Made in the Dark

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Made in the Dark
Made in the Dark cover
Studio album by Hot Chip
Released February 4, 2008 (UK)
February 5, 2008 (U.S.)
Genre Electronic indie, pop
Length 53:57
Label EMI (UK), DFA Records, Astralwerks Records (US)
Producer Hot Chip
Professional reviews
Hot Chip chronology
The Warning
(2006)		 Made in the Dark
(2008)

Made in the Dark is the third studio album from British electronic indie pop band Hot Chip. The album, containing thirteen songs, was released on 4 February 2008 on EMI.[1] During the week of its release it reached #4 in the UK Album Chart,[2] #25 on the Australian album charts,[3] and entered at #109 in the U.S. Billboard 200.[4] The critical response to the album was generally favourable.[5]

The first single to be released from the album was "Shake a Fist", which was released on 12" vinyl single at the beginning of October 2007. The second single to be released was "Ready for the Floor", which was released on 28 January 2008 and reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart.[6] The third single to be released will be "One Pure Thought" on 5 May 2008.[7]

Contents

[edit] Recording history

The recording of the majority of Hot Chip's music to date has taken place in a bedroom, although the band took a different approach in the recording of Made in the Dark by recording in different spaces and trying to make the album sound not "quite so homemade".[8] Though parts of the album were recorded in the traditional location of Joe Goddard’s bedroom, the recording of Made in the Dark also took place in a variety of other locations including in studio, live on stage and in a number of different environments as the band "wanted different acoustic spaces to be obvious to the listener".[8] As Taylor and Goddard worked on some of the songs as a duo, certain songs were overdubbed with parts of the rest of the band playing.[9]

Alexis Taylor described Made in the Dark as "a real mix of different things" and said that in the process of making the album, Hot Chip were "learning how to be a different kind of band":

"Everyone around us would write songs whilst touring, then go into a studio and record [songs] at the end of a year's touring. We were the opposite. We would make the songs in a short time and then would have to learn how to play them live."[9]

Al Doyle has stated that Hot Chip try not to be beholden to the original recordings when playing their music live.[9] "One Pure Thought", "Hold On" and "Shake a Fist" were three live tracks that were all recorded in live takes instead of multitrack recording and subsequently pieced together.[9]

[edit] Musical style

In an interview with Pitchfork in October 2007, Taylor addressed the issue of whether there would be less electronic elements by saying there would be just as much electronic stuff as live material. He said that Hot Chip don't "do things by adding one thing and taking something else away", and expressed that it wasn't a case of removing one element to make room for something else as they would rather "throw everything into the mix".[10] He said of the new album that in parts it has a rockier sound and that there are moments where a heavy metal influence can be detected.[10]

When asked by an interviewer if some songs would sound bigger and more maximalist, Taylor agreed but said that other tracks are more minimalist and that the album contains "more of everything".[10] He also said that "if the press release says it's faster and rockier it doesn't account for that fact that there are more ballads on this record than any other record."[10]

Taylor said that there is "quite a lot of strength in certain tracks, and quite a lot of overloading in other ones".[10] He also said that when the track "Wrestlers" was in development, that it started taking a new direction as the band were "wrestling with the idea of making an R. Kelly kind of slick r&b number" but it "maybe ended up sounding more like Randy Newman's "Short People"."[10]

Joe Goddard has said that a key factor in Hot Chip's music is that it has always originated from different styles and various influences.[9] Goddard said that creating music could be difficult at times because the band members would sometimes disagree in what direction the song should be pushed in due to someone else bringing in a completely different influence. He also said that there have been clashes in the process of creating music but that in the end it has resulted in "something more interesting because you have these different voices and not one person dictating".[9] Al Doyle said the band are "quite restless and have short attention spans" and that often there have been "unpleasant" periods of silence but eventually they will work through it.[9]

Taylor said of the prescence of ballads on Made in the Dark, that he has always written ballads and that there are more of them on the album than previous albums.[8] He also said that the album had a slightly more romantic feel, and that being happy and in love had affected the subject matter.[8]

[edit] Influences

The many different musical styles that influence the sound of Made in the Dark has been explained by Taylor, as being a result of music that he grew up listening to, such as Prince's Sign o' the Times and music that Goddard grew up listening to, such as The Beatles' White Album.[10] Taylor has said that this explains why Hot Chip's albums "go from one mood to another so readily" as "eclectic music has been [their] first musical background" and that as the two main songwriters in the band had different musical influences growing up, this impacted on the styles pursued in Made in the Dark.[10] Taylor also stated that a lot of the songs have been inspired by Black Dice.[10]

