Chemical Brothers
By GEORGETTE LEONARD
Scene Music Critic
Try to detect a melody under the familiar gulping noises of dance pop — to the devoted rock fan, there's not much heart beneath the surface.
It's easy to dismiss an entire CD involving synthesizers, samples and drum machines as plastic noise. But the Chemical Brothers 1997 release Dig Your Own Hole transformed dance music into a recognized art. The Brothers thrust electronica into the spotlight, making Dig Your Own Hole one of the best CDs of the 1990s according to SPIN magazine, and opening the floodgates for a slew of electronic artists like Prodigy and Fat Boy Slim.
The Chemical Brothers — Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, two guys who look like they could be your dorm roommates with a great record collection — started spinning in 1991, exploding on London's underground club scene. Since Dig Your Own Hole, they have released a few EPs, but Surrender is their official follow-up album.
The Technicolor sleeve personifies the music on this CD — vibrant, soulful and alive. The heavy breakbeats of Dig are chucked in favor of more melodic samples on this production.
Sure, the CD is largely rave-friendly as opposed to radio-friendly, but it crosses from techno to trip-hop to rock and back.
The Brothers' influences are varied, ranging from Detroit techno pioneers Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins to New Order's Bernard Sumner, who co-wrote "Out of Control." They also pull elements of German proto-techno group Kraftwerk in "Music:Response" and "Orange Wedge."
The best thing about Surrender is that the samples are subtle. They don't stick out and aren't immediately recognizable. Every sound is interwoven and textured, and the speed is at a breakneck pace.
The Brothers do some really progressive stuff by melding various rhythms, samples and guest vocalists like Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star and Noel Gallagher of Oasis. The collaboration with Gallagher on "Let Forever Be" is getting some radio exposure and is perhaps the finest moment on the CD.
The Chemical Brothers don't forget that this is a fun CD, and every cut is danceable. But Surrender is more than just a good time — it's electronica paying respect to rock. Very few artists could pull that off as well as the Brothers.
All Scene Stories for Tuesday, October 12, 1999
