Album review: Hot Chip

Hot Chip
Made In The Dark

Label: EMI
Release date: 4th February 2008

Website: www.hotchip.co.uk

Rating: 4 out of 5

After the success of 2005’s much-lauded The Warning, Hot Chip have a lot to live up to. Luckily, Made In The Dark is an interesting album, with many interesting layers and surprises laying in wait.

Album opener Out At The Pictures segues from an electronic fugue to all-out funky retro barnstormer, all syncopated beats and funky synth, with a slightly strange Saturday morning kids’ cartoon vibe about it.

Shake A Fist has something of Radiohead about it, a dark counterpoint to the softer moments on the album with blazing rave synths halfway through injecting a thrilling dose of menace. Still undeniably toe-tapping, this track is a perfect example of Hot Chip’s ability to produce melodic, danceable electronica.

Ready For The Floor is a beautifully made track that references a history of British electronic music, from Yazoo and The Pet Shop Boys to Orbital and µ-Ziq. The title track here is tenderness personified, a pure slice of feeling that elevates the band to new levels.

So, a cracking sophomore effort from a band that, it could be argued, dragged electro-pop back into the mainstream. With a combination of danceable cuts like Hold On and Slower, more atmospheric tracks like Whistle For Will, Hot Chip prove that they’re more than a one-trick pony.

And don’t be put off by any suspicions of nu-rave: Made In The Dark is a great record, and one worthy of a place in anyone’s collection.