Taylor has said that he likes Will Oldham, and described his music as "just acoustic guitar and harmonium and voice for the whole record" and said that he "kind of wish[es] [Hot Chip] could do something like that."[10] However, Taylor also states that Hot Chip's style of "jump[ing] all over the place stylistically...totally makes sense as a record" as the band "didn't set out to make something with one mood."[10] Taylor has said that Hot Chip have set out to show that they are "a band as much as originally having been a duo" and that Made in the Dark "represents the whole live sound of the band" and is a bit more than they have "ever been able to represent before."[10]

[edit] Lyrics

Concerning lyrics of the album as a whole, Taylor has said he believes it to be the best album Hot Chip have made, and that he is "so proud of it lyrically". He has said that the song, "Made in the Dark", contains the best lyrics he's ever written.[9] Taylor also said that he finds in songwriting that it is very easy for him "to focus on the more serious lyrics", like a love song very dear to his heart, but has intimated that he finds the song, "Wrestlers", to be equally as important as "it feels like a very different style of music than [Hot Chip] have ever got down on record before." Additionally in regards to "Wrestlers", he has said that the song has "quite a clear statement" and is "musically and lyrically quite direct" as "it doesn’t have thousands of layers" such as other songs like the song "Bendable Poseable", which he has described as being "quite chaotic".[9]

The idea and lyrics for the song, "Wrestlers", were formulated from a text sent from James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and DFA Records, after guitarist Al Doyle toured with LCD Soundsystem. The text message read, "Sorry you can't have Al back, I'll wrestle you for him. And I'll beat you because I'm bigger and stronger than you."[9] Goddard said, "the words in that song are about wrestling and we have no doubt that James Murphy would kill us all in wrestling."[9]

"Shake a Fist", featuring a voice sample from Todd Rundgren, was the product of Goddard taking a "legal herbal substance" at Glastonbury festival, which he said produced feelings akin to teleportion.[9] Goddard has said, "it was a brilliant time" and that he couldn't move for 15 minutes and told Alexis who wrote down words to go with his experience.[9]

Taylor mentioned that there are two mentions of Willie Nelson in the album, which were the result of a "slight musical nod" he "couldn't help but create".[10]

In regards to the use of the "Ready for the Floor" line, "You're my number one guy" as a reference to the Joker, Taylor said, "I don't really think about these thing too much, I just say them in a song. If I'm thinking about something I like, like Batman, it has so many things that I'm really fond of—the Prince soundtrack, the film. Sometimes those things seep into what we're writing about. I like to reference to these things in an oblique way. I guess I was saying something to everyone in the band, particularly to Joe [Goddard], 'You're my number one guy, why is there any problems between any of us?'"[11]

[edit] Album title

The initial possible titles for the album were "Shot Down in Flames" and "IV", though according to Taylor, different members of the band would disregard names that they thought wouldn't be taken seriously.[10] However, Taylor states that calling the album Made in the Dark was not an attempt to be any more serious but rather was a phrase from one of the album's songs that the band agreed on.[10]

Taylor said, "I kind of like giving people the wrong impression all the time, so I'm happy if the album's called IV and people are annoyed that it's just a stupid joke. That doesn't bother me at all...If people would see us, meet us, see us play live, hear our records, if they give us any time they would see that we're very serious about comedy and very serious about serious things as well."[10]

"Shot Down in Flames" was not chosen because fellow band member Felix Martin, voiced a worry that it sounded like a title that the Beta Band might have come up with.[10]

Taylor said that Made in the Dark is the name of one of his favourite songs on the album as he likes the open-endedness of it and said that it was nice to name the album after a thoughtful song as opposed to titles like Coming on Strong, The Warning, and "Shot Down in Flames" which he described as being "big, slightly jokey, macho phrases".[10]

[edit] Appearances

In March 2008, Hot Chip re-recorded several songs from Made in the Dark, with one of their "all-time heroes", Robert Wyatt.[9] Al Doyle said they had wanted it to happen "for ages" and that "people will see it as a real surprise collaboration".[9] But Taylor said, "I crave confusion and quite like people to be surprised. I try to do that in the words and music and try to be what people don't think we are. Robert is someone we have liked for much longer than people realise. We feel closer to people in a different field, age or era."[9]

The album featured Emma Smith, who had previously joined with Hot Chip to play violin and saxophone on their first two albums.[10]

