The Chemical Brothers – No Geography (April 12, 2019)

Very happy with this album.

I’ll chime in to say that this is very good.

  On 4/13/2019 at 6:10 PM, Tricone RC said:

 

  On 2/7/2019 at 4:59 PM, joshuatx said:

^ ah, god how did I miss that

 

fun fun fun on the autobahn

fahren, fahren, fahren!

 

I'll def give them a chance, and if it beats their last few dull efforts then I'll buy it out of loyalty. Hope it goes more oldskool which the possible kraftwerk reference might imply. Can't listen to the samples yet.

 

The most stand out aspect is they've gone back to the 3 track "suites" of continuous music. Makes for the same energy and flow of their old albums. Futher did this to some degree but otherwise I feel like their albums since Push The Button were more or less non-continuous and less cohesive - a couple catchy singles, one or two great tracks and then a lot of decent but unremarkable music. This one really doesn't slow down or get dull. The basslines and unabashed acid and other unique rave-oriented synths harken the old days, they do so too without getting to the tempos or breakbeat-heavy "big beat" sound that would easily backfire as too dated. Lot of acid lines and psychedelic flourishes. I always feel like they slide back to the territory of solid dance music without going too safe (straight up house) nor losing their euphoric "fun" sound either. Payed off, they've come full circle to being appealing to festivals in the era of EDM. 

I saw someone mention on reddit that there seem to be some easter eggs of old sounds from their old releases - either stuff stuff from the old sessions mixed in or revisiting old samples, etc. They've always had a workflow of jamming and recording then piecing together their best bits into songs and likewise they are always re-sequencing or remixing existing material into mash-ups and edits for their live sets. I wouldn't be shocked if they are mining old archived stuff for inspiration,. 

  On 4/14/2019 at 5:01 AM, joshuatx said:

 

I saw someone mention on reddit that there seem to be some easter eggs of old sounds from their old releases - either stuff stuff from the old sessions mixed in or revisiting old samples, etc. They've always had a workflow of jamming and recording then piecing together their best bits into songs and likewise they are always re-sequencing or remixing existing material into mash-ups and edits for their live sets. I wouldn't be shocked if they are mining old archived stuff for inspiration,. 

 

6 music said they were digging in their attic and found out loads of equipment they used on the first 2 albums and incorporated it into the production of this album.  So the old samples and techniques make sense. 

My gosh, if this is indeed the case I've gotta hear this one. 90s Dust/Chemical Brothers is the bestest of the brothers.

  On 4/16/2019 at 11:53 AM, mcbpete said:

My gosh, if this is indeed the case I've gotta hear this one. 90s Dust/Chemical Brothers is the bestest of the brothers.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/14/chemical-brothers-no-geography-review

some thoughts so far

- start of Bango > Go

- some fairly unexceptional but yummy synth patches throughout

- ending of Gravity Drops was pretty lush.

- CB's female vox samples always weird me out.

- I feel like I'd really enjoy this more live.

- that is a delicious concoction of tones right there in the second half of track 6.

- this bangs @ track 7

- yum 303

- can track 8 can b song of the socialist revolution.

- yeah track 8 is the tastiest so far. reminds of a lot of early CB.

- second half of the album is signif better than the first or maybe im biased cause 303.

- okayywow those glides on track 9   my ears want more.

- CATCH ME IM FALLING.

- fcuk me the synth solo's on the last track.

what does the album cover mean.

  On 4/16/2019 at 3:07 PM, MadellisTheSixth said:

 

- CB's female vox samples always weird me out.

 

- can track 8 can b song of the socialist revolution.

good point on the vocals, they've always been a bit jarring and unusual compared to most acts, in a good way

speaking of revolution or cheeky commentary on it

  On 4/16/2019 at 3:07 PM, MadellisTheSixth said:

what does the album cover mean.

From Wikipedia:

  Quote

The album's cover is an image taken from the booklet of the 1977 album Consequences by Godley & Creme.^[7][8] The artwork is that of a motorway or autobahn from the point of view of the rear of an early British Chieftain Main Battle Tank turret; looking out over the gun, behind the commander of the tank, toward the empty highway ahead. The 'cloud face' on the cover of 'Consequences' is visible in the sky.

