In 1994 the Dust brothers where resident DJ’s in the Sunday Social Club, where luminaries such as the Gallagher brothers, Paul Weller, Tim Burgess and James Dean Bradfield among others where in regular attendance. From here they began touring with the likes of names such as Orbital and Underworld. This was the beginning of something very special. It was around this time that the original Dust Brothers from America objected to the use of the name, and The Chemical Brothers moniker was born. 1995 saw the release of their first album, Exit Planet Dust (inspired from their original name).
Twenty years in and the Chemical Brothers are a household name, an institution, a genre in itself, having played the biggest venues in the world over and over. They no longer need recognition, they no longer need to adhere to current trends, they create them.
So after all this time what have Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons got in store for us? Let’s get Born In The Echoes! ‘Sometimes I feel So Deserted’ kicks it off, a track co written by Moise Laporte and Kenneth Bobien who provide the vocals ‘Sometimes I feel So Deserted , but I hold on ’cause help is on the way’ and that help is coming in the form of Q-Tip on the next track ‘Go’. This party is really getting started, Q-Tip is on top form, and the beats are up to the job, it’s got trademark chemicals sound with a glitchy disco feel.
There’s a real cast of stars on this album, Q-Tip is the first of many to make an appearance. Annie Clark, better known to many as St. Vincent is up next on ‘Under Neon Lights’ with her dreamy vocals perfectly complimenting the electronics, her voice eventually fading into digital echoes. The cast of guests continues with Ali love on EML Ritual, a trance induced loosing my mind mantra.
‘I’ll See You There’ kicks you in the face with wonderfully heavy drums harking back to Tomorrow Never Knows, but this has a really organic feel, this could be a rock band jamming on stage, there’s a wonderful, full sound, which leads to a break down where Bill bisset, the godfather of Canadian poetry is sampled.
‘Just Bang’ has got an old school feel to it, it’s heavy techno at its core, and sounds similar to some of the music the likes of Perc is producing at the moment, the Chemicals are showing their diversity whilst claiming it as their own at the same time. ‘Reflexion’ continues this style but brings in a dirty distorted synth sound that reminds me of early CJ Bolland tracks, this is a dancefloor filler, heavy, dirty and unrelenting, designed to make you move, the synths pushed and pulled, tweaked and twirled in a way only the Chemicals can do.
There is a welcome change in tempo next with ‘Taste Of Honey’, it’s got a psychedelic paranoid feel which is exemplified by the creepy buzzing bee sampled within, ending with distorted synth that sounds like a real guitar soloing.
Cate Le Bon is the next guest to vocal on the title track ‘Born In The Echoes’ ‘In the night, I could see
Rings of sound follow me, I was caught in between, I was born in the echoes’ Those lines highlight just what the Chemical Brothers are capable of doing with their sound and production, rings of sound will follow you and take you on a journey.
Colin Stetson ( Arcade Fire, Bon Iver) helps us ‘Radiate’ before the closing track ‘Wide Open’ comes to give us a warm glowing goodbye, and none other than Beck guest vocals, this is a beautiful song, with it’s dreamlike swooning grooves. Beck’s vocals ‘It’s getting away from me’ pull you in, then the sumptuous synths sounding like whales singing keep you there to the end.
The Chemical Brothers are on top form, pulling influences from their massive back catalogue but never re-tracing those steps, and a host of vocalists on top of their game. This album will carry you away on a number of waves and place you down feeling the better for it.
