It's been a long time since I've gone off on a tangent in a whirly-sized mess of words. And this is the longest wait we've had between albums and I can safely say, judging by our activity here, we've pretty much begrudgingly moved past the excruciating stage to one of acceptance.

I haven't totally shelved the Chemical Brothers, but I admit to having given them of a rest over the past few months. This isn't to say I have forsaken them, or abandoned them during this drought-like hour. I'm not at some melodramatic musical cross-roads where I'm questioning my loyalty to the Chems, nor am I questioning my taste in music (I'm too old to give a shit about stuff like that anymore, anyway). I'm not burnt out necessarily, and I'm not using this dry spell as some pretentious, detoxing quest to lose myself in deep retrospective thought as it relates to music. I can't even say I'm biding my time until the next album, because I've resigned myself to waiting patiently for the next Chemical Brothers tune to rear its lovely head.

You know, life just keeps on keepin on. And some of the things that used to consume my days are still there, but are more or less lurking in the shadows and sometimes catching me by surprise. As far as music is concerned, I've become more and more fond of shuffling my tunes - regardless of my purist heart telling me that to properly ingest an album, I must listen to it whole and uninterrupted and in order. When I'm on the job, my music slips into the background. When I'm dropping off my kid at school and sitting in traffic wondering if I'm going to be late for work, the songs generally remain the same. When I'm picking my son up from school and he's relaying his day to me, the music (that is always there regardless) subtly shifts from one song to the next. And half the time, between fixating on the road home and mother/son conversation, that subtle shift in song slips past and I'm generally none the wiser. Sometimes I notice that shuffle plays the same rotation of tunes, making it not so random. So I just press > to see what's next. But most of the time, I let my songs play themselves out. My former self might have risen and eyebrow or shaken a finger at me, calling me musically apathetic or whatever.

I'm OK with this arrangement. Because every so often, a song emerges from that endless deep, that seldom heard void within the random black-hole like shuffleness that is my phone. And when a song does that, all time and space melts away and the only thing that matters is the song that commands your full, undivided attention.

And when that happens, it's a marvelous thing. It happened to me the day before yesterday, after I dropped my son off at school and I was heading home to work. I don't expect my experience to be extraordinary to anyone else, but it was pretty remarkable to me. Not only because it unexpectedly caught me off guard and transported me to different headspace at that moment in time, but because it reminded me of how fucking great the music is that brought me to where I am in the first place. And that good feeling I had the other morning is still with me right now. I guess I can say it's like marriage. You're in it for the long haul, through good and bad and all that - but then something happens that triggers a honeymoon feeling, and makes you fall in deep all over again. Like I said. It's a marvelous thing.

Mind you this isn't a pure only-Chemical Brothers tune, but it safely is one of my favorite songs of all time.

I know exactly what you're talking about!!

I have had a few tracks from the past sneak up on me, and I just let the emotions ride high and wash over me like a gift.

There's something about letting life flow past you while simultaneously swimming along, letting yourself drift where the flow wants to carry you, and all of a sudden you find yourself in these insane musically-driven moments that force you to thank the universe that you're alive...

I'm glad you are finding peace in the routine, Whirls.

That Spz remix is so so so good, one of my all time favourites too. It's a great remix, uses loads of parts fro mthe original song, but also sounds totally Chemical Brothers.


I've actaully been listening to EPD loads recently, reminding my self how much it blew me away in the 90s.

and yeah, there will be a new record if an when it's ready. I'm happy for them to take their time. The last two records have been great, and I think they show a train of thought developing, which I would liek to see expended further.