Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night

on the 4th song now. so far it's pretty nice. sounds like they aren't going out of their way to sound "psychedelic" anymore. i'm enjoying it.

I'm enjoying this too. Especially the title track so far.

just finished it. i'm gonna say it's their best since surrender.

I thought the single sucked beyond belief so I'm going to need some convincing that it's not all that bad.

It looks like a Moody Blues cover.

The single is the least of all the tracks on the album. I have no idea who greenlighted that shit.

http://www.myscifi.co.uk/70tomorrow3.jpg

This was pretty good up until "The Salmon Dance" came on.

i liked the salmon dance.

what does it sound like? I mean, not in unspeak.

Where's vahid? I need this interpreted for me.

Sounds pretty good to me so far, though I haven't got as far as "Salmon Dance" yet. Its pretty housey actually, and I agree fith funny farm re: psychedelic excursions. I love that font they use for their name, they never change it and I never tire of it.

Salmon Dance wtf, sounds like the guy took rapping lessons from Uffie.

dude, it's fatlip....just chill.
anyway, it's better than that "all my soldiers" song on the last album. y'know, the one with (i think it was) mos def's cousin. that was terrible.

Anwar Superstar, ha ha

Oh Jesus Fucking Christ The Salmon Dance.

For the first 17 or so minutes this is fantastic, nice and Krautrocky I think. The one with the Klaxons is surprisingly great. Overjoyed to hear Electronic Battle Weapon 8 make an appearance here (Saturate) as it's one of the best things they've ever done, Mandarine Girl-rip or otherwise.

Then you get to the single - the actual groove isn't bad at all, the vocals aren't too intrusive until they lose all momentum to try and hamfistedly work a proper chorus in there and I remembered why it was awful. And then you get the Salmon Dance and from then on it's just the Chemical Brothers by numbers - psychedelic one, indie collaboration one, fuzzy MBV/New Order one... YAWN.

"The Pills Won't Help You Now" is really beautiful, mainly because the Midlake singer is basically doing an impression of The Czars' John Grant.

In fact, I thought it might be new Piano Magic.

"Burst Generator" is EPIC.

listened to the first half this morning but wasn't feeling it altho the intro track was intriguing/could've been interesting if developed. 'Saturate' is alright but TOO repetetive in the way it goes back and forth between the minimaly bit and the big live drums release bit. this album needs something like Crystal Castles 'Knights' (which is actually a bit like 'Got Glint') but better/more going on.

i think 'A Modern Midnight Conversation' is my favourite track out of 2 or 3 highlights. More lyrical development on it would've been better tho.

Willy Mason sounds a lot like the Kings Of Leon dude.

I'm gonna spare being too cool for school and praise my love for "The Salmon Dance" right here and now.

I haven't heard this but must know, is "The Salmon Dance" the same thing as "the Trout" dance from Sprockets?

I am really loving this, I have to say. I think it would take a killer single to revive their fortunes at this point, and I'm fairly sure there isn't one. But a very solid album (ok, still four tracks to go, but still)

I'm gonna spare being too cool for school and praise my love for "The Salmon Dance" right here and now.

"It is really awesome that I love 'The Salmon Dance'! Good job, ability to like music!"

Do their fortunes need reviving? I was under the impression they still sold an absolute truckload of records, in the UK at least.

Could be - I don't live there but rather in a country where five out of any ten given people are likely to have Smokie on their iPods, so I can only go on what i like personally and the nebulous sense of the zeitgeist I get from reading ILM and other places on the net.

urgh 'Salmon Dance' next single apparently

Okay it's times like this I get the feeling they are somehow TRYING to reduce their appeal.

But too often on Night, those touches turn tedious, as with the title song's synth twinkles, or the overly cutesy electro-gurgles and recorders that turn "Das Spiegel" into an aural evocation of the Teletubbies meeting the Ewoks on the Planet Of Cotton.

hahaha, that was brilliant MM

I heard "A Modern Midnight Conversation" on the radio late last night and was blown away, but this may be because I have never really listened to CB before. Fucking great track though.

This album strikes me as being what I wanted Surrender to be based on multiple listens to the first half (I keep getting interrupted before making it to the second half).

