Hot Chip - Made In The Dark

By 2008, Hot Chip had spent two albums holed up in bedrooms, piecing songs together from laptops and drum machines. For their third record, they wanted to bottle the chaos of their live show instead. "We were excited by the idea of doing something strange and vibrant," says Joe Goddard, and despite being signed to a major label, the band found themselves with startling creative freedom. "This record was a lot about freedom to experiment and make whatever kind of take on pop music that we wanted to make," says Alexis Taylor. Made in the Dark became their breakthrough: a wild, shapeshifting pop record that refused to settle into one mood and rewarded the band's risk-taking with their biggest chart success yet.

The album vaults from ballads to floor-fillers without warning, held together by the band's restless curiosity. "Ready for the Floor" became the record's centerpiece, climbing into the UK Top Ten and earning Hot Chip a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording. "Shake a Fist" folds in a Todd Rundgren sample, while the title track's tender balladry sits comfortably beside the album's more manic electronic experiments. That same year, Robert Wyatt handpicked several of the record's songs to rework with the band for a separate EP, a nod to how much range Made in the Dark contained.

Made in the Dark debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart and topped the UK Dance chart, going gold. As bandmate Owen Clarke put it, "We'd kicked the doors in and now we were at the party." Nearly two decades on, it stands as the moment Hot Chip stopped sounding like a bedroom project and started sounding like a band.

This is the album's first vinyl reissue since its original release, pressed to 2xLP and paired with a CD, housed in a deluxe embossed gatefold sleeve, and featuring new liner notes from music journalist Kate Hutchinson.