Review Summary: The original, quintessential block rockin' beats.
Big Beat is a weird genre to talk about. It was the first style of electronic dance music to truly break into the mainstream, and its biggest exponents hit such heady heights that they were almost impossible to avoid in the late 90s and early 00s. Coincidentally, if you try naming more than five Big Beat acts people will look at you like you just dropped out of a flying saucer.
The Prodigy and The Chemical Brothers were of course the big strong lions hunting and eating every gazelle,
Fatboy Slim would sometimes swoop in and swipe a healthy chunk of meat with his occasional hits, and... um...
Propellerheads got that one song on The Matrix soundtrack? Uh...
Junkie XL ... exists, and is still doing film scores to this day apparently? If anything
Hideki Naganuma's work on the cult classic Jet Set Radio games probably deserves the mention far more, although his music definitely infuses other genres too. Now before internet nerds start furiously typing "that one Crystal Method album though man!! gotcha!", let's try to understand why Big Beat may have turned out that way.
Perhaps it's because it didn't evolve as organically as previous electronic styles; really it's just that two notable acts happened to take a similar turn around the same time and resonated with the zeitgeist to an unexpected degree. It helps that the style in question lends itself equally well to clubbing, bigger venues and even action soundtracks. The genre itself is roughly similar to breakbeat, but generally at a more moderate tempo, with accessible song structures, prominent bass and often a focus on immediate bombast over subtle atmosphere. In some ways it's not unlike the stadium-oriented "arena Drum'n'Bass" that would propel
Pendulum to their comparatively shorter-lived party-starting stardom a decade later.
When it comes to differentiating The Chemical Brothers from The Prodigy, it's trivial: the latter were far more entrenched in the rave scene of the early 90s and kept some of that DNA with them on Music for a Jilted Generation and to a lesser extent The Fat of the Land. They had that darker edge, that punk attitude, that rebellious chaotic energy that shone in both their music and their public image. The Chemical Brothers were the vanilla to The Prodigy's chocolate, embracing a laid-back sound that traded nighttime warehouse grit for daytime car rides, and in doing so they arguably represented the "purer" archetype of Big Beat, the mold that Fatboy Slim and others would try to follow.
The Chemical Brothers' Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons may have been ravers but not quite of the same scene as Liam Howlett's gang. In 1992 they were DJing hip-hop, techno and acid house, citing
Public Enemy,
Renegade Soundwave and
Meat Beat Manifesto as influences among others, and they reportedly only started making their own music because they were running out of instrumentals to use. In the early days they were known as The Dust Brothers, a moniker chosen in homage to the producers of Paul's Boutique without any expectation that they'd ever make it big enough to have to change it. Their very first single Song to the Siren in late 1992 eventually caught the attention of one DJ
Andrew Weatherall who helped get them signed to Junior Boy's Own. Some remixes and EPs followed and it wasn't long before the duo's hard work paid off and turned them into globe-trotting stadium pleasers.
If The Chemical Brothers are the archetypal act for the genre, then their debut Exit Planet Dust is the archetypal record, and it wastes no time defining its sound. A sample of
Kraftwerk's Ohm Sweet Ohm, followed by vocals from
Blake Baxter's Brothers Gonna Work It Out are quick to establish the duo's prominent penchant for sampling. They're shortly joined by something akin to a funk guitar and a rumbling fuzzy bassline, then the (big) beat kicks the door in and we're ready to Leave Home. It's a big sound, a warm sound, equal parts relaxing and energetic, somehow timelessly evocative of bright summer days. Similar things can be said for the sonic makeup of In Dust We Trust and Life Is Sweet, the latter also featuring guest vocals by friend of the group Tim Burgess of the Charlatans.
As always though the devil is in the details, and the soul of electronic dance music is in the producers' meticulous approach to the little things, all the bells and whistles they add to differentiate tracks from one another, to make them memorable and keep the audience engaged. Song To The Siren's slower beat and simple bass would hardly feel out of place on
Leftfield's Leftism, but it's all made more unique by samples of
This Mortal Coil and
Dead Can Dance, not to mention, well, an actual siren. Three Little Birdies Down Beat, Fuck Up Beats and Chemical Beats all opt for a higher level of intensity, a rougher sound with memories of acid coming through in the jagged and occasionally squelching synths, providing a welcome change of pace. Chico's Groove keeps the acid squelch of the preceding tracks, but permeates a much more mellow feel, giving both music and listeners room to breathe.
On this note, The Chemical Brothers truly were not afraid to ditch the bombast for a few tracks and take the scenic route through more subdued soundscapes, and their success in doing so significantly elevates the album's variety and replayability. The aptly titled One Too Many Mornings brings a lush and ethereal tenderness thanks to its samples of dream pop act
Swallow; a welcome, sort of hazy comedown after the in-your-face acid sensibilities of the middle tracks. But the closer Alive Alone's meld of downtempo beats and vaguely shoegazing atmosphere is taken to the next level by the brilliant voice of
Beth Orthon. Whether she's singing softly and wistfully or providing full volume catharsis, it makes for a genuinely vulnerable and emotional climax rarely seen in the genre or in most dance music in general.
Exit Planet Dust was a great success for the duo both commercially and critically, one that they very deftly cultivated and eventually overshadowed with subsequent releases for many years to come. Although it doesn't have "Galvanize", "Hey Boy Hey Girl" or "Block Rockin' Beats" on it, it might still be The Chemical Brothers' finest hour, containing all the elements that made their music special in the first place, all working together and neatly wrapped up in an invisible, intangible blanket of timelessness.
