The Chemical Brothers ‘Born in The Echoes’ Review: electronic bliss from veteran electronica legends. 

[rating=4]

Last month marked the 20th anniversary of The Chemical Brothers début album Exit Planet Dust. Which seems surreal given it sounded like it was broadcast from the future.

Sadly one’s vision of the future never quite lives up to predictions…just look at any sci-fi film from past decades for reference. Sure electronic music is all the rage these days, but in the form of bland, techno by numbers EDM.

Thank god The Chemical Brothers refuse to play along: their latest album, Born in The Echoes still sounds leaps and bounds ahead of today’s crop of interchangeable electronic artists, while still retaining their vintage rave culture appeal.

Kickoff track Sometimes I Feel So Deserted gets the blood moving with a relentless throbbing groove and the androgynous vocals of Kenneth Bobien and Moise Laporte creating a sugar rush of sound.

Go marks Q-Tip’s first collaboration since 2005’s Galvanize. It’s a strident party anthem straight out of a late 90’s rave:

Send your body to flight
Everybody got a target tonight
Everybody come along for the ride
All you studs and you duds and you ladies, let’s fly

It’s dance floor euphoria is equalled by ELM Ritual fearing vocalist Ali Love, where an ever escalating automaton groove reaches that build and release sweet spot that epitomizes their best tracks.

I’ll See You There’s throbbing psychedelia recalls their classic 1996 track Setting Sun )from seminal album Dig Your Own Hole). Interestingly in includes the soundbite The future I’ll see you there. Perhaps they’re taking the piss with a retro sounding track, or lamenting no one else followed their lead.

But a generational crossover does occur in the title track with St. Vincent’s Annie Clarke adding her art-rock vocals over warped rubber band funk, sounding rapturously lost in the waves of sound.

While Echoes is notable for its vocal collaborators, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons include plenty of slamming instrumentals, such as Reflexion, with twisted synth textures piggybacking over a motorik beat.

But its the final track, Wide Open that proves a revelation: it’s perhaps their simplest and most emotional melody to date, giving ample room for guest vocalist Beck to croon wistfully. It’s the most moving synth driven track since LCD Soundsystem’s Someone Great.

Born in The Echoes proves The Chemical Brothers haven’t lost a step, and content to march to their own percolating beat.

It joins The Prodigy’s latest release The Day Is My Enemy as a reminder to show the kids how its done (but with a more nuanced approach). It doesn’t fit into the current EDM musical climate, but it’s certainly the electronic dance landscape that I choose to live in. Their faithful fans will surely agree.

You can order ‘Born in The Echoes’ from Amazon or iTunes via the links below.