Album is surprisingly fun. It's like the uptempo parts of 'Since I Left You' crossed with Orbital's Wonky'.
yeah! I hear the same vibes of both Avalanches albums actually. And it's a lot like Wonky in that it compacts the classic sound into a modern era and also functions as a showcase of their talents.
Played it 3 times today. haven't done that with a new album in forever. I'll see how I feel about it in a year but for now I think it's up there with Dig and Further. It's so much fun and feels like an album they actually wanted to make (which I haven't gotten from some CB albums). I remember getting Surrender on release day and waiting until when my parents weren't home so I could crank it loud in the living room. today I did the same in my own place, with my kids (they really like the "I ain't gonna take it no more" bit)
― frogbs, Thursday, 25 April 2019 04:34 (four years ago) link
They've been on a roll lately
― Simon H., Thursday, 25 April 2019 04:42 (four years ago) link
I love the part of 'Eve of Destruction' where it changes up from late 80's house-stab vibes to that almost Maximum Joy esque live bass and female vocal combination. This is way better than I has expected, I was a huge fan of the first 2 albums and stopped paying attention when I got into more specialised stuff.
― raise my chicken finger (Willl), Thursday, 25 April 2019 09:47 (four years ago) link
Shazam'd a track the other day and it was, surprisingly, 2015's Go. A great sounding track that.
― piscesx, Thursday, 25 April 2019 13:33 (four years ago) link
Chemical Brothers winning Glastonbury at the moment
― groovypanda, Saturday, 29 June 2019 21:54 (four years ago) link
They are playing in my neighborhood in august but I'll be out of town. Sort of curious how much of their show is playing the old hits vs more recent material
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 30 June 2019 18:29 (four years ago) link
xxp "Go" is so good, agree that they seem to be on a roll
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Sunday, 30 June 2019 18:48 (four years ago) link
Sort of curious how much of their show is playing the old hits vs more recent material
Full current setlist here, non-spoilery summation if you care about that sort of thing: If your cutoff for “the old hits” is at or around the end of the Surrender era, they don’t fall back on those past glories too hard - there’s a large and varied array of material from all the subsequent albums, with an obvious emphasis on whatever they’re touring to promote - but unless you’re a diehard for “Setting Sun”, which got dropped again after an early-2010s revival, pretty much anything you’d care to hear from their moment of peak 90’s visibility is represented, along with some deep cuts for the diehards (esp. if you go to a show where there’s enough time for an encore).
imo their adamance for keeping at least a few songs from every album in heavy setlist rotation has done wonders for their rep as an act whose discography you can’t just tune out of at some decided-on cutoff point - especially as their live shows are probably the most front-facing part of the whole Chemical Brothers operation at this stage. Like, even if you want to argue that - say - Push The Button is a career low, it’s still where beloved setlist staple “Surface To Air” came from (plus “Galvanize” etc.), and there isn’t an album of theirs that doesn’t have at least one (or probably several) of those moments.
― You can’t see it but I had an epiphany (Champiness), Sunday, 30 June 2019 20:00 (four years ago) link
Got To Keep On is in my head every day now, it's one of the best things they've ever done
― or something, Sunday, 30 June 2019 20:44 (four years ago) link
― Vini C. Riley (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 30 June 2019 21:02 (four years ago) link
Loved the segue from that into Hey Boy Hey Girl on Saturday xp
― groovypanda, Monday, 1 July 2019 07:45 (four years ago) link
oh my god that setlist looks insane
would really love to see these guys one day but I live in the Midwest so uhhh
― frogbs, Monday, 1 July 2019 13:31 (four years ago) link
I actually gave up on the Glastonbury show and went to see Hot Chip instead - it felt like watching a film I'd seen a few too many times before and I couldn't get close enough for it to feel fully immersive.
― Matt DC, Monday, 1 July 2019 17:40 (four years ago) link
The cover star as such of Surrender has passed on (article from a couple of years ago but an updated section at the end has more details).
https://medium.com/@JPRobinson/the-mystery-of-jesus-the-naked-hippie-dancer-9822c0da8765
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 January 2021 22:36 (three years ago) link
that was great, thanks
― Überschadenfreude (sleeve), Monday, 11 January 2021 22:58 (three years ago) link
Yeah Gary Kemp shared out the news and a lot of the replies have been great in terms of sharing stories -- including one from Chris Difford!
