Album Reviews
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The Chemical Brothers – English electronic music duo with new album Born in the Echoes
Source: Supplied
Are The Chemicals still working, brothers and sisters? Did Alice cry Wolf? Are Ratatat still gun producers? Can you build a Paper Town on music? Is Tex Perkins still a Dark Horse?
BORN IN THE ECHOES
THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS
[EMI]
****
Born in the Echoes – The Chemical Brothers (EMI)
Source: Supplied
Won’t someone think of the children! All this EDM is rotting their ears.
Thankfully, The Chemical Brothers have returned in a paternal role, eager to steer juveniles away from Gateway Guetta™ to the 8th album in an untouchable career.
UK duo Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons realign dance music’s chakra on Echoes even if single Go feat. Q-Tip threatened to end their reign.
Go is OK but doesn’t, err, galvanise like Galvanize, its chorus goes down when it should be coming up.
Sometimes I Feel So Deserted is aggressive, not regressive, pretending to trip over itself before punking us and locking into a grunty 4/4 groove. Tom and Ed can somehow still put “big” before the beat without sounding Norman Cook(ed).
St Vincent furthers her claim as Kate Bush 2.0 with a woozy, super-lively guest turn on Under Neon Lights.
The Chemical Brothers have again extracted a blue chip performance from a guest, following takes by Kele, Wayne Coyne, Bobby Gillespie et al.
No such luck with Beck on Wide Open. In the last year the 45-year-old sounds 65. Wide Open is meant to function like Beth Orton’s strung-out cameo on Where Do I Begin. Ho hum.
Thematically, The Chemical Brothers have never wanted to hurt you, they just like putting stretchmarks on your mind.
EML Ritual’s line “I don’t know what to do I’m going to lose my mind” jumbles the words to make it affirmative, squealing bats maintain a pushy momentum on I’ll See You There and Taste of Honey saunters at halfpace like a Dark Crystal Skeksis. It’s terrifying but don’t worry, the kids are all right./ MIKEY CAHILL
SOUNDS LIKE: maximal molecular body music
IN A WORD: slammin’
The Chemical Brothers for Born in the Echoes
Source: Supplied
11 Forgotten Bangers By The Chemical Brothers That You Should Play Really Loud on Proper Speakers Not Your Crappy Laptop Ones
1. Song to the Siren – The Chemical Brothers (1992)
2. In Dust We Trust – The Chemical Brothers (1995)
3. Elektrobank – The Chemical Brothers (1997)
4. Out of Control feat. Bobby Gillespie – The Chemical Brothers (1999)
5. Got Glint – The Chemical Brothers (1999)
6. Galaxy Bounce – The Chemical Brothers (2001)
7. Base 6 – The Chemical Brothers (2002)
8. Denmark – The Chemical Brothers (2002)
9. The Golden Path feat. Wayne Coyne – The Chemical Brothers (2003)
10. Believe feat. Kele – The Chemical Brothers (2005)
11. Another World – The Chemical Brothers (2010)
TUNNEL AT THE END OF THE LIGHT
THE DARK HORSES
[DARK HORSE RECORDS/INERTIA]
*** 1/2
Tunnel at The End of the Light – Tex Perkins and The Dark Horses (Dark Horse Records/Inertia)
Source: Supplied
That’s Tex Perkins and The Dark Horses to you. This record completes the trilogy of existential excursions for the group as they age gracefully and disgracefully like any bunch of self respecting rock’n’roll men. Behold the brittle majesty of They Shoot Horses Don’t They, Blind and The View South. I mean, this is the Tex Machine, (no-one ever calls him Greg), the human equivalent of a Blundstone soaked in Elijah Craig and dipped in thumbtacks … and he’s letting us see him stripped bare like Monty Burns before Marge. The Dark Horses are one of the most stable bands in the land, pushing egos to the side to serve the song. They ask the big questions, you have to find the answers. / MIKEY CAHILL
SOUNDS LIKE: a distant rumble of thunder, of time itself
IN A WORD: translucent
Tex Perkins and the Dark Horses. Third album Tunnel at the End of the Light out now. Pic for Daily Tele
Source: Supplied
PAPER TOWNS
SOUNDTRACK
[WARNER]
*** 1/2
This CD cover image released by Atlantic Records shows the original motion picture soundtrack from, “Paper Towns.” (Atlantic via AP)
Source: AP
This hipster soundtrack has the first taste of new material from Melbourne’s own Vance Joy. Great Summer is a nice evolution, lots of piano and Crowded House-style ramshackle melodies. Other new tunes include Santigold’s surprisingly anthemic (but still prickly) Radio while Sam Bruno’s Search Party is the perfect hipster love ballad (think an American Lily Allen) for this film. Kindness cover the Replacement’s Swinging Party, a song Lorde was featuring in her live shows. Son Lux reworks his Lost It To Trying for the occasion, while Saint Motel’s sassy and brassy ‘80s new-wave disco stormer My Type fits in nicely around Vampire Weekend, The War On Drugs, Grouplove and Haim ‘hits’./ CAMERON ADAMS
SOUNDS LIKE: a modern day John Hughes soundtrack
IN A WORD: cool
Scene from Paper Towns
Source: HeraldSun
MAGNIFIQUE
RATATAT
[REMOTE CONTROL]
*** 1/2
Magnifique – Ratatat (Remote Control)
Source: Supplied
Big beats, classical melodies and face-melting guitars, Brooklyn’s Ratatat have released the band’s defining album a decade after coming on to the scene. While many instrumental albums are more difficult to sit through than their vocally boosted opposition, Magnifique has enough smooth ebbs and fun flows. Lighter than the duo’s previous effort LP4 the head-on collision of hip hop beats and duelling guitars on Cream On Chrome will win over new fans as will the Ed Banger-lite inspired dance of Abrasive. Nightclub Amnesia is as fun as its title suggests and the cover of Springwater’s 1972 track I Will Return bookends an aural journey that finally captures the juxtaposition of this pair’s production. / SAM KELTON
SOUNDS LIKE: more urbane than urban
IN A WORD: clever
Ratatat – French duo with Magnifique album
Source: Supplied
MY LOVE IS COOL
WOLF ALICE
[SONY]
****
My Love Is Cool – Wolf Alice
Source: Supplied
Have UK band Wolf Alice delivered 2015’s rock-saving album? My Love Is Cool won’t revolutionise the music, but it should restore faith. Wolf Alice represent a ‘90s redux — with a subversive twist. This debut bridges shoegaze (the Mazzy Star-like Turn To Dust), grunge (first single Giant Peach) and, significantly, Garbage-y alt. Indeed, singer/guitarist Ellie Rowsell manifests Shirley Manson’s lupine cool more than the chaotic punk of Hole’s Courtney Love. Wolf Alice’s big song is the sleeper Bros (reformulated here). You’re a Germ could be a blistering feminist rebuttal to Radiohead’s Creep. Yet Wolf Alice are unexpectedly unprecious — Freazy is a bit All Saints pop. / CYCLONE WEHNER
SOUNDS LIKE: falling down the rabbit hole
IN A WORD: potent
Agree? Disagree? Wanna take this outside….this page and onto twitter? Follow Mikey Cahill @joeylightbulb, @cameron_adams,@kelts82 and @therealcyclone
