Hot Chip has always been nerdy, but it's never
been nerdy enough to forsake an interest in how its nerdiness would be
perceived. Even the most antic moments on previous albums felt a little hedged
or uncertain, if not for a group of homebound English boys, then certainly for
an act regarded as a paragon of "dance-rock." That pensiveness proved a big
part of Hot Chip's charm, of course, but it's a lot more charming when measured
against a complementary tendency to go big, busy, and raw. From the unguarded
yelps and wiggling drums that mark its first track, Made In The Dark sounds more forceful and
lithe than anything in Hot Chip's past. The demented single "Shake A Fist"
swerves through a number of different big-bottomed movements (including one riffing on an old curio by Todd Rundgren), and the ballads (some
of a sort that John Waite would have killed for in the '80s) sound more
heartfelt. It's a motley mix that can make Made In The Dark sound like a different
album every time it's played.