Hot Chip

Steven Speilberg sold his Jaws era glasses on ebay to electronerd71 from England.

Made In The Dark

Electro-pop nerds Hot Chip are back with their third bleep-laden LP ‘Made In The Dark.’

After hitting the semi-big time with a Mercury nod for their second LP The Warning, the Putney-based geek collective have delivered almost the perfect modern pop record.

First single Ready for the Floor was foolishly turned down by Kylie for her new album (which of course bombed) and the Chip, are now lauded as quirk-pop pioneers, the proof that geeks are cool and mainstream. It’s one in the eye against the guitar boys who pipped them for the Mercury in 2006, oh and not forgetting they could also be the saviour of their battered label EMI, who threw away way too much money promoting Kylie’s latest, which probably would have done much better if Hot Chip had written their debut single.

There are plenty more gems to follow Ready For The Floor and a few nice surprises, where the Moogs are discarded for some subtle orchestration, at the heart of the record are some melancholy ballads such as We’re Looking for A Lot of Love and Made In The Dark which impress greatly.

Of course as expected there are some great floor-fillers - listen out for Bendable Poseable and Touch Too Much in a sub-Shoreditch trendy bar near you.

The first hurdle when listening to a Hot Chip record is bespectacled Front man Alexis Taylor’s voice. Simply it’s an acquired taste, it’s fey, weedy and whining which at first grates but over time slips seamlessly into the synthetic arrangement, juxtaposed with the gruffer manly tones of Joe Goddard (the one with the beard). There is enough variety vocally as there is sonically and by the time the final track In The Privacy Of Our Love is over you feel like you have been delivered a really nice bedtime story.

We say: Knob-twiddlers create sophisto-pop, fame and riches follow.

They say: Such faith in circuit boards is repaid. Having long mastered clever, Hot Chip's new album should catapult them to big things – The Telegraph.

Best track: Touch Too Much, We’re Looking For A Lot Of Love show that nerds have soul too.

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