Album Review: The Chemical Brothers - No Geography
For as influential as The Chemical Brothers were in bringing the sounds of big beat to a much larger audience, their efforts to recreate the critical and commercial success of their 1997 album Dig Your Own Hole have largely been catastrophic failures. Virtually none of their releases in twenty years can hold a candle to such a record, despite the UK duo's attempts to revitalize their sound via infusions of genres like techno and acid house. At long last, however, No Geography marks quite the return to form for the group, and even for the uninitiated, the relentlessly catchy tracks present on their newest work are obnoxiously enjoyable.
As soon as the first cut, Eve Of Destruction, finishes establishing the vocal samples that recur throughout the song, it launches into what is, even for a genre built around funk, an incredibly catchy bass line, subtly supported by rattling percussion. Such instruments, be they drums or more obscure idiophones, bounce the groove back and forth between each other as voices chime in and out with various coherence, resulting in a seemingly endless groove that keeps finding new ways to surprise long past any reasonable point. A similar structure pervades the following track Bango, the transition between the two so smooth distracted listeners may not even realize the two songs are distinct. Music such as this has one primary purpose: get people moving in their seats, and The Chemical Brothers are again proving how accomplished they are at doing so.
While most cuts on No Geography interpolate stuttered vocal samples that are only meant to be somewhat discernible, they often fail to add anything meaningful to already cacophonous mixes; save for certain more inventive moments, particularly on MAH. The recurrence of a gruff chanting of "I'm mad as hell, I ain't gonna take it no more" gives the song a bitter energy, the hoarse voice perfectly complemented by dirty synths which start out merely as erratic, electronic blips and soon crescendo into a shrill refrain that somehow never loses its allure. A similarly powerful snippet opens We've Got to Try, yet cannot hold a candle to the grimy synth line propelling the track, nor the oddly compelling string breakdown in the latter half . This is easily the group's most potent asset: the ability to hand melodies seamlessly from one instrumental to another, a fresh approach to an often repetitive genre that pays dividends all over the album.
Occasionally, however, the duo's affair with the more abrasive sounds of acid house rears its head in less forgivable ways. Hints begin to creep in on the otherwise catchy Got To Keep On, questionable production choices dispersed within the slick guitar lines and echoing bells that ultimately slip out of focus amid the raucous crowd chanting "Gotta keep on making me high". Less forgivable is the following track Gravity Drops, a muted drawl that ends up as irritating as erratic noise and poorly mixed percussion can get, quirks made even less tolerable by the lack of an upbeat groove to keep one's interest. Some moments are, conversely, almost too formulaic, the title track in particular feeling soulless and bland between the monotone voice intoning lazily and a beat that barely undergoes any changes throughout its admittedly short runtime.
The best house music, despite the genre's tendency towards repetitious production and the need for long stretches of buildup leading to the climax of a 'drop', is able to innovate within this structure, maintaining a flow and pace consistent of one's expectations while still surprising the listener through creative instrumentation and atmosphere. The Chemical Brothers, once at the forefront of such innovation before a drastic decline in quality, have finally manager to reclaim some of the magic from their career's infancy, and No Geography as a result is at once a delightfully indulgent throwback to the big beat and techno sounds of the '80s and '90s, and a glimpse into the future sounds of acid house and similar subgenres. That it's so undeniably groovy is just a bonus, albeit an incredibly appreciated one.
8/10
Favourite Tracks: Eve of Destruction, We've Got To Try, MAH
https://open.spotify.com/album/7d1KwAPdMEBqCERVsKRUox