Just heard that ‘Jesus’ William Jellett died today. He was at every gig I ever went to in the 70s, doing his groovy dancing and blessing us all with his happy presence. We’d call his name from the bleachers. He was validation that the artist was worth seeing. #Jesus 🙏 pic.twitter.com/bxvyM83NlW— Gary Kemp (@garyjkemp) January 10, 2021
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 January 2021 23:04 (three years ago) link
Used to see him shaking his maracas everywhere back in the 80s/90s, last gig I saw him at was a Hawkwind tribute band in about 2003 (I was depping the audio generators in the support band is my excuse for being there). He wasn't looking great even then, but sad to see him gone all the same. No idea about his views on stadium techno, I think he preferred Blue Öyster Cult.
― fish quits shock (Matt #2), Monday, 11 January 2021 23:07 (three years ago) link
New track out today, just in time for the summer, hopefully a harbinger of better times. I can’t find any information about the vocalist, sounds a bit like Sarah Nixey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-mGA4V2LK0
― Dan Worsley, Friday, 23 April 2021 16:02 (three years ago) link
I was 13 and hooked when Surrender came out. I used to watch a bunch of MTV during certain times trying to catch the "Let Forever Be" video. (well, that and "Body Movin" by Beastie Boys) I saw it twice and thought it was really freaky. Never occurred to me that I could just YouTube it now, lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5FyfQDO5g0
it's a lucid dream, right? still one of the most hypnotic videos I have ever seen. who's the actress??
― frogbs, Thursday, 3 February 2022 03:29 (two years ago) link
the girl is played by actress and dancer Stephanie Landwehr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_Forever_Be
great tune
― bad milk blood robot (sleeve), Thursday, 3 February 2022 03:40 (two years ago) link
when I saw it at first I was convinced it was someone famous who I figured I would've forgot about now. she's such a great casting for it, all the smooth but imperfect movements
my first real dose of online culture came from following like, the "techno" email groups around its release. when "Hey Boy Hey Girl" came out the fans fucking hated it. but I thought it was funny! like the Chems doing "Cotton Eyed Joe"! I admit it might not have been the best choice for the first single though
― frogbs, Thursday, 3 February 2022 03:49 (two years ago) link
Gondry, man. Genius.
― StanM, Thursday, 3 February 2022 07:39 (two years ago) link
I thought "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" was a great opening salvo for Surrender. If you listen to all the tracks that were originally released as "Electronic Battle Weapons" (e.g. "It Doesn't Matter", "Under the Influence") - at least through to about 2002 - it presents this alternate history of the group as this slamming bleepy house act, which seemed much more in-tune with the turn of the millennium than rock-aligned big beat. "Hey Boy Hey Girl" (though not an EBW track) leaned into that vibe in the most populist manner possible. If anything, I found "Let Forever Be" to be a disappointing retrenchment (as a song - the video clip is great) - "Setting Sun" redux but lesser in every way possible.
― Tim F, Thursday, 3 February 2022 23:30 (two years ago) link
ooh that's harsh, I like it more than that but I do respect yr take
it's the on with "Go" and "Horse Power" that I really love as far as post-90s work
"It Doesn't Matter" = maybe my fave track of theirs ever
has there ever been an artist poll?
― bad milk blood robot (sleeve), Thursday, 3 February 2022 23:37 (two years ago) link
on one
another related memory is that when the college station that I have DJd on since 1998 first got their license in '93 or '94, we would listen to the station back then at the bakery I worked at (I did radio then, but on a different station) and they played "Setting Sun" like 10 times a day
― bad milk blood robot (sleeve), Thursday, 3 February 2022 23:39 (two years ago) link
I actually do like "Let Forever Be". I think it wouldn't have been so much of an issue if they hadn't opted to work with Noel again.
Arguably the "working with male rock singers" gambit was almost a straight line of diminishing returns: "Life Is Sweet" = "Setting Sun" > "Let Forever Be" > "The Acid Test" > "The Golden Path".
If you played those in succession there would be a clear encroaching vibe I would compare to regulatory capture: the CBs gradually forgetting that the point was to take the rock-association and forge something new with it, rather than just come up with an arrangement that would complement the peccadillos of the guest vocalist.
