Word: albums
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...been good at bringing out the best in others, as their earlier remixes of the Manic Street Preachers and Spritualized prove. Surrender sees the Chemicals working with even more guest vocalists--this time to bring out the best in the Chemicals' sound. Two fellow Mancunians pop up on the album: New Order's Bernard Sumner and Oasis' Noel Gallagher. Gallagher has worked with the duo before, but it's "Out of Control," the piece with Sumner, that's most memorable. Sumner's work certainly was another one of the Chemicals' influences, and to hear his familiar voice, his usual quasi...
They don't sing, and they're not instrumental virtuosos either. Yet it's clear that the Chemical Brothers have made one of the finest albums this year, pushing their creativity to the limits, showing that they can do more than make you jump. The pounding French-house-style opening track, "Music: Response" has as its main refrain an electronic voice proclaiming that "music should trigger some kind of response," and elicit a response this album certainly will. In its most manic parts, it can (and will) send dance-floors through the roof, but the sheer sonic range...
...about soul, too enchanted by the heady relationship between a mixer and the human ear. This fact is all-too obvious to Moby, one of the most important figures of the early-90s dance scene, a controversial artist who has always stretched the boundaries of techno. On his latest album, Play, those boundaries are completely obliterated in a sea of soulful music that's eerily timeless and breathtakingly beautiful...
Make no mistake, this album is not just nifty samples recycled over drum beats, a la Puff Daddy. The above songs are masterpieces not of genre-bending, but of genre-using. The rest of Play is no different. Sinewy piano parts easily outmaneuver the drums on "Rushing" and the throbbing "Everloving." The tradition of hard Moby dance floor tracks is continued with "Bodyrock" and "Machete." And "If Things Were Perfect"brings a modern version of acoustic R.E.M. or Simon and Garfunkel to mind...
...ultimately Moby's careful hand that makes this album truly special, by knowing what to sample and how to incorporate these elements with a modern twist. Sounding nothing like anything currently being released, Play burbles with life and vitality that will reverberate long after its last notes have faded...