The Double Aughts: Hot Chip's Made in the Dark

A futuristic techno train lurches from the station, slowly clacking and building electrosteam, its synthetic beat increasing with each turn of the virtual wheel. The whistle screams as it careens downhill, the sounds peeking into the playful clattering and hooks of "Out at the Pictures," the first track on 2008's Made in the Dark from the dancepop group Hot Chip.

The bridge of "Out at the Pictures" features yelping, and is followed by the similar-in-structure "Shake a Fist." The track builds more quickly, anchored by a fat bass sweep and dense drumbeat before it pauses for some narration and explodes into 360 degrees of clicks and blips, followed by samples of more yelling and a return to the original sound.

Made in the Dark is a diverse album in three forms. Although the first two tracks predict what might be the electropop equivalent of Crunk, "Ready for the Floor" transitions towards the album's softer side. Alexis Taylor's soft-spoken vocal style has always been the warm, sincere center of Hot Chip's sound, and he's never sounded so vulnerable as when he sings "I am ready for a fall." Unsuprisingly, the track is Hot Chip's biggest hit to date, although the narrative gem "And I Was a Boy from School" from 2006 may be their magnum opus.

"Bendable Poseable" and "Don't Dance" return to the opening sound with lots of low end, but the remainder of the album's tracks are airy ballads, like ""We're Looking for a Lot of Love," or poppy dance numbers, e.g. "Touch Too Much." The relatively brief disco epic, "Hold On," a loose revision of their club banger "Over and Over," is the best of the latter. The strong use of Taylor and Joe Goddard's differing vocal styles provides a perfect example of the band's dance-inspiring potential and lyrical prowess. Take the hook, "I'm only going to heaven if it feels like hell. / I'm only going to heaven if it tastes like caramel," and the couplet "My only lesson was in my head, / but I traded if for my hand," and mix well with an overused phrase in a fresh context, like, "Sir, I have a good mind to take you outside." Pop genius.

As one of the best breakup songs in recent years, the title track frames Hot Chip as Phil Collins-level emoters. But the witty heart of Made in the Dark is "Wrestlers." The song is a simultaneously tongue-in-cheek and earnest exploration of professional wrestling as a metaphor for fighting of other kinds. The two poles of this experience are best represented by the "half nelson, full nelson, Willie Nelson" pun and the refrain of Taylor almost whispering "I think you think I'm about to throw the towel in."

This ability to balance humor with intellect and love is exactly what makes Made in the Dark one of the decade's best albums. The closing piano-and-bleeps ballad "In the Privacy of Our Love" proves that Hot Chip very well may be our current Genesis, and with One Life Stand coming early next year, they seem posed to maintain that position.

Made In The Dark - Hot Chip

Top 10 Albums of 2008 (Version 1.0)

This list may be a bit premature, but I always find albums in the following year that would have made my year-end lists. Most recently I've found albums from 2007 (Electrelane's No Shouts, No Calls), 2005 (The Meligrove Band's Planets Conspire), and 2001 (Mirah's Advisory Committee) that probably would have made at least my top 25 list. Sometimes it takes awhile for me to give an album the chance it deserves. I've only this week listened to all of Lightspeed Champion's Falling off the Lavender Bridge, possibly because I saw it as too gimmacky following my summer 2006 affair with Test Icicles.

I've poured over this list and I don't think it's going to change anytime soon. Unlike last year, there's a definite divide between the top ten and the rest of my list (which I'll post later). These ten albums really stood out in my 2008 as musical achievements. 

 

1. Why?  Alopecia
2. The Dodos  Visiter
3. M83  Saturday = Youth
4. Los Campesinos!  Hold On Now, Youngster
5. The Kills  Midnight Boom
6. Hot Chip  Made in the Dark
7. MGMT  Oracular Spectacular
8. Crystal Castles  Crystal Castles
9. Ra Ra Riot  The Rhumb Line
10. Adele 19

Like 2007, you'll find a good mix of veteran acts (M83, The Kills), sophomores (Hot Chip, The Dodos), and rookies (Lost Campesinos!, MGMT). However, Ra Ra Riot are the only act completely off my radar before 2008.  Crystal Castles, Adele, and the other first timers all had some kind of release (either an EP or import) that I was at least aware of before this year.

Following another interesting trend, all of these albums, with the exception of Ra Ra Riot's The Rhumb Line appeared on my mid-2008 list, although some have received a better evaluation with time. 

So what do you think? Post your lists. Do you violently disagree with any of my picks?

Midnight Boom "Kills"

Until a couple weeks ago, I would have said that Hot Chip had released the best album of an adolescent 2008. Made in the Dark isn’t quite on par with last year’s Sound of Silver (LCD Soundsystem), but it comes from a similar sonic playground, including songs that can knock you down with shock and awe (“Shake a Fist”) and lull you into a meditative appreciation (“Wrestlers”).

Who could have up-ended this achievement? On March 18, The Kills released Midnight Boom, and album I had probably anticipated more than any other this year. No one could have had higher expectations for a fresh release from the cross-Atlantic duo of vocalist Alison "VV" Mosshart and guitarist Jamie "Hotel" Hince, but when I started hearing of Spank Rock’s involvement and some of the early reviews, I worried that my two-headed demon of ripping hipster blues had been defanged (a la PJ Harvey’s White Chalk).

When I finally got to pop Midnight Boom in my CD player, I felt the tingle that a friend had introduced me to with the first blips followed by the revving chainsaw of “Superstition” (track 1 of their debut, Keep on Your Mean Side). The first, confusing ten seconds of “U.R.A. Fever” follow landline sound effects into VV and Hotel’s endless supply of violently whispered haikus:

Pick you out a soda.
Look at you forever.
Eyes like a casino.
Find a piece of silver.
Go down to the Rio.
Put it in a fruit machine.
Everyone’s a winner.
Laughing like a seagull.
You are a fever . . .

With the refrain comes a subtle-but-deadly bass line and electro scratch. Like most of the album, it’s hit-and-run; two minutes later the track is over, leaving elation and bemused confusion in its wake.


“Take you to a jukebox . . . / Pick you out a number, / that’s our arrangement.”

Hip-hop roots decorate the proverbial sleeves of tracks like “Getting Down” and “Sour Cherry.” The Kills has always been the other side of The Bumblebeez garage-blues-for-B-boys coin (compare “Hook and Line” to the former’s “Step Back”), but Midnight Boom finds VV, Hotel, and their studio mates further exploring their metallic possibilities (Did Albini stop by with a metal pick?). There are new sounds, like the tricks that peers The White Stripes, Forget Cassettes, and Hot Chip have used to give their sound new dimensions.

With Midnight Boom, 2008 has found the spit and booze to shape its reckless youth, albeit one with decent taste.

VV borrows a pinch of soul from (The Gossip’s) Beth Ditto on “Cheap and Cheerful.”

Let's Get "Let's Get Digital"

Hop on over to Insound to get their brand new sampler, Let's Get Digital 5, featuring new tracks from Xiu Xiu, Hot Chip, Ida, and 12 others. These mixes always feature some great new stuff.

Download Let's Get Digital 5

Apparently it will only be available for a limited time, but you can still get #4 right here. If anyone finds links to the other three, let me know and I'll post them here. The third one was put together with the help of CMJ and helped me through the extraction of four wisdom teeth. Ow!