Is it a hit, *hit or miss?
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Chemical
Brothers - Push the Button
by Brad Podray
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Chemical
Brothers - Push the Button.
Label: Astralwerks
Hit, *hit or
Miss?: Hit
Rating:  
If The Chemical Brothers were thinking
“Our new album’s goal should be proof that we can take a whole cavalcade
of varied musical sounds and mix them in an electronica-themed cauldron,”
then they can rest at ease knowing that their goal was unwaveringly accomplished.
They probably didn’t use a cauldron though, as the medieval mixing apparatus
is very rare and impractical in today’s modern age.
Their latest album, Push the Button
is best described as an unpredictable album of quirky dance electronica.
The first track, “Galvanize” is a hip-hop flavored track that serves only
to further prevent the listener from predicting how the rest of the album’s
sound will be. The album goes on to show off more of what you’d expect
from the Chemical Brothers with a steaming helping of what you wouldn’t.
It’s electronica tinged with an organic nature that allows anti-techno
heads to say they like it without feeling like they’re somehow giving up
a little bit of their soul. Their big beat sound has given way ever
so slightly to a more quirky edge. If this album was a hearty stew,
it would contain a good amount of great synth-line beef cuts, nourishing
bassline veggies, and a select few large potato chunks that happen to be
rap tracks. “Left Right,” in particular, sounds as if it came straight
out of the factory that keeps producing rap that’s just a little bit too
hard and intelligent to make it into the mainstream.
The hip hop on this album doesn’t have
anywhere near the focus on “bling,” “bitches,” and “skeet”-ing that it
would need to make national pop charts. All things considered, Push
the Button is more intelligent than your average dance techno album,
but not by much. What the blood brothers have in production value,
they sometimes lack in innovation. While tracks such as “Close
Your Eyes” and “Marvo Ging” stand out as proof that the Chemical Bros.
haven’t lost their edge when it comes to original material, some of the
other aspects of the album fall ever so slightly short of being outstanding.
Note: If you are a Chemical Bros. fan, you will find nothing wrong with
this album and probably find it to be equally if not more enjoyable than
their others. Just skip to tracks like “Surface to Air” and you’ll
find yourself in home territory once again. However, if you are not
a Chemical Bros. fan, you may find this album doesn’t really stick its
head above the average techno that you listen to by accident in the car
radio or on the television during that hot new car commercial. Some
aspects are very repetitive(as is the case with most techno) and some of
the particular sounds used in the album can be more grating on the nerves
than one would like to admit. Yet, the album’s slight drawbacks aren’t
enough to keep the Chemical Brothers out of the big beat techno wave that
they’ve been oscillating from top to middle of for a very long time.
Sure to please: Chemical Brothers fans,
Daft Punk fans, pretty much any fans of that general area of techno that’s
not too hard, not too soft, but just right.
Sure to disappoint: Metal heads, commercial
hip hop fans, camels
CD Info and Links
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