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Come with The Chemical Brothers

Author: michelle pirovich
Thursday, January 24, 2002
"Lets try and do a record that's got the energy and dynamics of an acid house record but with a brilliant beat that sounds like hip hop as well"

Ed and Tom, The Chemical Brothers... Many hold them responsible for bringing rock and dance together in holy matrimony. Others have hailed them the ultimate electronica boogie band. However it is you see them, the Chemical
Brothers are undeniably one of the most innovative and accomplished music acts of our time. Their sound though ever changing, is unique to themselves and they remain untouched by those who wish to emulate their block rockin' beats and superstar dj status.

With no1 hits worldwide and a grammy award on the shelf, the Chemical Brothers continue to explore the realms of musical possibilities and show us their findings in their latest album "Come with us"

"Come with us wasn't as easy a record to make as records in the beginning. It isn't like typical song writing where you relay experiences." Tom and Ed are all about creating emotions from sounds and they have found that its alot harder to find sounds that are as inspiring as in the beginning, "but its even more exciting when you finally do."

Its been two years since they have been in the studio and they were really "fired up, with lots of ideas" when they went back in. The Chemical Brothers have quite a disciplined way of working. When on tour they concentrate solely on the tour, they don't think about making new music, but they pbserve how their music works on a crowd when djing and use that as inspiration. "Its how we keep relevant" "We love live, its a chance to create the music as we want it to be heard." "To give the crowd a full on sensory effect."

The track Afrika was released as a bit of a test to see that the album was heading in a direction that the crowds liked...it was an instant dancefloor hit in clubs worldwide.

The album took 18 months to put together, and there were many frustrations in trying to get it to that next step, but the Chemical Brothers have a critical understanding of one another, an extraordinary collection of records, strange and rare, and with the limitless possibilities of the sampler there was no doubt that they would get results. "We like the way it works, it moves all over the place, but alot of time was spent getting it to fit together, we want the listener to think each piece was intentionally meant to follow the one before." Tom believes Star Guitar captures the record as a whole. "It carries you away and is slamming at the same time."

When signed up with Virgin records "Exit Planet Dust" was made with no interference from the record company. "We had very strong ideas about what we wanted our music to be, and we were the best people to do it." Its every musicians dream ­ complete freedom and control. Its probably one of the reasons for the huge success that has been bestowed upon the Chemical Brothers but there is a little something extra too. "You have to want to do both studio and live. Its time consuming and hard work." "Its all about technical virtue, and knowing how to build up peoples state of mind."

"Its what we wanted to do, so we did it."

Chemical Brother's "Come With Us" is out now through Virgin/EMI.
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