New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

https://www.thechemicalbrothers.com/#news

"No Geography"... LP 9, coming next spring

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

NA "tour" announced too. It's more of a tour than Orbital is doing, but not by much. A date in Mexico City, two in LA, and one in San Fran. Might try and swing for San Fran, but having already shelled out for Massive Attack tickets (and I still need to get travel arranged for that) it's probably not happening for me.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

there best be moar North American dates announced....No NYC, no Toronto WTF ?

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

ooof - man, I'm going to have to decide between seeing Massive Attack or the Chems...

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

The massive attack tix are already on sale. Most of the good seats have been snagged.


The bill Graham civic auditorium has presales 2 days early through their website. Its how I got good seats for massive attack and they are doing the same for the chems.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

I hope No Geography is better than Born In The Echoes. I honestly found that album a bit disappointing. I'll give them EML Ritual. But I found myself bored mostly. It's toward the bottom of my Chem Bros album list, just above Push The Button. Free Yourself is okay, but feels a bit like Born In The Echoes Part 2. I would like to see them live. Hoping for a solo NYC show.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

yea - honestly - I've kinda given up on getting 'good seats'. Plus, even though SF is closer - we're more likely to go to the LA show (just so we don't miss multiple days of work).

but I've lucked out with General Admission for the last couple of shows I've been to (the Presets, Arctic Monkeys, and Jack White)

I will say... it's insane that some of the ticket resellers are charging more for Massive Attack than what I paid to be in ~4th row for David Byrne a few months ago

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

Tempted to try for SF gig, just because you never know if/when you'll have another stateside opportunity.

For me, the Brothers' ranking goes:
1. Dig your own hole
2. Exit Planet Dust
3. Further
4. Surrender
5. Come With Us
6. Born in the echoes
7. Push the Button
8. We are the night.

I could probably switch around the middle of the list, depending on my mood. 7 and 8 are fixed, though. I was giving up on the band after WATN, but Further was very strong (I know a lot of people don't like that it's more conceptual and doesn't really have a banger besides Horse Power, but I love it all). BITE was alright, mostly EML, I'll see you there, and Reflexion.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

01 Surrender
02 Dig Your Own Hole
03 Exit Planet Dust
04 We Are The Night
05 Further
06 Come With Us
07 Born In The Echoes
08 Push The Button

Nothing will ever beat Surrender for me abd it includes the Chems greatest track ever... Let Forever Be. I really love We Are The Night. It was a breath of fresh air after the disappointing Push The Button. Further was the closest they got to capturing their classic album trilogy sound. It's a shame Don't Think was relegated to a bonus track as it is an awesome song and deserves a spot on that album. I do wish Escape Velocity was a bit later in the tracklist as I feel it kinda kills the build up Snow creates and its length makes it an odd track 2. I rather it went into Another World. I'd like Horse Power... if it didn't have the horse neighs in it. Come With Us has some b-sides that are stronger than its album tracks. Push The Button and Born In The Echoes are the only albums of theirs that I cannot put on without skipping tracks. Even the others albums rank lower in my list like Further and Come With Us, I can still listen to them from front to back. But PTB and BITE, many tracks just don't do it for me.

P.S. Massive Attack Mezzanine reissue has been delayed until 2019. It seems someone f'ed up something cuz even the digital release got pushed back. A part of me wishes they'd use the time to add Mezzanine album era's b-sides to the set. It bugs me when these album reissues ignore b-sides.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

Not going to debate your ranking, and I agree with a lot if your song opinions, but as for "Let Forever Be"... let's just admit that the Brothers have been trying repeatedly to recreate the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows". I feel like "I'll See you there" gets closest to the psychedelic spirit, whereas "Let Forever Be", on an adventurous album, feels like a "Setting Sun" retread, but weaker.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

That's kinda funny cuz I find I'll See You There to be the weak retread. It tries hard to be like Setting Sun, but is a mess. I really don't look at Let Forever Be as trying to be anything like Setting Sun at all. The only real connective tissue is Noel Gallagher, but Let Forever Be is a whole other vibe/tone/direction. It's a much more uplifting, poppy psychedelic track. Setting Sun is more like an evil noise driven, oppressive type of tune. The complete opposite of pop/easier listening. I'll See You There is closer to Setting Sun than Let Forever Be in vibe/feeling. But I found I'll See You There to be a misfire that tries hard to recapture that old sound without any of the focus and prowess. I always wanted the Chems to bring another track in that style, but I'll See You There sadly disappointed me. Chems did a better job with that vibe on Further with tracks like Dissolve and K+D+B where as on Born In The Echoes I'll See You There felt forced and out of place.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