― Tim F, Thursday, 3 February 2022 23:56 (two years ago) link
otm imo
― bad milk blood robot (sleeve), Thursday, 3 February 2022 23:58 (two years ago) link
One thing about Let Forever Be is it does not buzzsaw through your skull the way Setting Sun does. It’s also a way more overt Tomorrow Never Knows rip
The line “how does it feel like?” bothers the shit out of me though
Fwiw I really like “The Acid Test”. “Golden Path” sucks though.
― frogbs, Friday, 4 February 2022 00:48 (two years ago) link
you mean The Test, right? or is there another track called The Acid Test?
― scanner darkly, Friday, 4 February 2022 02:39 (two years ago) link
ok so I never actually bought a copy of Come With Us, I downloaded it way back when MP3s were always mistagged so I assumed that was just the actual name of the song
― frogbs, Friday, 4 February 2022 02:54 (two years ago) link
Yeah I just mean "The Test" - when I think of the song all I can hear in my head is Richard Ashcroft asking "did I pass the acid test?", and it's up there with "how does it feel like?" as one of the more annoying questions asked in modern music.
― Tim F, Friday, 4 February 2022 03:30 (two years ago) link
otm, I like The Test apart from that so if is a bummer
― brisk money (lukas), Friday, 4 February 2022 03:44 (two years ago) link
all the lyrics in that song are annoying but the pure beauty of the "are you feeling me like I'm feeling you" part makes up for it
― frogbs, Friday, 4 February 2022 03:46 (two years ago) link
interesting to compare all these to Out of Control which seems to be the opposite, the boys just enjoying themselves
― scanner darkly, Saturday, 5 February 2022 04:14 (two years ago) link
You know what other song sounds like the boys just enjoying themselves, is "The Salmon Dance"
― castanuts (DJP), Sunday, 6 February 2022 18:02 (two years ago) link
lol
― scanner darkly, Sunday, 6 February 2022 18:18 (two years ago) link
The Salmon Dance sounds like the boys trying to write Gorillaz song. Possibly even a Plastic Beach song, 3 years before that album even came out.
― MarkoP, Sunday, 6 February 2022 22:16 (two years ago) link
Salmon Dance is fun I just wish the album it was on was better
― frogbs, Sunday, 6 February 2022 23:31 (two years ago) link
That album is good, though. “We Are The Night” and “Battle Scars” are fantastic and I am not part of the posse that dislikes “The Salmon Dance”
― castanuts (DJP), Monday, 7 February 2022 01:18 (two years ago) link
Not as good as their last one but new album is still pretty good. Wasn't sure about some of the singles but they work really well in the context of the album.
― groovypanda, Friday, 8 September 2023 19:49 (seven months ago) link
This is about more than just the Chemical Brothers but I didn't know which thread would be best
https://musictech.com/news/industry/the-chemical-brothers-touring-us-not-viable/
― StanM, Wednesday, 20 September 2023 16:19 (seven months ago) link
I noticed Geoff Barrow (the Portishead guy) say this on social media:
I can’t stand the chemical brothers never haveAwful music for dullards
Cool guy!
― stylized in all lowercase (morrisp), Wednesday, 20 September 2023 16:27 (seven months ago) link
only single I've heard is "Live Again" which has one of the coolest guitar sounds I've ever heard
wanna grab it on vinyl but man it's so expensive
― frogbs, Wednesday, 20 September 2023 16:27 (seven months ago) link
Geoff being a silly billy yet again
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 20 September 2023 16:35 (seven months ago) link
Not as good as their last one but new album is still pretty good.
Yeah, it didn't grab me right away like the last one did, and it seems to have fallen into a crack in the earth as far as press coverage. I'll give it another listen this week, though.
― read-only (unperson), Wednesday, 20 September 2023 16:35 (seven months ago) link
It's a good album but... maybe my least favourite. Too early to tell.
the-chemical-brothers-touring-us-not-viable/
huge thanks to Tom & Ed for playing Seattle in between the two weekends of Coachella this year
― vashti funyuns (sic), Wednesday, 20 September 2023 17:36 (seven months ago) link
Not that surprising. It's not like they're jusrlt taking a drumkit and some guitars and synths with them. Their current live set up includes two 30ft tall robots that shoot lasers from their eyes ffs
― groovypanda, Wednesday, 20 September 2023 18:40 (seven months ago) link
The other pre-album singles did nothing for me but Live Again might be my favourite thing I've ever heard them do
― boxedjoy, Wednesday, 20 September 2023 19:44 (seven months ago) link