Swoon

Song: Swoon
Artist: Chemical Brothers
Album: Further





I became a fan of the Chemical Brothers during the techno explosion of the late 90's.  When techno was "the new grunge" for five minutes the Brothers, along with Prodigy and Fatboy Slim, were the more popular faces that were the future of music.  That didn't really happen, but the Chemical Brothers actually made some pretty forward-thinking mind-blowing "techno" that has endured them over the years as they release album after album.

In a way, "Further" their 7th full-length album, is more of the same.  And yet, it's a reminder that I always need to keep up with the Chemical Brothers, as they still wow with their take on electronic music.  It's a much more experimental album than the more pop-minded recent work they've done, being mostly instrumental and without the bevy of vocalist they usually collaborate with. (Brother Tom Rowlands does the vocals when needed.)

"Further" does have one difference in that this is the first time that they are collaborating with visual artists on the album (by Adam Smith and Marcus Lyal) who are making videos to go with each of the albums eight tracks.  (See below.) "Escape Velocity" is the first single and it's eleven minutes of crazy-ass noises and building euphoria.  It's quite the ride.  I really like second single "Swoon" which is a bit different for the Brothers, much more mid-tempo and dream-like.  Again, like with most Chemical Brothers albums, you often stop yourself to think... "what IS that sound?!?" I just can't even seem to identify what they are sometimes.  I also love "Another World," quite beautiful.

This seems like return to form for the guys.  If they'd lost your favor a bit with the last couple albums you should check this one out.

Enjoy.

Swoon



Escape Velocity



Another World