If you're not into collecting every single Chemical Brothers item, I don't see the point of paying the extra money for having a Japanese import that has all the same songs that are readily accesible and more moredately priced elsewhere in the world.



I'm not saying it wouldn't be a cool thing to have - of course it would be! I'm just sayin'...

I was listening to PTB last night with my girl (at her request) and after the awesome synth solo during 'The Boxer', she says that it "sounded like R2D2 rapping", which I have to admit it kinda does.



Gave me inspiration for what 'The Boxer's video SHOULD have been (licensing difficulties aside): R2D2 and C-3P0 along with all the other droids on the Jawa Sandcrawler in ANH, dancing along to the tune. Woulda been much better than the basketball deal.

Joslyn Escribi�:

I've been listening to all the albums back to back just recently and it appears to me that one album isn't better than the other. Exit planet dust is still such a good and solid album but so different than for example Come with us.

There is a very good sense of growth going from album to album. When I listened to the later 3 albums for the first time (Surrender a bit, Come with us very much, Push the button much) I was thinking: "mmmm ok?", but know when I've heard them alot of times I am thinking: "OOOhhhh OK!! I get it know." Surface to air is an excellent example of that. It really sounds like the Chems in the future.

It's like Tom and Ed are way ahead of us the listeners. It's like they are saying: "So you don't like it now? Just give it a few more go's and I'll talk to you in a couple of months."

I agree with you, i myself have been downloading chemical brothers albums like a champion.. and been listenin to them.. each album has what it takes to be a good album, i think. But my favorite would probably be the surrender album, i think 'Dream On' is really good especially if youre really sleepy, first time i listened to it was when i woke up :P

Foxboy Escribi�:

Joslyn Escribi�:

I've been listening to all the albums back to back just recently and it appears to me that one album isn't better than the other. Exit planet dust is still such a good and solid album but so different than for example Come with us.

There is a very good sense of growth going from album to album. When I listened to the later 3 albums for the first time (Surrender a bit, Come with us very much, Push the button much) I was thinking: "mmmm ok?", but know when I've heard them alot of times I am thinking: "OOOhhhh OK!! I get it know." Surface to air is an excellent example of that. It really sounds like the Chems in the future.

It's like Tom and Ed are way ahead of us the listeners. It's like they are saying: "So you don't like it now? Just give it a few more go's and I'll talk to you in a couple of months."

I agree with you, i myself have been downloading chemical brothers albums like a champion.. and been listenin to them.. each album has what it takes to be a good album, i think. But my favorite would probably be the surrender album, i think 'Dream On' is really good especially if youre really sleepy, first time i listened to it was when i woke up :P

xcuse me???!!!! downloading

Em No :-//



No money :'(

I download a ton of stuff. not only because im broke and you cant find shit here electronic-music-wise but also to expand my tastes without having to worry about wasting money if i got something i didnt like. After all, if i didnt download music, i wouldnt be into practically any electronic music other than the crystal method, the prodigy, and the chems. I have never downloaded any of the chems albums though. maybe some b-sides and a live set due to their rarity down here, all of which i intend to purchase in due time, but never any albums. I went for months looking for surrender, resisting the urge to download it, and when i got it i was so happy :D . Well, anyway foxboy, i dont really care what you do, but ALL chems albums are pretty easy to find (especially in europe) and definitely worth buying. Even if you have NO money (as i do.. oh wait, 56 cents actually :D ) the chems are worth saving a bit for.

When i get a job i plan to start my own Libary of albums + DVDs

Until then im doing what your doing, expanding my tastes in music..



I dont see the big deal in downloading anyway, i know its kinda gay rippin off the bands n stuff.. but all i want to do is listen to some chemical brothers :( and with lack of funds i cant buy there albums..

But i will!! Once i get a job.. if i get a job... Im still a young'in

Joslyn Escribi�:

I've been listening to all the albums back to back just recently and it appears to me that one album isn't better than the other. Exit planet dust is still such a good and solid album but so different than for example Come with us.