[edit] Kylie Minogue collaboration

In October 2007, some media outlets, such as MTV, incorrectly reported with misquotations, that Hot Chip were planning to give "Ready for the Floor" to Kylie Minogue.[12] Other reports incorrectly suggested that Hot Chip had written Made in the Dark's second single, "Ready for the Floor" specifically for Minogue.[13] Taylor explained that it was a misunderstanding; "It started because someone asked me if we would ever write for Kylie. I said that we'd been asked to write for her but we'd never got round to it. And I said if we had to give her one of our songs, Ready for the Floor would probably be the most suitable. From that, I got misquoted. We didn't write Ready for the Floor for Kylie, didn't send it to her and she never heard it."[8]

After the first rumour circulated, Joe Goddard countered it by creating a reverse rumour, that Minogue had written a track for Hot Chip. He told NME, "Kylie wrote a song for us, She sent it through our management to us – it was totally bizarre. It was the beginnings of a track – I think she wrote it and just thought, 'This would be perfect for Hot Chip', or possibly for a collaboration. It's a crazy song. It's industrial and clanging and even has farmyard animal noises on it. It's the kind of music you'd never normally associate with Kylie. When I'm allowed to send it around it's going to change a few people's ideas about her. Maybe it's one for our next album, after Made in the Dark."[14]

However, Taylor revealed that it was a joke created by Goddard to fool people because they "were sick of people" phoning them up to ask why their song had been turned down by someone who had not heard it.[8] Goddard said, "We’ve been telling lots of lies and rumours about it because we found it quite funny."[9]

[edit] Critical reception

The critical reception to the album was generally favourable. Based on 30 reviews, review aggregate website MetaCritic reported a rating of 79%.[5] There were mixed comments about certain elements in the album such as the ballads; two reviewers noted a disparity between the energy of different songs. Drowned in Sound commented that, "ballads remain a strong suit, particularly the easy grace of the title track, but more often than not sit awkwardly next to the more toothsome numbers and feel under-produced by comparison"[15] with similar comments from All Music Guide, "Made in the Dark’s main weakness might be its ballads, but that may just be in comparison to its many energetic moments, which are so addictive that it feels like a forced come-down whenever the band slows things down."[16] However The Observer gave a positive evaluation of the ballads; "Hot Chip have had a happy way with a subliminal power ballad. And Made in the Dark can boast four of the best."[17] Pitchfork Media rated the album as 7/10 with a mixed review, describing it as a "patchy, turbulent record" due to the use of many different individual components and also said that it was a "good record but not a great one".[18]

Another element to cause mixed reception was the use of a Todd Rundgren sample in "Shake a Fist" which musicOHM.com called "delightful"[19] but The Guardian felt it "grated".[20] MusicOHM.com, whose description of the album was positive, said that tracks "Ready for the Floor" and "Bendable Poseable" had elements reminiscent of previous album The Warning.[19] The Times said that although the execution was "novel" and the song "Made in the Dark" was "exquisite", that much of Made in the Dark "seems to spring from sticky relationship issues". Comparisons were also made to Paul McCartney's McCartney II album with songs like "Wrestlers", "Bendable Poseable", "Whistle for Will" and "We're Looking for a Lot of Love", which were described as having the "airless proto-electronica" of McCartney II.[21]

In regards to lyrics, All Music Guide said the album "boasts some of Hot Chip's most kinetic music, with rhythms and melodies that are just as hyper-articulate as the wordplay."[16] Rolling Stone summarised the album as having "catchy tunes, monster grooves, and lyrics resolving the heartfelt and the smartass".[22]

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Out at the Pictures" – 4:26
  2. "Shake a Fist" – 5:10
  3. "Ready for the Floor" – 3:52
  4. "Bendable Poseable" – 3:46
  5. "We’re Looking for a Lot of Love" – 4:43
  6. "Touch Too Much" – 4:05
  7. "Made in the Dark" – 3:00
  8. "One Pure Thought" – 4:53
  9. "Hold On" – 6:20
  10. "Wrestlers" – 3:45
  11. "Don't Dance" – 4:42
  12. "Whistle for Will" – 2:23
  13. "In the Privacy of Our Love" – 2:52

[edit] Bonus tracks

  1. "So Deep" – 2:34 (iTunes Bonus)
  2. "With Each New Day" – 2:58 (iTunes Bonus)
  3. "Bubbles They Bounce" – 5:52 (iTunes Bonus)

[edit] Personnel

  • Dan Carey – mixing
  • Owen Clarke – design
  • Jonathan Digby – engineer
  • Ian Dowling – assistant
  • Matt Edwards – A&R
  • Joe Goddard – mix control
  • James Shaw – engineer
  • Alexis Smith – assistant
  • Wallzo – design
  • Emma Smith – violin, saxophone

