"Shake a Fist" is a song by English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

band

Hot Chip Hot Chip are an English synthpop band formed in London in 1995. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. They are occasionally joined by former member Rob Smoughton for ...

from their third studio album, ''

Made in the Dark ''Made in the Dark'' is the third studio album by English indietronica 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 featu ...

'' (2008). It was released on 23 October 2007 as the album's lead single. The song was almost included on Hot Chip's second studio album, '' The Warning'' (2006).

Composition

Alexis Taylor Alexis Taylor (born 20 April 1980) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist, keyboardist, and guitarist of the band Hot Chip. He is also the keyboardist of the band About Group and has released solo ...

stated that the lyrics, "I move underwater, I eat what I slaughter", were formed as a result of him "imagining what it would be like to take ''

salvia divinorum ''Salvia divinorum'' (Latin: "sage of the diviners"; also called ska maría pastora, seer's sage, yerba de la pastora, magic mint or simply salvia) is a plant species with transient psychoactive properties when its leaves are consumed by che ...

''", which Joe Goddard had taken at

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

Critical reception

"Shake a Fist" was described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as a "brooding, industrial, 12-inch introduction to ''Made in the Dark''". Prefix described the song as having "squeaky synths and a laid back bass line playing sidekick to ominous urban jungle drums" with vocals that have "a well defined power dynamic", whilst

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

said the song "blends terrific acidic bass

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

jagged snares" and has "shamanic backing vocals". ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' characterised "Shake a Fist" as "a dizzy skyscraper of a track, full to the brim with sonic smarts and tricks yet hard-wired to a snaking, nagging groove". A

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

's voice was used as a result of Al Doyle and Alexis Taylor being fans of Rundgren's third solo album, ''

Something/Anything? ''Something/Anything?'' is the third album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in February 1972. It was his first double album, and was recorded in late 1971 in Los Angeles, New York City and Bearsville Studios, Woodstock. Three quarte ...

'' (1972). The reception to the sample was mixed; ''

musicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

'' called it "delightful", but ''The Guardian'' dubbed it "grated". The ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' highlighted "Shake a Fist" as a "top track", and described the song as "more intense and vaguely threatening than anything they've done before", although the use of the Todd Rundgren sample was described as "intrusive".

Track listing

*;US limited-edition 12" single #"Shake a Fist" – 5:10

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2007 singles 2007 songs Astralwerks singles Hot Chip songs Songs written by Todd Rundgren