R N’BEDROOM is back. Only this time it’s prised open the door of the bedroom, kicked off its bedroom slippers, torn off its bathrobe, slipped downstairs and headed straight for the kitchen where it’s thrown open the door of the refrigerator and proceeded to stand stark-bollock-naked in front of a dazzling neon shower shaking its ass and flapping its scrotum back and forth to some kick-ass tune or other.
In terms of where it stands in relation to Mercury Music Prize nominated debut album ‘The Warning’ its something of an out of body experience for Alexis Taylor and the gang. Not only is it more fizzy, more feisty, more frosty, more fuzzy and more foxy than its predecessor, it eschews the kind of reckless inhibition and swagger that only a 30 year old man who has just had sex for the first time can legitimately muster. It’s visceral, it’s tribal and it plays squarely to the crowds – which inevitably it would, given that ‘Made In The Dark’ has been informed by two solid years of touring (in fact fans may already know many of the songs their recent live shows). And whilst it’s not Basement Jaxx, exactly, it possesses the same kind of shredded hardcore grinds and punkish, puckish beats that come tearing from the Brixton underground on occasion (‘Shake A Fist’, ‘Bendable Poseable’, ‘Hold On’). Bendy, rubbery, funky and breaking with the same kind of velocity as strobe lighting it’s a more upbeat affair rounded with no small degree of soulish introspection (‘We’re Looking For A Lot of Love’, ‘Made In The Dark’). It’s also got that hellishly addictive leadoff single, ‘Ready For The Floor’ by way of perky pop relief.
Like the album’s immediate and much celebrated predecessor it commands its own pace, occupying a comfortable niche in the hearts and minds of its creators who seem just as happy to loaf around within their characteristically elastic boundaries as extend them.
Tirelessly wonky-ful.
ALBUM ‘MADE IN THE DARK’ – HOT CHIP – OUT 04.02.08