Having finally heard "The Salmon Dance", I now understand the context behind the comment and retract my earlier snarkiness. (Personally, I don't mind it but WOW is that some bizarre twee nonsense; I also can't believe they're releasing it as a single!)

I will never understand how people hated on Surrender other than by virtue of it coming on the heels of Dig Your Own Hole.

I thought that Surrender took a lot of the ideas/musical themes they played with on Exit Planet Dust and Dig Your Own Hole and, aside from "Hey Boy Hey Girl" and "Out Of Control", put them together in a wholly inferior manner.

I like how part of this album is sort of electro-influenced. I guess Chemicals will never ever go fully electro, as "ugly" sampled sounds is an important stylistic element of New Beat. But I really like the new direction, I do.

And the Chemicals still have yet to release a bad album.

The tracks on here that I think are ferociously awesome so far are "We Are The Night", "Do It Again", "Das Spiegel" and "Burst Generator". I have yet to get past "Burst Generator", though (tonight will be a first!).

Dan you just barely missed one of my favorite tracks of the year!! (Hence my revive)

;_; I can't play iTunes and World of Warcraft at the same time. Tomorrow I will hear the track you love!

I absolutely LOVED the Chems when the first 2 albums came out but they turned into one trick ponies really rapidly. Is this new stuff worth revisiting then?

I don't quite understand how you can be a one-trick pony if all of your albums are distinctly different...?

I thought that Surrender took a lot of the ideas/musical themes they played with on Exit Planet Dust and Dig Your Own Hole and put them together in a wholly inferior kickass, househead danceable manner.

"Music: Response" is one of the most tepid album openers ever, dude.

their albums all tend to start in the same way/style - which is what made this new one's intro quite interesting i thought - no big beatish rehash.

would like to hear more Barbara & Ernie/Barbara Massey - her voice is like Sinead O Connor meets Enya, altho probably more the latter than the former to be honest. but i don't really like Enya, honest.

would like to hear more tracks that sound like Company B w/dream pop vocals

Like I said, they have never released a bad album. However, I would rank the "canon pick" as their worst. "Dig Your Own Hole" tried a bit too hard to sound "organic" at times. Particularly in the drum sound.

"A Modern Midnight Conversation" is the one for me on this album. You can't go far wrong by blending late 83/early 84 Italo rattles & squelches with the bassline from "Crystal World" (Crystal Grass)...

Okay I finaly have figured out why I've been so fascinated by "The Salmon Dance" feature Fatlip and Ned Raggett.

"Music: Response" is one of the most tepid album openers ever, dude.

Sounds like you need to give another listen to We Are The Night.

Comparing ambient intros to failed dancefloor fodder: C/D

"The Salmon Dance" feature Fatlip and Ned Raggett.

lololol

I don't quite understand how you can be a one-trick pony if all of your albums are distinctly different...?

But they've been essentially remaking Surrender since 1999!

This album starts off fantastically but then really loses the momentum. The groove on Do It Again isn't bad at all but the vocal just kills it stone dead for me, and I'm not really feeling Burst Generator. There's almost too much going on and it's not anchored with a strong enough beat or bassline, which is a shame because it could be really epic.

Surprised they've never released a live album.

One like that weird 'Orbital at Glastonbury' one where it's different tracks from different times might work.

Dan you are insane

Well, I was talking about the Riz Ortolani thing after the intro, but whatev, it's all pretty underwhelming.

"A Modern Midnight Conversation" is probably the only one I'd save from the whole thing.

yeah me too! i don't really like the title track or the Klaxons thing

Weird, this is the album that pretty much got me through my finals. I found a copy of it in the radio-station backroom and having banned myself from using my laptop it was pretty much the only music I had. Maybe this explains my attachment to it, but I'd say that even without bias, it's the Chemical Brothers' only GENUINELY underrated album. Quite a large proportion of it achieves the summer bliss-out tech-rave sunrise-joy highs only threatened elsewhere in their catalogue. If only "Do It Again" and "Das Spiegel" didn't exist, it'd be a near-classic of its kind. Plus, for a whole month "Burst Generator" was my getting-out-of-bed song!