Chemical Brothers
Push The Button
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It's been a tough season for the former great hopes of electronic music -- the recent Fatboy Slim and the Prodigy releases ranged between middling and drecky -- but there's hope for stadium-ready dance music in the Chemical Brothers' fifth studio album. Push the Button keeps to a formula familiar to followers of the U.K. duo, opening with a block-rockin' break-beat track ("Galvanize," a hip-hop romp with Q-Tip on the mike), closing with an extended jam (the acid-trip carousel soundtrack of "Surface to Air") and, in between, delivering an album full of beat-wise psychedelia. Highlights feature two vocal newcomers: the gentle lilt of Anna-Lynne Williams from Trespassers William lends
Read More an affirming beauty to "Hold Tight London," and the urgent yelp of Kele Okereke from Bloc Party makes "Believe" a club-anthem-in-waiting. "I need you to believe!" wails Okereke. And by the end of Push the Button, we do.
On studio LP No. 5, the Chems settle into a comfy groove, surrounded by a clique of mostly-new collaborators, including Q-Tip ("Galvanize"), Anwar Superstar ("Left Right") and the Magic Numbers ("Close Your Eyes"). "Come Inside" proves they can still incite siren-level mayhem; "Hold Tight London" is a back-rubbing friend.
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