The Chemical Brothers are featured in this month's Remix Magazine. And... There is currently an excellent video up on the Remix Magazine site. The video is on the bottom right. DO NOT MISS THIS. Really, really good stuff. I wish more bands talked about gear like this. They love and know their synths. Be sure to check out their site as well. They are currently promoting their new album We Are the Night. You'll find tour dates, videos and more. I saw them back in 1997 - amazing show.Update: It looks like some of the interview is up here.
via brian comnes.
Update: For the archives: direct link to the vid here.
its such a shame Richard James doesnt talk about his fav analog synths :-(
ReplyDeleteoh yes... another one of those who always need to envy
ReplyDeleteNo envy here, I think they are musical geniuses; but I find their music unlistenable due to their use of what I find to be horrid samples. To each their own.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to agree "big beat" was just a fad to me them and norman cook!! It's just turning into them tredding over old ground on stage seeing who can make the most outrageous movements when turning knobs
ReplyDeletethats why i like aphex twin as a person more!! (love his music aswell) He doesent want to be in the limelight and sits at the side of the stage!! Says alot about a person i think!!
ReplyDeleteGuys in the 90's playing breakbeats that hip hop guys were using in the 80's. That sound was dated as soon as it came out. Maybe people danced to it in England, but in America it was merely fodder for countless car commercials and "extreme sports" theme music.
ReplyDeleteOne gets the feeling that synth people & music producers only liked it because they figured they could do it just as easily...with minimal overhead.
The bright side of the story is that two hard-working club disc jockeys got to make a living doing what they loved, and a few other folks got to ride their coattails.
this last albums far from big beat. i wasnt a chemical brothers fan, until now. so check it out...
ReplyDeleteIndeed, they moved on from big beat a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteFcuk. Can someone please give the direct link to the video ? Can't find it.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find a direct link. If anyone else can post it here and I'll update the post. Look at the picture in this post, then click on the Remix Magazine link and then scroll to the very bottom of the page. Look to the right. You should see an image similar to the one in this post. Click on it and the video should play.
ReplyDeletehttp://remixmag.com/video/flvplayer.swf?file=http://remixmag.com/video/chemicalbrothers.flv
ReplyDeleteGuys in the 90's playing breakbeats that hip hop guys were using in the 80's. That sound was dated as soon as it came out. Maybe people danced to it in England, but in America it was merely fodder for countless car commercials and "extreme sports" theme music.
ReplyDeleteThats where your wrong...It has all been a natural progression!! The chicago and detroit scene was massive you had Dj's looping the best bits of disco tracks and making them longer a technique that ran side by side with hip hop. Many techniques of both types of Dj's house and Hip Hop where the same, break beat or "hardcore" was a natural progression of the two..
At any rate where the hell do you think Hip hop got there loops and samples??? Funky drummer anyone?? or pratically every single funk tune from 68' to 74!!..........I love hip hop by the way!! And if you think Breakbeat was used only for extreme sports and car commercials then your showing either how young you are or how little you really know.....sorry dude don't mean that to be an insult but really your a bit off the mark with what you said....by a long way!! ;-)
I cant believe some of the anti chems remarks. If you have seen them live then you know they are amazing. Also they cant be grouped into just big beat or breabeat. That was early chems. They moved on from that sound on surrender and since then. Daft punk and the chems are easily the best electronic acts around.
ReplyDeleteSorry, guys. The first time I heard that Block-Rocking Beats song I almost fell asleep. Was that them, or was it those propellor guys, or that band named after methanphetamines?
ReplyDeleteAt the time it seemed to be quite a few steps backwards from, say, Public Enemy's first two albums of several years prior.
Hey, hats off to all the disc jockeys who rode the record industry's false prediction in 1996 that "electronica" would be the wave of the future. It certainly yielded lucrative licensing deals for a few of those folks in the beginning of the millenium.
Here's a question for the knowledgeable dance-genre-name hair-splitting intelligencia out there: who coined the term "Electronica" as a catch-all for white guys with samplers?
ReplyDeleteAnd another question: Since when is making a big crazy sound on a Putney, running a clock into a JP8 and cranking an Arp 2600 preamp big news?
ReplyDeleteThey played a Synthex into the hard disk without sequencing it first? Wow!
Ignorance is bliss after all.
well reed,if its that easy why havent you done it and sold 10 million+ albums......yawn
ReplyDeletehey reed, you're being harsh. check out their last 2 albums, theyre really good...
ReplyDeleteSorry, I've calmed down. Godspeed to the Chemical Brothers for doing what they love to do. I was having flashbacks from not too long ago when that genre of album-oriented instrumental dance music was turning into a formulaic blight on the corporate musical landscape akin to "smooth jazz."
ReplyDeleteEvery era gets stuck with its novelty Moog records. Anyone remember Deep Forest? Perhaps the next person to strike it rich should call his act "anonymous."
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ReplyDeleteOh, and to the wiseacre who typed, "well reed, if its that easy why havent you done it and sold 10 million+ albums," I have done it and made a big pile of royalties. Guess I shouldn't complain too loudly about a style that's so easy to cop for profit.
ReplyDeletePeter said...
ReplyDeletethe Chems latest album is amazing. There are modulars and other assorted rare synths all over it.
Easily one of their best, and most enjoyable to listen to. Your comment just shows your complete ignorance of sampling and how it's being used in contemporary electronica, and your ignorance of who the Chem bros. are.. did you even watch the video? Synth heads through and through.
Now go back to making electric banjo/screaming cat noises on your buchla you muppet.
Ha ha ha ha ha!!! Rubbish!! samplings dead!! or at least should be in the way they use samples! I grew up with disco/hip hop/house Which I all love, I really don't wanna here two fools, thinking there something special! You sound like someone who uses fruity loops!!
Do you really honestly think they will be remembered for there "amazing" work in even 10 years time? Proper electronic music like bitstream,autechra,bochum welt,d'arcangelo,aphex twin will always continue to piss on pop electronica acts like the chemical brothers from a great height!
is it me or does ed simons look completely bored? he barely gets a word in edgewise.
ReplyDeletei've seen them live three times and half the time he just mopes around and nods his head. occasionally he'll turn a knob or two, but it seems like it's the tom show.
i'd like to know what the hell he actually contributes.
well reed that shows how ignorant you are..it was, as you admit, their style that you copied to earn the royalties..they had the idea first, you and others have simply imitated it for your own profit!well done..give that man a banana!hex
ReplyDeleteHow exactly does that show how ignorant I am? I must be too ignorant to follow the logic there.
ReplyDelete