Hot Chip "Made in the Dark" (Astralwerks)
By Jared Brownell
Friday. Apr 11, 2:26 PM
Bound for the floor.

Hot Chip have always been good at unearthing the pop beats of yesteryear and somehow combining them into a cohesive sound. From over-the-top '80s synth, deep scuzzy drones of shoegaze, to a full bodied organ, anything that's been done in the last 30 years of electronic music can be found in a single Hot Chip album.

Made in the Dark hits the ground running with "Out at the Picture," full of the band's typical unfocused style of cramming as many musical themes as possible into a track. "Shake a Fist" becomes a bit more focused thematically (aside from the studio interlude), but things start to get a bit shaky with "Made for the Floor." With several lines like "You're my number one guy / number one guy / number, number, number, number, number / one, one, one, one, one guy," it is like they're seeking to cut out the middleman – tons of mediocre DJs turning the spectacular into banal – and quite successfully so.

Any hopes in writing "Made for the Floor" off as a tongue in cheek jab at the whole dance scene is dashed as the album progresses, and one suddenly realizes most of the songs are highly repetitive filler. Perfectly suited to go straight to the dance floor, no remixing necessary.

Whereas The Warning was slightly ADD with every song filled to the brim with different themes, Made in the Dark comes out as its antithesis: too few ideas drawn out to fill a full length. Hot Chip's faith is placed in their expertly crafted poppy beats to carry the songs, which they do, but only to be undone by monotonous lyrics. When the last song fades to silence, you're not left yearning for more: rather, you're wishing 30 minutes of Made in the Dark was left on the cutting room floor.
www.hotchip.co.uk
www.astralwerks.com

Click here to buy this album on iTunes!

Click here to download the iTunes jukebox application for Macintosh or Windows!

Jared Brownell

Got something constructive to say? By all means, rant away. Gonna blab about something unrelated and/or talk shit? Don't expect your comment to stick around.