New Chemical Brothers album announced

[iamneorev]

Originally Posted by holden

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.

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.

[holden]

Listen to this...you'll get all the connective threads:


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.

[iamneorev]

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...

[iamneorev]

And K+D+B...

[holden]

"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!

[ndrwrld]

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

[joethelion]

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.

[holden]

Originally Posted by joethelion

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.

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.

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

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!!!

[holden]

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.