Chemical Brothers - "FURTHER"
Despite of spawning some amazing smash singles, like "Galvanize" and "Do it again", The Chemical Brothers' noughties albums are as forgettable as most of Eurovision entries every year. The other proof of the boys being stuck in the creative first gear is the fact that they released two compilations during the past decade. So instead of releasing another album full of overweight with hype collaborations and bland fillers (leave this to Simian Mobile Disco), Tom and Ed dug out the old blueprints to construct their latest. Out go the highly anticipated guest vocals, out go the mediocre album fillers. Instead we are served with psychedelic, multi-layered house epics put together in a sonic story of a cosmic journey. Eight massive festival tunes here, but sadly no hot singles destined for dancefloor reign. It is not a great revelation that it's a rather bold move in the time of Ipods and over-usage of the “shuffle” button.
The album lifts off with hazy “Snow”, a rare moment on the record when we hear human voice and a kind of a tune that could have been a closing track on any of The Chemical Brothers' previous efforts. It sounds like a great send off into space. A farewell to what's rational and from this planet. “The Escape Velocity” continues that journey with 12 minutes of ascending house beats and furious loops, while “Another World” is floating in zero gravity watching exploding supernovas. A galactic bounce of both, “Dissolve” and “Horse power”, is equally good. The only bland moment on “Further” is the erratic single “Swoon”. Based on a repetitive guitar riff and distant chanting doesn't seem to go anywhere and cannot stand against the brilliance of the rest of the material. The remixes of this tune on the other hand, by Boys Noize and Linsdtrom & Prins Thomas are worth checking out.
The rest of the album continues on with its main motive, a trippy cosmic travel to the edge of the universe (or drugged up mind's consciousness) and back. The fans are probably very pleased with the fact that The Chemical Brothers are back in top form. And to those still unconvinced I would recommend to sit down or go for run and have a listen to this album from start to finish, because The Chemical Brothers will be painting the festival skies with this sound all through the next summer.
(8.5/10)
Piotrek Czarnecki
