#Now Playing
They have a penchant for short mantras, layering and chopping up vocals until inherent meaning shifts. BORN IN THE ECHOES, THE CHEMICAL BROTHERSThis slamming, head-spinning set of hard beats, warped sounds and emotionally dislocated moods doesn't actually have much in common with the relentlessly upbeat sugar-rush Electronic Dance Music genre they arguably helped spawn.Idiosyncratic guest vocalists including Beck, St Vincent and Cate Le Bon barely scrape a serviceable melody together between them, and even when they do, the Chemicals undermine performances with seasick instrumentation constantly on the verge of sliding out of tune. They have a penchant for short mantras, layering and chopping up vocals until inherent meaning shifts.At its best, Born in the Echoes is gloriously disorienting, restoring a woozy mania to a genre in danger of self-combusting in search of ever more euphoric pop highs.The kids will probably look on aghast. But old ravers will find themselves transported back to a time when electronica really did sound like the future. ..
There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.
From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.
For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.
Already subscribed? Sign in below.
Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.