Listen to this...you'll get all the connective threads:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7UjvdZm-Tu8

The reverb laden nasaly vocal style, the cascading drums, the sitar/ squealing/ backmasked guitars, and the field recordings....they show up on Setting Sun, Let Forever Be, to an extent on Private Psychedelic Reel, some Surrender B sides, and I think most effectively on I'll See You There. It's been brought up in interviews how much the Chems admire "Tomorrow Never Knows", ( there's a reason they open their gigs with a version), to the point of supposed lawsuit for infringement!

Anyway, I'm just saying, as a psychedelic riff on Tomorrow Never Knows, I'll see you there is closest to that spirit. Whether you like it or find it a mess, can't deny the inspiration. Setting Sun us a masterpiece of menace, but bringing Noel back in to collaborate on another guitar and big beat track was frankly boring and repetitive.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

Yeah, I know of The Beatles track and all its connections and its influence. They began using that Junior Parker cover during the Surrender tour. I am a huge fan of Setting Sun, but personally love Let Forever Be and think it's their greatest song.

Let Forever Be > Setting Sun > I'll See You There

I think they nailed that psychedelic rock vibe with Dissolve...
https://youtu.be/HZu29rVkmzU

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

And K+D+B...
https://youtu.be/_xuG6khuVHY

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
-- attibuted to Frank Zappa (and others)

Clearly we have similar favorite artists (Fluke, Prodigy, Chems, UW, etc), but different views on their high/low points. And that's fine. Like what you like, I'm informed as much as you ( which is to say, I've never known myself or others to be swayed by a stranger's internet opinion). For now, I hope that the next Brothers' record is something we both/all enjoy!

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

haha Massive Attack tickets sold out here in Toronto in mere minutes. Gutted i wasn't able to get any.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

Both "Setting Sun" and "Let Forever Be" certainly share the same bit of dna, but I think that 'Let Forever Be' is more of an... entry level Chems / pleasing single than 'Setting Sun'.

Like I've scared people off of the Chems by playing 'Setting Sun', whereas people who weren't aware of them really end up digging 'Let Forever Be'. (I don't mean 'entry level' as a put down)

"I'll See You There" sounds like an attempt at reaching a midpoint between those two songs, but I don't know how successful it was.


...as far as my rankings:

1 Surrender
2 Come With Us
3 Dig Your Own Hole
4 Further
5 Exit Planet Dust (Further just barely eeks out ahead of their first album)
6 Born In The Echoes
7 Push The Button
8 We Are The Night

honestly - I so lowly rate #7 & #8, that I have to double check which songs were on which album. I mean, Push the Button had "Surface to Air", but other than that... that's about it for me. I prefer the DFA mix of 'the Boxer' over the original, and 'Believe' goes on too long on the album. 'Salmon Dance' and 'Saturate' are the only songs I ever listen to off of "We Are the Night"

I almost completely stopped listening to them b/c of "We are the Night" - but then when I heard that "Further" was more like their 'Electronic Battle Weapons' it definitely piqued my interest.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

You and me both! I loved, I mean loooovved the Chems up through Come With Us, but felt the diminishing returns. And while Push The Button has a few fine tracks (Believe, Hold Tight London, Come Inside, Surface to Air), We Are the Night was a slog to get through (I only like We Are the Night, and parts of Burst Generator and Saturate. The rest is stale, or genre bending in the worst way towards indie cred without substance. Plus, The Salmon Dance is the most embarrassing piece of electronic music since the Sesame Street gang tried to learn to breakdance in the 80's).

But then, here comes Further (and to an extent, the Hanna soundtrack) restored my faith! Just make loud, interesting electro without all the collabs and forced efforts to be cool/ different. Hanna made me want to dance/ hide under the bed at the same time. Further made me want to see what they visualized while creating. Thanks for the visuals for each track.
That said, BITE is a step backwards, but still better than WATN and PTB, imho.