 

I hadn't noticed the face in the clouds to be fair, probably easier to spot on the vinyl (I went for CD to keep my collection up to date...)

The female vocals I love came from Beth Orton on the first couple of albums,

Where do I begin

and

Alive Alone

Absolute beautiful psychedelic belters

  On 4/16/2019 at 4:24 PM, fletcher said:

 

  On 4/16/2019 at 3:07 PM, MadellisTheSixth said:

 

  Quote

Thee album's cover is an image taken from the booklet of the 1977 album Consequences by Godley & Creme.^[7][8] The artwork is that of a motorway or autobahn from the point of view of the rear of an early British Chieftain Main Battle Tank turret; looking out over the gun, behind the commander of the tank, toward the empty highway ahead. The 'cloud face' on the cover of 'Consequences' is visible in the sky.

 

I hadn't noticed the face in the clouds to be fair, probably easier to spot on the vinyl (I went for CD to keep my collection up to date...)

 

Whoa, I came across that Godley & Crfeme album a long time ago poking around allmusic.com back in high school. Would have never guessed that was the source. 

It's most likely the autobahn, British tanks have been deployed along with US tanks ever since WW2 ended. Autobahns were often shut down in the cold war for military exercises, including aircraft landings and take-offs.

Brits also used some very IDM looking camo for their urban tanks

  On 4/16/2019 at 11:44 AM, fletcher said:

 

  On 4/14/2019 at 5:01 AM, joshuatx said:

 

I saw someone mention on reddit that there seem to be some easter eggs of old sounds from their old releases - either stuff stuff from the old sessions mixed in or revisiting old samples, etc. They've always had a workflow of jamming and recording then piecing together their best bits into songs and likewise they are always re-sequencing or remixing existing material into mash-ups and edits for their live sets. I wouldn't be shocked if they are mining old archived stuff for inspiration,. 

 

 

6 music said they were digging in their attic and found out loads of equipment they used on the first 2 albums and incorporated it into the production of this album.  So the old samples and techniques make sense. 

 

OHhh that makes sense. That's really neat. It's fitting, they've also had some unusual sounds and eclectic samples in their tracks, def against the grain of other trends of the 90s. Def set them apart.

  On 4/16/2019 at 4:20 PM, joshuatx said:

 

  On 4/16/2019 at 3:07 PM, MadellisTheSixth said:

 

- CB's female vox samples always weird me out.

 

- can track 8 can b song of the socialist revolution.

 

good point on the vocals, they've always been a bit jarring and unusual compared to most acts, in a good way

 

speaking of revolution or cheeky commentary on it

 

that's really interesting, I think my older brother had a dvd with all their music videos on it I that used to watch when I was a little dude so that was weirdly nostalgic to watch.

  On 4/16/2019 at 4:24 PM, fletcher said:

I hadn't noticed the face in the clouds to be fair, probably easier to spot on the vinyl (I went for CD to keep my collection up to date...)

 

totally missed that as well, cheers:)

  On 4/15/2019 at 10:20 PM, silentvision said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd_w7joFbWI

just to report that this is a boss mix!

Heavily reminds me of the BGWIO mix CD as it starts to build.

Download enabled if anyone wants to grab it:

https://hearthis.at/ewtbtdj/01-thechemicalbrothers-essentialmix-sat-04-13-2019-talion/

^ fuck yeah! 

I used to have so many of thier live recordings and radio mixes on my old hard drive - used to scour p2p networks and DC++ for them back in the day

Brothers Gonna Work It Out is a classic and so is this one

banger

enjoyed this!

Got a ticket to see them at All Points East festival in London at the end of the month, looking forward to it.

Primal Scream, DMX Krew and Optimo also playing, should be a fun day out

Fellow watmmaker you may want to watch their set at Glastonbury last night. I haven't had anything to do with Chems for years, and wasn't really expecting much.

I was wrong! It was mental.

too busy atm to post up links (soz)