There is a very good sense of growth going from album to album. When I listened to the later 3 albums for the first time (Surrender a bit, Come with us very much, Push the button much) I was thinking: "mmmm ok?", but know when I've heard them alot of times I am thinking: "OOOhhhh OK!! I get it know." Surface to air is an excellent example of that. It really sounds like the Chems in the future.

It's like Tom and Ed are way ahead of us the listeners. It's like they are saying: "So you don't like it now? Just give it a few more go's and I'll talk to you in a couple of months."

I can't believe I somehow managed to let this post slip me by. It's so thoughtful and right on.



You've written a great summary of the Chemical Brothers catalogue - I agree each album is an evolution to the next, perfect in their own ways. In my mind's eye, not only do their albums have a conceptual feel, but their entire catalogue is one of such growth spanning the years that it feels like an eternal, ever-evolving concept in and of itself. It's amazing I think, and there's just some things that can be picked up on in Exit Planet Dust that are carried over right into Push The Button.



As one reviewer put it in so many words, their recognizable style is so evident from album to album, that it's almost eerie!



I love the feeling of finally "getting" a song. It opens your world up and leaves you wondering what took you so long to get it in the first place. X-D



About your bit on Surface to Air - I know a lot of people had gripes about the way it ended. It doesn't taper down gently, and it doesn't drift off into the unknown galaxy as say, Private Psychedelic Reel - like we're used to hearing in an epic Chems song. What it does is end with a gushing sigh, like when the door to the future is opened, and what's before you is the abruptness of the unknown is laid out before you before you take that giant leap into the future... OK, I think I'm reading into this waaaaay to much.



I can't be that drunk yet! X-D

The way S2A ends certainly leaves me salivating like Pavlov's proverbial dog for Chem 6. I feel fulfilled, yet left titillatingly on the edge.

whirlygirl Escribi�:

About your bit on Surface to Air - I know a lot of people had gripes about the way it ended. It doesn't taper down gently, and it doesn't drift off into the unknown galaxy as say, Private Psychedelic Reel - like we're used to hearing in an epic Chems song. What it does is end with a gushing sigh, like when the door to the future is opened, and what's before you is the abruptness of the unknown is laid out before you before you take that giant leap into the future... OK, I think I'm reading into this waaaaay to much.

i feel what your saying...i love the way they end it, its like a "to be continued"...so they's gots to make another album! :D

Some days I think they could go on forever. It's the soundtrack to my life. My girl and I just listened to BGWIO together last night and it just throws a vibe onto life that can't be found in too many places.



(I can't believe my girlfriend, owner of many boy-band CDs, is beginning to GET acid house..... I love her!)

Hello!

My name's Adam, first time here. I've been listening to Push the Button for the last two days, and I love the album especially The Boxer, The Big Jump(the guitar in the background rox :D ), Shake Break Bounce and Marvo Ging. But I am greatly intrigued by Come inside. At about 2:36 of the song there starts a theme which sounds very familiar to me, especially the mandolin, if it really is one :) . This part is very reminiscient of Vangelis' first band - Aphrodite's Child and their album The Number of the Beast. Does feel the same, or can tell me that it's just part of The Chemical Brothers' wide gamma od sounds ? :)

Hello Adam, welcome to the boards! It's nice to read you're enjoying Push The Button!



Of course if I've heard that Aphrodite's Child song you speak of I might be able to draw some sort of similarity in feeling. But I know that breakdown in Come Inside which you speak of, and there is an I-could-swear-I-may-have-heard-this-before familiarity to it which I've never been able to put my finger on. Yet with more thought, it doesn't sound like anything I've heard in a song before... you know what I mean? But I think the thing that makes that breakdown so familiar to me is that it sounds so undeniably Chemical. So I just leave it at that. :D



Oh, and I have no idea if that one sound you mention is a mandolin - I wouldn't put it past them to sample a sound from any instrument in the musical realm and tweak it to create a sound that's something of their own - but I don't know for sure. All I know is that I love it, whatever it is!

