Made In the Dark

Hot Chip

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 5, 2008)
• Original Release Date: February 4, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Astralwerks
• ASIN: B00116QB78
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #41,537 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.co.uk
Hot Chip have always been the sort of band happy to flaunt their intelligence, but the smartest trick they pull on Made in the Dark is to show a little wisdom, too. 2006’s The Warning was a fine record, albeit one sometimes difficult to take seriously thanks to its taste for pop pastiche--here’s the Prince track, there’s a 2-step garage track--or the occasional ironic wisecrack. On their third album, though, it’s satisfying to report Hot Chip sound like no one but themselves. That is, shuffling, synthesizer-smeared electro-pop with a gooey emotional core and, in the shape of Alexis Taylor, one of the greatest white-boy soul voices since that of his hero, Green Gartside of Scritti Politti. "Ready for the Floor" sounds halfway between Detroit techno and the soundtrack to a Nintendo RPG, Taylor’s clear, honest vocal reaching out hopefully: "I’m hoping by chance/You might take this dance," while the album’s title track is a slow piano ballad that finds him laid blue over the ruins of a love affair. There is mischief, too, of course: take "Wrestlers," a dinky R&B track where the group show off their knowledge of wrestling slang. Even when they’re ready to rumble, though, Hot Chip show off the sort of emotion and elation we’ve rarely seen since the glory days of New Order, and that’s high praise indeed. –-Louis Pattison

Product Description
Made In The Dark is Hot Chip's third full-length release and the follow up to their critically acclaimed album The Warning. This new installment shows Hot Chip at its best-
wonderfully quirky, clever, soulful and poppy. The sound of the band has evolved towards a wilder, heavier electronics, though still coupled with a signature pop aesthetic.
This tougher sound is no more evident than on the single Shake A Fist which created a massive stir when it crept out at the end of 2007 on a limited etched 12". Ready
For The Floor and One Pure Thought add pure, unadulterated head rush pop into the mix. Made In The Dark also shows that the band is equally at home creating songs
of intimacy and melancholy as they were dancefloor fillers.
The band come together with Owen Clarke's signature guitar and keyboard riffs, Al Doyle's high caliber musicianship and Felix Martin's programming skills combined
with the considerable talents of Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor in a way making the songs even more propulsive, repetitive, rhythmical, methodical, wonky, intimate and
beautiful than before.
Throughout Made In The Dark there are echoes of earlier songs and styles, steps forwards, backwards and sideways. The band recorded several tracks on the album live
in one take such as Hold On and Out At The Pictures which is rare for any band these days, but even more so for an electronic-pop band.
Hot Chip straddle the line of electronic and pop so well as we feel there is appeal for the band in many musical tastes. The hipsters who found and love Hot Chip will still
be lured in by their originality and inventiveness, whereas the undeniable infectiousness and catchiness of their music should bring them a wider audience.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's fun, cool and full of tunes and charm., February 11, 2008

By	G.Villan (travelling around the world) - See all my reviews

"Made in the Dark" is the third studio album from British electropop band Hot Chip.
The first release from the album, "Shake a Fist", created a stir among fans when it crept out on a limited 12" in September 2007 and the new single, "Ready for the Floor", was reportedly requested by Kylie Minogue's management before the idea was dropped.
Although usually placed within the indie category, Hot Chip are notoriously difficult to pin down.
They draw influences from a wide range of sources, from German minimal techno to Prince, Ray Charles, Fleetwood Mac and New Order. With their third album the band have returned to their peculiar brand of mechanically emotive pop and despite having fashioned remixes for the likes of the Rolling Stones, Scissor Sisters, the Go! Team and Gorillaz after their successful second album, Hot Chip remain refreshingly willing to depart from the styles of the pillars of rock and create their own distinctive sound.
Hot Chip's third album succeeds where their 80s electronica predecessors failed - it's avant-garde in places and there are some moments that sound like the devil's ring tone, but, like a striker who instinctively knows where the net is, the band never stray far from a killer melody or wondrous blast of retro-digital heaven.
The main evolution from their earlier work is that "Made in the Dark" contains more ballads than the previous albums.
Tracks like "Whistle for Will", "In the Privacy of Our Love" and "Made in the Dark" demonstrate that Hot Chip are capable of producing melancholy, tuneful and intimate songs which showcase how the voices of Joe Goddard and Alexis Taylor work brilliantly together as well as thumping dance-floor fillers.
The opening trio of "Out at the Pictures", "Shake a Fist" and "Ready for the Floor" are all wonky pop wonders that ease you into the experimentation that follows and, as ever, the voices of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard work brilliantly together.
"Made in the Dark" has everything you'd want from a modern pop album - it's fun, cool, occasionally terrifying and full of tunes and charm.

5.0 out of 5 stars Not all of Hot Chip's songs are for everyone, but they are all for me!, June 24, 2009

By	Thaddeus Burns - See all my reviews

I guess I'm not surprised that Hot Chip's weirder songs bother some people, but man, I can't relate. I love it all. These guys are geniuses.

I like this 3rd outing better overall than "The Warning" but not by much. All their work has been incrdible.

Hot Chip is just plain fun to listen to, folks.

Best tracks on this one are Made In The Dark, Ready For The Floor, and One Pure Thought.

4.0 out of 5 stars Flawed, as they say..., November 12, 2008

By	M. Nielson "Musician AND Critic" (Schenectady, NY, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Their first album was no indication of how far they'd come. It hasn't been that long, yet they've rode a wave of hype and DFA backing to become truly great. They have their own sound.. no matter how fast or slow the tune is. With every track on "Made In The Dark," you can an irrefutable feeling they knew exactly how they wanted each song to come out.

So my 4 stars reflects the percentage of the songs that connected with me, and that I actually enjoyed. Favorites are the obvious 'Ready For The Floor,' and 'One Pure Thought.' Another hit was 'Wrestlers,' my favorite song on the album. What had been described as 'bad goon-hop' by lesser minded critics, I profusely enjoy the way it plays out, the vocal bridge.. everything. It's just the perfect song. Much like 'The Warning' from the same titled last disc has snuck up on me after a time, after the initial singles wore off.

Give this a sample listen before hand.. maybe buy a few songs as individual tracks. If you like it, get the disc as I have, help support them and their free-spirited experimentalism. If not.. just find something else.. not everyone will feel comfortable with the sounds on this disc. Different strokes....