But like I said above.. enjoy whatever you want! I'm glad the Brothers are still going strong and trying to be diverse.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

Further was excellent - when you remove the nostalgia value of the old stuff I kinda think it may be their best album actually? It felt like something only a longtime vet of the electronic scene could make. Born in the Echoes on the other hand...outside of "Reflexion" I don't really like anything on it. So who knows!!!

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

New single and video for "MAH" (Mad as hell) debuted today:
https://djmag.com/news/chemical-brot...p-new-song-mah

This is the video edit. Full single is up on sound cloud and elsewhere:

https://m.soundcloud.com/thechemicalbrothers

Very similar to the live version, but with an ethnic vocal intro I hadn't heard before (the laughs remain) and some cleaner acid oscillations throughout.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

the visuals for that video are fantastic. maybe another live dvd release.

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i'm amazed at how many views the new songs get on YT. apparently they're still quite popular !???

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

I feel like the Chems have and continue to enjoy a much longer time as mainstream electronic influencers than UW, The Prodigy, or Orbital. To that, they've had 11 tracks nominated for a grammy, while UW has had 1 nom, Prodigy just 2, and Orbital none. I know the grammys aren't the be all end all, especially of electronic music, but it absolutely speaks to mainstream reach.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

yea people hate on Push the Button but man did that turn out to absolutely be the right direction for them

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

01 Eve Of Destruction
02 Bango
03 No Geography
04 Got To Keep On
05 Gravity Drops
06 The Universe Sent Me
07 We've Got To Try
08 Free Yourself - Album Version
09 MAH
10 Catch Me I'm Falling

Source:
https://store.thechemicalbrothers.co...CD/5ZOI0000000

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

Next new tune..."Got to Keep On":

https://twitter.com/ChemBros/status/...423843328?s=20

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-c...6170141053358/

Quite a day for Chems fans. New single, plus album release date, cover art, and press release detailing the process and guests.

Really hyped by the three released tracks and artwork. Less sure about the short runtime (46 minutes, 10 tracks) and multiple collaborations.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

Weird that they're playing a seated venue in LA.

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Well... the new Chem single We've Got To Try is pretty underwhelming

Toward the end, there's a moment when it gets better... but just for a moment.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

i cant seem to find this yet. just a note about it being 'released' in 19 hours.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

I think it's just this gimmicky 3 second (15,000 bpm) remix...
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...vvFP8V8Jh.html

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

it's a pretty underwhelming 3 seconds

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

The actual album track and video is out:
http://ventsmagazine.com/2019/03/08/...-no-geography/

Hmm...starts out kind of weak, with slow strings and vocal, but when the acid line and bears kick in, it's a nice, albeit short groove. I'm sure it'll grow on me and might be helped in context on the new record. Hoping that it's in a continuous mix as the Chems are wont to do.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

the video is absolutely amazing though

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

huh, i actually really like this track. its not their best, but i've played it a bunch in the past few days and liked it from pretty much the first listen.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

I was a bit apprehensive when I first heard it, especially with the intro
but yea - as soon as the beat comes in, it's great.

and the video is ridiculous (in a good way)

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

It seems like the new record will be a bit of a challenge based on their evolution of sounds. Not that this is a bad thing. I've read that some tracks were formed around their vocal samples. Whatever evokes a response, no problem!

So far, for me:
Free Yourself: 7/10
MAH: 8.5/10
Got to keep on: 8/10
We've got to try:7/10

Four tracks prior to album release is actually a lot.
I'm hopeful that the unreleased tracks and these singles merge into a beautiful mix!

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

id give all four tracks pretty high marks as well. and i was not expecting to. Ive been playing this a few times a day and still loving it.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

I am happy to say the No Geography is much, much, much better than Born In The Echoes. There are better tracks on the album than the singles we have heard, but I also appreciate the singles more within the context of the album. I'm happy they went back to tracks flowing into each other and feeling seemless. BITE felt more like a collection of tracks. The tracks on NG feel united.

Re: New Chemical Brothers album announced
 

Huh, I feel the exact opposite. So far I like all 4 singles better than the rest. The other tracks all feel the same to me (so far). So I'm on the unimpressed side of the fence right now.

I'll give it a bunch more listens and see if that changes.