•
Rating:
I wonder if this album has already been released... who knows, and even if it has, who cares about buying it before it costs at least 9.99 euros. So, with my nice promo version just downloaded from eMule, I prepare myself—after several listens (ahahehe)—to give a re-welcome to this fun electronic duo that, on one hand, now leans towards the prevailing cheesiness of everything that is "dance" (in the broad sense) today, while on the other hand, it reveals a (commendable) colossal trick, since the path taken by the two is essentially one of the most shameless revival.
One thing is certain, Debaser people, and I believe I am as objective as possible in stating it: the misstep made with the boring, verbose, unnecessarily repetitive, and ultimately useless "Push The Button" remains just a bad memory in front of this new work that is much more compact and varied than its predecessor. A masterpiece then? Not at all! These are (once again) not the Chemical Brothers that a few knew as the last frontier of the underground. No acid house, no powerful rhythms borrowed from rock, drum'n'bass, the most ruthless techno, all elements that characterized the early cries of the Chemicals up to the (elitist) masterpiece "Dig Your Own Hole". And so, already with Surrender, they began to borrow from here and there (Got Glint? it's old school house while an Out of Control the Underworld would have done ten times better) trying to deviate from the formula that made them, if not unique, rare, here the main reference point (but not the only one) from which the Chemicals borrow a little something is the eighties electro-pop. Come on, isn't "Das spiegel" borrowed from any New Order piece (furthermore on the duo's official website Ed (or was it Tom?) praises the New Order as the best band in history). The same "eighties" feeling for the very successful "A modern midnight conversation" (which retrieves some of the oriental sounds typical of the duo), which is noticeable in the bass line and in the development somewhat reminiscent of Depeche Mode.
Then there's the absurd number "Battle Scars", which almost sounds like a (cheesy) mix of Talking Heads and Joy Division (in Mason's deep voice). In short, the principle of imitation has never been used so much by the duo, despite the results being anything but poor, quite the opposite. The funny thing is that they "self-cite" in the title track, as it opens with a synth sample already present in their "The Sunshine Underground". Remarkable title track in any case, but merging into a really annoying chorus. But enough about the positives, because by now people (those who survived) will believe they are facing the greatest comeback in history, based on how I talked about the album. So let's start with the unforgivable flaws: "all rights reversed" with those Klaxons jokers is a flaw in itself. And here I truly wonder what the difference is between that crap and any crap from Blue. Better not to think about it. The second flaw is the length of certain tracks (cutting some bits from the title track, no?) which peaks in the self-referential "Burst Generator". Isolated cases anyway. What is worse, however, are the very evident cuts (and I haven't heard the original!) present in "Saturate", which even so is quite energetic, though I always wonder if it will still hold up well in five years as an imperishable "Hey Boy Hey Girl". "Saturate" is, for the record, one of the few "modern" tracks outside the revival that swallows the entire album, along with the "salmon dance", a divertissement (or however the hell you spell it) hip hop that is still better than the pretentious and political "Left Right" from "Push The Button", and that "Do It Again" which is currently all over MTV and really does not represent the spirit of the album.
And here I would like to end by firing some big shots: "Do it Again" may also be a first-rate sellout, but it is probably one of the most trippy pieces produced by Our guys since "Come With Us". Essential and effective, like all simple things. Finally, the closing note goes to "Pills won't help you Now" with Midlake, one of the most beautiful songs written and played by the duo since their debut. Midlake's voice is capable of moving me to tears, and who cares if that too is a Revival of some varied New Order tribute or, worse yet, of Moby imitating New Order. As long as the Chemical Brothers produce a masterpiece to place at the end of each of their albums, there will still be hope.
In conclusion: give it a listen (without paying too much attention to "All rights reversed" yeah).
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
05 Do It Again (05:32)
Let's turn this thing electric (x8)
Do it again! (x4)
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Turn of my ro-botic brain.
All my thoughts are all the same. (all insane)
Do it again! (x8)
Paint my face and bang my drum.
Throw my bone up to the sun.
Bang my drum and paint my face.
Pump my cave to hyperspace.
Do it again! (x8)
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Oh my god what have I done? Do it again!
