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Made in the Dark
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Made in the Dark
Made in the Dark is the third studio album by the English synth-pop band Hot Chip, released on 4 February 2008 through EMI Records internationally and Astralwerks and DFA Records in the United States. Comprising 13 tracks, a defining feature of the album is the strong presence of romantic ballads. The title ballad was described as "sublime" by one critic, although not all the ballads received universal praise. Alexis Taylor, the main contributor to the lyrics, said he was proud of the album lyrically and felt that feeling of love and happiness, partly the result of his recent marriage, had contributed to the album's romantic tone.
Critics stated that songs such as "Ready for the Floor" and "Bendable Poseable" were reminiscent of their previous release, The Warning. The style of the album was not considered as big a leap forward as the changes evident between Coming on Strong (2004) to The Warning (2006). It was said that Hot Chip had honed their music by using quirks of their musical style to make more accomplished music. However, some critics felt that the album lacked focus, containing too many varied elements; it was described as "loveable but flawed". Commercially, Made in the Dark peaked at number four on the UK Album Chart, number 25 on the Australian album charts, and entered at number 109 on the US Billboard 200. Several singles have been released from the album, including "Shake a Fist", "Ready for the Floor", which reached number six on the UK Singles Chart, and "One Pure Thought".
Hot Chip mostly record their music in a bedroom. However, the band took a different approach in recording Made in the Dark to make it sound "not quite so homemade". Recording took place in a variety of locations, including in-studio and live venues, to make "different acoustic spaces to be obvious to the listener". In regards to editing, Taylor said that Hot Chip have "never really been too good at bothering to get rid of little imperfections in the music"; he felt they added personality and said that "it's good not to be too dogmatic about it if that's what suits the song". Hot Chip used a variety of vocal structures, including layered vocals, where two takes of the same vocals were added together, changed by idiosyncrasies from the way it had been sung, and the doubling of a single performance, shifted out of beat.
Drummer Felix Martin said Made in the Dark was a "true group effort". The process began with Taylor and Goddard creating lyrics, then Goddard would produce parts of tracks, which Alexis would then add "lyrical content and melodies and so on that he's thought of while he's on the bus or in the bath or wherever he happened to be". The other three members of Hot Chip, Owen Clarke, Al Doyle, and Felix Martin would then "have some influence on the way the songs are put together."
Some equipment used to create the album remained the same as previous albums—Goddard used Steinberg Cubase SX3 on his laptop and Doyle and Martin worked on songs using Apple Logic in their studio. To create the chorus for "Ready for the Floor", Goddard used plug-ins from Arturia, such as Moog Modular. He used two sound channels to control noise and melody, and placed the noise channel in Cubase and had it follow the melody, to make it "punchier". With "Bendable Poseable", Goddard recorded live percussion parts with a Shure Beta 57A mic going directly into Cubase and "fashioned them into a jittery, three-minute loop". This was emailed to Taylor, who then recorded the main vocals for the song. To create the beat in "Shake a Fist" Martin used the Elektron Machinedrum.
At the London-based studio called the Strongroom, "One Pure Thought", "Hold On" and "Shake a Fist" were recorded live, instead of on multitrack, and were subsequently pieced together. This was the first occasion that Hot Chip had recorded music in a studio environment.
In March 2008, Hot Chip re-recorded several songs from Made in the Dark, with Robert Wyatt.
The album features Emma Smith, who had previously joined with Hot Chip to play violin and saxophone on their first two albums.
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Made in the Dark
Made in the Dark is the third studio album by the English synth-pop band Hot Chip, released on 4 February 2008 through EMI Records internationally and Astralwerks and DFA Records in the United States. Comprising 13 tracks, a defining feature of the album is the strong presence of romantic ballads. The title ballad was described as "sublime" by one critic, although not all the ballads received universal praise. Alexis Taylor, the main contributor to the lyrics, said he was proud of the album lyrically and felt that feeling of love and happiness, partly the result of his recent marriage, had contributed to the album's romantic tone.
Critics stated that songs such as "Ready for the Floor" and "Bendable Poseable" were reminiscent of their previous release, The Warning. The style of the album was not considered as big a leap forward as the changes evident between Coming on Strong (2004) to The Warning (2006). It was said that Hot Chip had honed their music by using quirks of their musical style to make more accomplished music. However, some critics felt that the album lacked focus, containing too many varied elements; it was described as "loveable but flawed". Commercially, Made in the Dark peaked at number four on the UK Album Chart, number 25 on the Australian album charts, and entered at number 109 on the US Billboard 200. Several singles have been released from the album, including "Shake a Fist", "Ready for the Floor", which reached number six on the UK Singles Chart, and "One Pure Thought".
Hot Chip mostly record their music in a bedroom. However, the band took a different approach in recording Made in the Dark to make it sound "not quite so homemade". Recording took place in a variety of locations, including in-studio and live venues, to make "different acoustic spaces to be obvious to the listener". In regards to editing, Taylor said that Hot Chip have "never really been too good at bothering to get rid of little imperfections in the music"; he felt they added personality and said that "it's good not to be too dogmatic about it if that's what suits the song". Hot Chip used a variety of vocal structures, including layered vocals, where two takes of the same vocals were added together, changed by idiosyncrasies from the way it had been sung, and the doubling of a single performance, shifted out of beat.
Drummer Felix Martin said Made in the Dark was a "true group effort". The process began with Taylor and Goddard creating lyrics, then Goddard would produce parts of tracks, which Alexis would then add "lyrical content and melodies and so on that he's thought of while he's on the bus or in the bath or wherever he happened to be". The other three members of Hot Chip, Owen Clarke, Al Doyle, and Felix Martin would then "have some influence on the way the songs are put together."
Some equipment used to create the album remained the same as previous albums—Goddard used Steinberg Cubase SX3 on his laptop and Doyle and Martin worked on songs using Apple Logic in their studio. To create the chorus for "Ready for the Floor", Goddard used plug-ins from Arturia, such as Moog Modular. He used two sound channels to control noise and melody, and placed the noise channel in Cubase and had it follow the melody, to make it "punchier". With "Bendable Poseable", Goddard recorded live percussion parts with a Shure Beta 57A mic going directly into Cubase and "fashioned them into a jittery, three-minute loop". This was emailed to Taylor, who then recorded the main vocals for the song. To create the beat in "Shake a Fist" Martin used the Elektron Machinedrum.
At the London-based studio called the Strongroom, "One Pure Thought", "Hold On" and "Shake a Fist" were recorded live, instead of on multitrack, and were subsequently pieced together. This was the first occasion that Hot Chip had recorded music in a studio environment.
In March 2008, Hot Chip re-recorded several songs from Made in the Dark, with Robert Wyatt.
The album features Emma Smith, who had previously joined with Hot Chip to play violin and saxophone on their first two albums.