Customer Reviews
Juxtapose 
2008-02-13
****1/2
I love Hot Chip. By both evoking the past and looking toward the future in their music, this group has managed to create a truly unique sound. (In this way, they're almost like a musical second cousin to Amy Winehouse.) The warm vocals, harmonies and pop songwriting sometimes recall groups like the Beach Boys. However, these classic elements are juxtaposed with state-of-the-art production that has more in common with innovative electronica by the likes of Daft Punk or Aphex Twin. The two distinct styles sometimes blend smoothly and seamlessly, and sometimes completely battle with each other, adding a dynamic tension to the music. Just when you think the songs have gone too far on the side of electronic noise with tracks like "Shake A Fist" or "Bendable Poseable", Hot Chip will hit the listener with a completely tender, mellow ballad like "Made In The Dark" or "In The Privacy Of Our Love." The whole album is just so playful, soulful and surprising.
It's fun, cool and full of tunes and charm. 2008-02-11
"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.
We were made in the dark 
2008-02-11
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...").
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.
Hot Chip continues its winning ways 2008-02-05
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 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.
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. Meanwhile, "Made in the Dark" is a fantastic album, and highly recommended. If you wonder where you might catch these guys on the radio, check out indie-rock station WOXY, the internet-only station ("The Future of Rock and Roll!"), which plays them regularly.
Electronica for the 21st Century 2008-05-28
I'm a big fan of 80s alternative rock. When I heard Shake a Fist on World Cafe, I thought it sounded like New Order on steroids. I was instantly a fan. There are some slow, melodic songs also, and some that get a little monotonous. But overall, it's pure ear candy.
dig it! 2008-04-29
probably not a cd that everyone will appreciate, but one that i really dig. this cd will get ya movin and has punchy lyrics and infectious songs. i swear that my dog loves "ready for the floor". good stuff.
...And That Must Be Why There Speakers Were Turned Off.. 
2008-04-11
...While making the majority of this album. It was "made in the dark" & they couldn't see the damn power button on the speakers. In all seriousness though, this album is nothing compared to their previous effort "The Warning". Most of this album is just noise generated from a computer with only a few exceptions. "Hey, but it's art man"! No it's not, seriously, it's a bunch of guys who got a big head after releasing their 1st album & apparently raced through a 2nd album to make some more cash before their 15 minutes run dry.
Those few exceptions mentioned earlier being "Shake A Fist", the title track "Made In The Dark" & "One Pure Thought" are okay, but not worth even the $7.99 Amazon is asking for it. The same crowd that dig this album are the same artsy weirdos that wear women's jeans & got into "LCD Soundsystem" just cause it was the weirdest thing around at the time. Aside from the 3 tracks listed, there's not one track worth a repeat listen, & even the 3 listed above wouldn't warrant more than maybe a couple more listens at best. I wouldn't ever dig out the album just to listen to those couple of tracks, put it that way.
I was a big fan of their 1st album, with hits like "Over & Over" I had high hopes for their future work. If this is the best they can do, I won't be around for the next one. Check out "MGMT", "The Whip" or even their 1st album "The Warning" for some good Alternative Electro stuff, skip this one though, you'll probably be dissapointed (unless you're an artsy weirdo :P).
hot chip is simply amazing 2008-04-07
there is no other way to describe this cd other than "just plain awesome" if you need a little bit of funkiness in your day than this is the cd for you! it made me want to jump out of seat and hit the dance floor. brilliant
Made in the Dark... well if so i couldn't tell 2008-04-07
though the album is named Made in the Dark (as is one of the best down-tempo tracks i've heard in recent years) you'd never be able to tell if it were (actually made in the dark that is). with the apparent attention to detail, creativity, and all around fantastic workmanship this album is in my spot light. having both slower more personal songs (In The Privacy Of Our Love) and silly anthems (wrestlers) not to mention the great dance tracks! this album would make a great addition to not only veterans of electro-dance and tech music's arsenal but to the light listener's as well.