All I wanted was a little fun. Do it again!
Got a brain like bubble gum. Do it again!
Blowing up my cranium. Do it again!
Turn of my ro-botic brain.
All my thoughts are all the same. (all insane)
06 Das Spiegel (05:51)
There's no path to follow
There's no path to follow
There's a line in the sand
Put there by a man
By a man whose children who built the castles made of stone
There's a man in the sky
Giving reasons why
That line grows deeper like these shackles round our bones
Move on to my own
Here come battle scars
It's the final charge
Here come battle scars
There's a child born
To a land of scorn
Sneaks past the borders and the lords that hold his hand
He was led like a lamb
All part of the plan
This castle crumbles as he walks out of this land
Move on to my own
Here come battle scars
It's the final charge
Here come battle scars
This is what we own
Here come battle scars
This is where we are
Here come battle scars
There's no path to follow
There's no path to follow
There's no path to follow
Living for the reasons
of the dead that moved to
paper from their heads
into my fingers
and my deadly view is
strangled by the rent
I have no purpose in this land
have I forgotten how to stand up
with the humor and the need
I've got to find a way to be
I just turn up the stereo
I can't survive without the cold
This culture's fallen off its feet
I've got to find a brand new beat
beat (beat) beat
beat (beat) beat
beat (beat) beat
There's a road ahead
'tween the live and dead
Church bells are ringing like the panic in my head
Step, step, one by one
Walk into the setting sun
Water's rising, rising fast
History catching up at last
Danger ahead, death behind
No one to follow but old man time
Time, time, take us back before the line was drawn
Before the sky turned black
07 The Salmon Dance (03:40)
SALMON DANCE - CHEMICAL BROTHERS FEAT. FATLIP
Hello Boys and girls, my name is FatLip
And this is my friend Sammy the Salmon
*What it do? *
Today, we're going to teach you some fun facts about Salmon
And a brand new dance
Let me introduce to you a brand new dance
I know you're gonna love it if you give it one chance
It's not complicated, it's not too hard
You don't even have to be a hip hop star
See anyone can do it, all you need is style
Listen up peep gang I'm gonna show you how
Put your hands to the side, as silly as it seems
And shake your body like a salmon floatin' up stream!
I'll float up stream
(You know how we do it, you know how we do it)
Again
*All my peeps spend part of their life in fresh water*
*And part of their life in salt water*
Wow, very interesting
*We change round a couple of days after spawning*
*Then we die*
When I first did the Salmon all the people just laughed
They looked around and stood like I was on crack
I heard somebody say out loud what the fuck is that
This nigga's dancin like a fish while he's doin' the snap
But the more I kept doing it the more they kept feelin' it
And then I heard some bitches say yo that niggas killin' it
By the end of the night everyone was on my team
And the whole club was dancing like a salmon floatin' up stream!
I'll float up stream
(You know how we do it, you know how we do it)
Again
*Most of our friends find their home waters by sense of smell*
*Which is even more keen than that of a dog or a bear*
Wow
*My family also rely on ocean currents, tides*
*The gravitational pull of the moon*(I'm floatin' upstream again)
The moon? Fish pay attention to the moon? Wow. Who knew?
*Did you know? *
What?
*That I could go to Japan, and back. *
You're kidding me. Amazing. Jeez
*Polluted water can kill both baby salmon, that are developing*
*And the adult salmon, that are on their way to spawn. *
Wow what a shame, what a shame
Huh?
Woah
Wow. Hey s-kids, hey give it up for s-Sammy the Salmon and his amazing salmon dance
Huh? Whadda ya say?
Who's hungry?
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By beso
"I don’t like this album. So, you’ll ask why my rating. Because it’s a great album. It’s a courageous work, full of new ideas, study, thoughts, and reasoning."
"A Chemical album should make me dance. This one instead makes me think about many other things."
By GrantNicholas
"A career like that of the Chemical Brothers speaks for itself."
"There are noticeable improvements compared to the weak predecessor, mostly in terms of sound production."
By Darkboy
"We Are The Night is the worst album by the Chemicals."
"The explosive power of the Chemicals... is consistently missing."