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Album

Made in the Dark charted for 23 weeks in over 10 different charts, entering the UK Album Chart at chart position #4,[2] the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart at #1 and the Billboard Top Electronic Albums chart at #2.[4][23]

Chart Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[24] 25
Belgium Albums Chart[25] 25
French Albums Chart[26] 89
German Album Chart[27] 34
Irish Album Chart[28] 9
Swedish Albums Chart[29] 35
UK Albums Chart[2] 4
United World Chart[30] 26
U.S. Billboard 200[4] 109
U.S. Top Heatseekers[4] 1
U.S Top Electronic Albums[4] 2

[edit] Singles

"Shake a Fist", the first single to be released from the album, was released on 12" vinyl single at the beginning of October 2007 but did not chart. The second single release, "Ready for the Floor", charted for 24 weeks in 5 different charts. It peaked at position number 6, on the UK Singles Top 75, and stayed there for 1 week.[31]

Song Chart peak positions
Austrian Singles Chart
 Bulgarian National Top 40
 Irish Singles Chart
 UK Singles Chart
 UK Download Chart
"Shake a Fist" — — — — —
"Ready for the Floor" 73 [32] 20 [33] 22 [34] 6 [2] 9

"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Maher, Dave. Hot Chip's New Album Made in the Dark. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  2. ^ a b c d Singer Johnson tops album chart. BBC. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  3. ^ Hot Chip - Made in the Dark (Album). Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  4. ^ a b c d e Artist Chart History - Hot Chip. Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  5. ^ a b Made in the Dark. MetaCritic. Retrieved on 2008-02-21.
  6. ^ BBC News: Adele's album debuts at chart top. Retrieved on February 5, 2008.
  7. ^ New Hot Chip single details emerge. Retrieved on March 8, 2008.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Ryan, Gary. Geeky date with Hot Chip. Manchester Evening News. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Swift, Jacqui. I like people to be surprised. The Sun. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Maher, Dave. Pitchfork: Hot Chip's Taylor Talks LP, Alicia Keys, Rilo Remixes. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  11. ^ Video: Hot Chip: "Ready for the Floor". The Fader Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
  12. ^ Hot Chip to work with Kylie?. MTV. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  13. ^ Kylie Minogue writes song for Hot Chip. NME. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  14. ^ Hot Chip: the truth about 'Kylie collaboration'. NME. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  15. ^ Denney, Alex. Hot Chip: Made in the Dark. NME. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
  16. ^ a b Phares, Heather. Made in the Dark Review. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
  17. ^ Thompson, Ben. Hot Chip, Made in the Dark. The Observer. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
  18. ^ Pytlik, Mark. Hot Chip - Made In The Dark. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  19. ^ a b Ahmad, Jamil. Hot Chip - Made in the Dark. musicOHM.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
  20. ^ Macpherson, Alex. Hot Chip, Made in the Dark. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
  21. ^ Paphides, Pete. Hot Chip: Made In The Dark. The Times. Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  22. ^ Hermes, Will. Made in the Dark Review. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
  23. ^ Hot Chip - Made in the Dark. Acharts.us. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  24. ^ Made in the Dark Australian Chart Position. Australian-charts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  25. ^ Made in the Dark Belgium Chart Position. ultratop.be. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  26. ^ Made in the Dark French Chart Position. lescharts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  27. ^ Made in the Dark German Chart Position. Acharts.us. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
  28. ^ Made in the Dark Irish Chart Position. Irma.ie. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.
  29. ^ Made in the Dark Swedish Chart Position. swedishcharts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  30. ^ Made in the Dark United World Chart Position. Mediatraffic.de. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  31. ^ Ready for the Floor. Acharts.us. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
  32. ^ Made in the Dark Austrian Chart Position. Austrian-charts.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  33. ^ Ready for the Floor Bulgarian Chart Position. Acharts.us. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
  34. ^ Made in the Dark Irish Chart Position. Irma.ie. Retrieved on 2008-03-08.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Hot Chip
Alexis Taylor · Joe Goddard · Owen Clarke · Felix Martin · Al Doyle
Hagop Tchaparian · Rob Smoughton · Scott Bennett · Daniel Paton
Studio albums
Coming on Strong · The Warning · Made in the Dark
EPs
Mexico EP · Sanfrandisco E-Pee · Down With Prince · The Barbarian EP · Live Session
Singles
"Hittin' Skittles/Back to the Future" · "Playboy" · "Over and Over" · "Boy from School" · "Colours" · "My Piano" · "Shake a Fist" · "Ready for the Floor"
Other Recordings
Related