Showing posts with label big beat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label big beat. Show all posts

Saturday, July 25, 2015

video review: 'born in the echoes' by the chemical brothers


Yeah, forgot to post this last night. Sort of a last minute bit of craziness, things were wild.

Next up... well, not sure yet. I know Hopsin and Ashley Monroe are on the list, but who else... stay tuned!

Friday, July 24, 2015

album review: 'born in the echoes' by the chemical brothers

I've said in the past that for me, electronic music has been a discovery process in learning to explore and appreciate it - and this year more than ever, I've found more electronic music that I've really loved. But there's always been one big exception to that exploration, one electronic group I've known for years and have really loved, one genre-bending group that's been active since the 90s and has produced more than their fair share of critically acclaimed, absolutely killer records. And no, I'm not talking about Daft Punk.

Nope, I'm talking about The Chemical Brothers, the British electronic duo partially responsible for popularizing the 'big-beat' era in late-90s electronic music and one of the few groups to survive its collapse. Known for their bombast, aggressive sampling, killer grooves, and an uncanny ability to get weird and not implode or disappear up their own asses, The Chemical Brothers' first three albums are damn close to untouchable snapshots of their era, and while the quality got shakier throughout the 2000s as electronic music retreated back into the underground, they still produced quality, especially on the striking return to form Further in 2010.

But let's face it, electronic music is a much different place in 2015 than it even was five years ago. EDM smashed into the mainstream before fragmenting, the festival circuit is increasingly overstuffed, and the Internet is flooded with would-be samplers hoping that their off-beat brand of sampling gathers attention. And to some extent pure aggression isn't going to cut in the same way - while Further holds up a solid five years later with some killer grooves and great crescendos and progressions, it's always interesting to see if the old titans can still crush the David Guettas and Calvin Harrises of the world into the corners where they belong. Did Born In The Echoes pull this off?