It's nice to know that someone appreciates oldies like Aphrodite's Child :) . Well, to me it sounds like a mandolin cos my main musical vibe is Mike Oldfield. When he plays the mandolin on Tubular Bells I'm in 7th Heaven :D . But I guess I'll have to wait for a sure answer. Those who seek shall find :) .



Right now I'm having problems with explaining the differences between techno music and The Chemical Brothers to my friend. We're arguing about The Big Jump, cos to me the guitars are very profound, while he can barely make 'em out and only hears the woopin'. I'm telling him that his speakers must be faulty :P. He endorsed VNV Nation, of whom I'm a big fan too, but I guess you can't beat crappy sound systems :P.



BTW, can Believe be considered an industrial track, cos I'm having problems with classifying different songs??

Well, the thing is, the term "techno" music is so expansive yet generalizing at the same time. Much like the categorizing terms "electronica", or "rock n'roll" or "classical" or "jazz". We know there's a lot of subgenres of music out there that can be loosely boxed into any general music category. My theory is, these broad generalizing terms are there to act more as a loosely defining umbrella in which all other subgenres and types of music are covered.



With that in mind, the Chemical Brothers can be loosely defined as "techno" however, we both know that's too broad a generalization. And the more and more I thought about it, the less inclined I became to box the Chems into just one particular category. I think it's very hard to explain to people who aren't familiar with the Chems and their musical history... it's hard to explain what type of music they make because you have to hear it to believe it... Their musical influences draw from all over the place, we know they don't do one particular style of music despite being categorized as techno/electronica/dance/etc. Labelling them as this or that is doing an injustice, yet at the same time it's a challenge trying to describe what they do.



When it comes to the Chems, I think the best example is through sound anyway.



So anyway, I think I can see where you're friend is coming from especially in regards to Believe - he hears industrial overtones whereas someone who isn't familiar with industrial music might be thinking of something completely different when hearing Believe. I think in a lot of ways, electronic or techno music as we know it today (there I go generalizing! X-D ) is closely aligned with industrial music. In the early 90's when I was out in industrial clubs every weekend, I'd hear KMFDM next to Utah Saints, then I'd hear Prodigy next to Ministry, and Kraftwerk alongside My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult - not to mention all those remixes - different types of music that had certain key elements tying everything together to create an atmosphere in the industrial clubs... I think in my case given what I used to listen to on a regular basis, you know, I think that probably has a lot to do with why I gravitated toward the Chems and why when I listen to them it reminds me of when I was... a lot younger! X-D Then again, I think liking the Chems as much as I do is not only a sickness ;) but sort of a natural progression or a bridge connecting my past with the future.



Shitty soundsystems aside, people hear what they want to hear, and different things in music tend to picked up on in varying degrees because we're all hearing and perceiving things through our own ears and nobody else's. Probably why your friend can categorize Believe into the industrial category, while you are hesitant to do so.



Hope my babblings and silly monologue made some kind of sense. I can't believe how long that took me to type! I shouldn't be let anywhere near a computer when I have a hangover!!

I always tell my friends that the Chems are a cross between My Bloody Valentine and Public Enemy, with a large dose of New Order splashed in. Then they ask me "Who the fuck are MBV and New Order? Aren't New Order the ones who did that shitty Blue Monday song?" hehehe

whirly's true nature :

Chrisman Escribi�:

whirly's true nature :

hehehe!!



My brain is in no way robotic... I hope. I just type a lot of words per minute!

Chrisman Escribi�:

whirly's true nature :

ha! That reminds of Short Circuit 2 where Johnny 5 reads through the books in the library....



...nobody seen it? Ok then I understand ;-).

mc marsh Escribi�:

Chrisman Escribi�:

whirly's true nature :

ha! That reminds of Short Circuit 2 where Johnny 5 reads through the books in the library....



...nobody seen it? Ok then I understand ;-).

Oh , that's a blast from the past! I saw the first one in the theater, then saw it about 10 other times on HBO.