msposner's Full Review: Dig Your Own Hole by The Chemical Brothers
If you are looking for some older techno music, the Chemical Brother's Dig Your Own Hole might just be what you're looking for. This is the album that established Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons as a solid presence in the techno music scene.
This album sold very, very well during its time of release despite being released around the same time as Prodigy's super-aggressive album, The Fat of the Land.
Many industry-insiders give this album a lot of credit- not only did it spawn the Chemical Brothers but it paved the way for other acts to emerge such as Moby and Fatboy Slim.
This album is famous for the 'big-beat' that can be felt throughout the album but once that is unraveled, you'll notice a lot more complexity within the music. On Dig Your Own Hole, they've again wisely offset the dancier tracks with ones that have a bit more texture and have again experimented with different vocalists and instrumentation.
The initial parts of the CD are flooded with charging, full-speed beats but with the next few tracks, it still doesn't slow down at all- you'll experience a dynamic increase with thumping beats as they sample some old-school rappers. Once the loop is completed, things start cranking again with a fuzzed-out bassline sound (again) and stereophonic squiggles galore. It's almost like the first three tracks are all variations on a theme, but they change up just enough to keep things interesting and fresh.
From there, the group wisely changes things up a bit and moves into the stutter-stepping beat of "Piku," their grinding collaboration with Noel Gallagher of Oasis ("Setting Sun") and the almost novelty sounding sample chop-shop of "It Doesn't Matter." It's the last three songs on the album, though, that really show the group playing with some different ideas, and they run as almost the exact opposite of the three slamming tracks that started out the release. On "Lost In The K-Hole," the group starts to trip things out a bit with some rather shimmering sounds over a lighter beat, while they again enlist the help of Beth Orton and her beautiful vocals on the perfect electronic morning song of "Where Do I Begin." Things close out with the epic, aptly titled "The Private Psychadelic Reel" on which they collaborate with Mercury Rev for almost a middle-Eastern sound of spacey guitars and droney feedback to lay over subdued beats.
Overall, it's a solid follow-up album for the group and one that's also quite varied again. While things start off on a rather ballistic note, they calm down a bit towards the middle of the album and almost completely trip out near the end. It's almost a completely logical progression from one end of the release to the other, getting your body grooving to begin with, then chilling you out a bit in the middle before winding you down at the end.
Track list
1. Block Rockin' Beats
2. Dig Your Own Hole
3. Elektro Bank
4. Piku
5. Setting Sun
6. It Doesn't Matter
7. Don't Stop The Rock
8. Get Up On It Like This
9. Lost In The K Hole
10. Where Do I Begin?
11. The Private Psychedelic Reel
If you are interested in listening to different albums of the same genre, the following albums might be worth checking out...
"Exit Planet Dust" - The Chemical Brothers
"Vegas" - The Crystal Method
"Surrender" - The Chemical Brothers
"Fat Of The Land" - The Prodigy
"Honey Run On" - Moby
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