Thursday 22/11/07 Hot Chip @ Electric Ballroom, Camden

Hot Chip are on top form for this evening’s one-off gig at the Electric Ballroom, the first chance for the world to hear new material from their forthcoming album ‘Made in the Dark,’ despite being forced to abandon the stage early, possibly to rush off and vomit. The crowd lap up these new songs gratefully and the lack of music from their Mercury-nominated second album ‘The Warning’ is testament to the immediacy of these tracks, as well as Hot Chip’s fantastic presence on stage.

The new material seems to have a stronger beat and a heavier style, but then the band have always been a more energised act live than they are on record. The songs have a darkness and menace behind them, even in the perennial ‘Over and Over’ which is given a pounding bassline to drive into the audience’s skulls (as if it wasn’t infectious enough). But they still have the hooks that brought them to prominence and, although he looks a bit like that little nerdy kid who used to get picked on in school, you’re reminded how central Alexis Taylor’s cooing vocals are to Hot Chip’s mesmerising sound.

The excited crowd easily fill the large space of the Electric Ballroom and dance with wild abandon to the inescapable rhythms – Hot Chip, after all, are an act who remind all indie fans that dance music really can be this good. The band even admit that they’ve now reached a point where they don’t have to play ‘Over and Over’ as the final track, but Gigwise can’t help noticing just a few people leaving after their breakthrough track finished. They continue to give it their all but this proves too much for Taylor who, even after a brief rest, has to admit defeat and leaves the stage in illness.