Further

Back when people were still figuring out what electronic dance albums were supposed to be, the Chemical Brothers worked out a durable and recognizable formula, and they stuck with it: dancefloor bangers up front, woozily expansive psychedelic tracks at the end, big-name collaborations wherever possible. That formula served them well through three classic albums (Exit Planet Dust, Dig Your Own Hole, and Surrender) and one pretty good one (Come With Us). But they stuck with it two albums too long. The duo's last two full-lengths, 2005's Push the Button and 2007's We Are the Night, were, respectively, a spotty mess and an outright disaster. After an album like that, it's time to blow things up and start again, and that's what they've done with Further.

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After making a couple of successful yet guest-heavy and unimaginative records, The Chemical Brothers have entered the new decade with something different. Gone are the big singles, the zeitgeist tapping guest vocalists and misjudged attempts at appearing on trend, which have been replaced with ambition and sonic exploration. Further is very much a cleansing record for the duo, as they shed some of their commercial baggage and return to making music for the love of doing so.

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The Chemical Brothers have seen a lot during their 18-year existence. Having made dance music acceptable for indie kids in the mid-'90s alongside The Prodigy, Underworld, Orbital and Leftfield, they then spawned and outlived big beat and have since become one of the few dance music big guns to have survived and consistently released albums that leave many electronic upstarts trailing in their wake. Their last offering We Are The Night was one of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons' best to date. So what of their seventh album proper, Further?

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Back in 1997, the Chemical Brothers were the kings of the still-thriving big-beat “electronica” movement that tried ever so hard to dominate the American music landscape in the mid-to-late ‘90s. Dig Your Own Hole, the duo’s crowning achievement, showed a surprising amount of eclecticism despite being rooted in a simple 4/4 club template, the album spawning dance hits (the Grammy-winning “Block Rockin’ Beats”), instant modern rock classics (the thrilling Noel Gallagher collaboration “Setting Sun”), and epic psychedelic rushes (the aptly-titled “The Private Psychedelic Reel”) without as much as breaking a sweat. Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons packed arenas, enjoyed critical kudos abound, and no doubt drank wines most of us could only dream of ever tasting (they were that good!).

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