures", which is immediately followed by a strong "Shake a Fist' and the first single "Ready For the Floor", another one of those irresistible sing-along, dance-along songs. The middle of the album brings a couple of slower, more pensive songs, including "Touch Too Much" and a brooding title track. The second half of the album starts off with a guitar-riff heavy "One Pure Thought" which evolves into a high energy song, just great. It is followed by the best track on the album "Hold On", a long upbeat song that you wish would go on forever and which is sure to make everyone get moving on the dance floor. After all those emotive great dance tunes, the album concludes with a couple of quiet songs to wind things down. In all, this album expands on the band's formula of "The Warning", but with a greater musical pallet, and does the trick beautifully.

The DVD (5 tracks, 33 min.) brings the band live, bringing 3 tracks from this album, including an incredible "Hold On", "Shake a Fist", and "One Pure Thought", and 2 tracks from "The Warning", its big hits "And I Was a Boy From School" and of course the band's signature song "Over and Over". What a great DVD! As great as the band's studio albums are, you haven't really experienced Hot Chip unless you've seen them in concert. I saw Hot Chip at last year's Coachella festival, and it was one of the more memorable moments of the festival for me. If you wonder where you might catch these guys on the radio, check out indie-rock station WOXY, the internet-only station ("BAM!!! The Future of Rock and Roll!"), which plays them regularly. Meanwhile, "Made in the Dark" is a fantastic album, and highly recommended.

I dun see how some people can compare this album with the likes of Daft Punk or even Amy Winehouse. They must be tone deaf. The melodies does not appeal, the arrangements very haphazard, even the rhythm & bass suck. For a dance act, that is a deal breaker! On the whole, for fans only.