CHEMICAL BROTHERS
Come With Us (Astralwerks)
Reviewed by Rusty Pipes

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We haven't had anything new from the Brothers since 2000 and this is a welcome release. The Electro-DJ-Club scene has a voracious appetite for new beats and the Chemicals are just the guys to cook up new dishes for them. You like phat? You've come to the right place; dig in.

There's nothing as urban sounding as "Block Rockin Beats," their hit from a few years ago but "It Came From Africa" will definitely shake a few spines. The Chemicals, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, are amazing in their ability to put out densely packed modern music for the dance floors of the world.

Lots of this genre can be too techno-robotic, as other DJ types build a beat and then concentrate on scratch or cutsey cloying spoken word samples to make their music stand out. The Brothers don't dwell on any one beat too long. They keep it inventive with multi-layered production that is always dynamic and surprisingly deep. Amid all the electronic Ed-and-Tomfoolery there's quite an array of other instruments: acoustic guitar, flute and all manner of acoustic percussion. Plus there's no one better at seguing smoothly between cuts, often to a radically different beat or arrangement. Case in point, the 30 second transition between "It Came From Africa" into "Galaxy Bounce," or the move from the spacey Beth Orton track "The State We're In" into the much more speedy "Denmark." As a deejay myself I'm in awe, but unlike their last album that never quite stopped, there are actually a few brief pauses in the music flow, the better to give you a few tracks that aren't quite so aggressive. It keeps the whole production varied and vital.

There's never a dull moment, from the frantic strings opening the title cut to the last note of "The Test." Call it psychedelic club. And the best part is it still works outside the club too.

© 2002 - Rusty Pipes