Made in the Light

I haven't posted a blog for at least two weeks... maybe three. I feel very lazy for not doing so but really there hasn't been much to blog about. Until now.

I was recently given Hot Chip's Made in the Dark as a gift - and what a gift it was! It is remarkably better than both of their previous albums - Coming on Strong and Mercury Music Prize nominated The Warning - put together. It must be amazing because for the last week or so I haven't listened to anything but the joyous techno blast that fires at you from the very first song. Strangely, I don't think that Ready for the Floor is one of the best songs on the album; there are plenty of tracks here that can be considered to be singles, including the tribal beats of Shake a Fist, the noisy but well-made Touch Too Much and the incredibly upbeat Out at the Pictures. Even more mellow moments like We're Looking For a Little Love and Made in the Dark are wonderful, smooth ditties that give breathing space between the raucous electro infused tracks. One song really steals the show for me, though. One Pure Thought starts off with a lone guitar that sounds like it's being played in a cave and then moves on to an incredibly effective layering of sassy synths. Little blasts here and there from the guitar give the track a lot of power and Alexis Taylor's almost fragile voice makes the song oddly ethereal.

I can't say that this is a mixed bag at all - a lot of people are saying that it's not as good as previous efforts but maybe they're just blinded by the fact that this album is so much more ambitious than their previous ventures.