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The Chemical Brothers

MusicBlog

Location: United Kingdom

Website: http://www.thechemicalbrothers.com/

Bio: Following last year’s GRAMMY® award winning album We Are The Night, The Chemical Brothers return with Brotherhood a best of collection with a kick and ... (more) a twist, set for release on September 2, 2008.

16 years, 10 million record sales, 5 consecutive UK number 1 albums, and 4 GRAMMY® awards would seem the perfect time to take stock of The Chemical Brothers’ heroic career- but Brotherhood makes no claims on being the definitive historical document of Tom and Ed’s career so far. It is not the time capsule version that will be left and dug up in centuries to come. No, Brotherhood is defiantly the Friday night collection, 15 stone cold classics from Tom and Ed’s illustrious back catalogue, reinforced and fortified for the floor.

From their formative Dust Brothers years and the honing of their sometimes literally ground-breaking, break-through, big beat calling cards ("Leave Home", "Chemical Beats" and "Block Rockin’ Beats"), The Chems connected/crossed over to a wider audience so credibly like no other dance act since Kraftwerk, they have consistently invented dance music for a rock n roll age, in the mid nineties they become a foil to the nascent Britpop scene, acting to that as Brian Eno was to the glam rock age.

Career highlights so far? Too many to name, but here are few shining moments-

In 1995 the band released Exit Planet Dust, their first record as The Chemical Brothers which landed them their first UK top 20 single with “Leave Home”. In 1996 they broke into the Billboard Top 100 and the Modern Rock Chart with “Setting Sun” (this was also their first UK #1 single). In early 1997 “Block Rockin’ Beats” (their second UK #1) also charted in the Billboard Top 100 (peaking in the Top 75) and broke into the Top 30 on the Billboard Modern Rock Chart as well. This paved the way for their hugely anticipated sophomore album Dig Your Own Hole later that year. The album entered the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart at #14 (making it the first British electronic act to crack the Top 20) and hit number one in the UK. The following year the band won a GRAMMY Award for “Best Rock Instrumental” for “Block Rockin' Beats”.

In 1999 the band took off around the world in support of their third album (and their third UK #1) Surrender and the tour peaked jointly at Red Rocks Colorado, the Fuji festival in Japan, and at Glastonbury for the main stage headline slot. In 2002 their fourth album Come With Us (and fourth UK #1) featured the single “It Began In Afrika” which broke into the UK Top 10 and raced to the top of the Billboard Club Play Chart.

In 2006 they further cemented their worldwide popularity when Push The Button (their fourth consecutive UK#1) picked up a GRAMMY® award for “Best Electronic/Dance Album”. The single from that album, "Galvanize” (featuring Q-Tip) also picked one up for “Best Dance Recording”.

Last year they played a triumphant set at Brooklyn's McCarren Pool with new ground-breaking auditory technology and retina scorching visuals. And then in 2008 they won yet another GRAMMY® for Best Electronic/Dance Album for their sixth album (and 5th straight UK #1), We Are The Night bringing their total number of GRAMMY® awards to four.

Indeed, throughout their career they have broken free from conventional categorization at every turn, endlessly disproving the post Brit pop ‘End Of The Party’ theory. Since then, they’ve created an eclectic mix of floor fillers drawing from a rich and varied tapestry. From luscious house moves ("Hey Boy, Hey Girl", "Believe") to the Balearic ("Star Guitar"), the Psychedelic ("Setting Sun", "The Golden Path") and the acid warehouse dance party ("Saturate", "Out Of Control") they have shown that they are unerringly forward thinking, genre transcending, convention defying and dance floor filling… not just once or twice but again and again.

New tracks featured on Brotherhood "Midnight Madness" and "Keep My Composure", (featuring the shimmering flow of Baltimore’s Spank Rock) are classic Chemical Brothers, both sounding wholly timeless, startlingly original and completely different and appealing all at the same time.

The limited edition version of Brotherhood will also exclusively feature Electronic Battle Weapons 1-10. Since 1996 Electronic Battle Weapons have acted as the laboratories for The Chems devious musical experiments and laid the rhythmic and melodic foundations for numerous tracks as well as providing some of the duo's most formidable mixes. Previous EBWs have morphed into "It Began in Afrika", "Under the Influence" and latterly "Saturate". Until now Electronic Battle Weapons 1-9 have only been available on various limited formats and this is the first time they have been widely available.

So this, then, is Brotherhood, The Chemical Brothers, out on the floor, totally in control. Here’s to sixteen more years. Here’s to the future. (less)