Chemical Brothers : Galvanise

It’s the arse-end of 2004 and the only people who still give a shit about The Chemical Brothers’ new album are those who’ve had their critical facilities eroded by bad ecstasy/aspirin/rat poison (delete according to dealer). So how do the Chems wipe away their image as ageing student raveheads? By drafting in a load of guest vocalists, of course, and releasing the first fruits of their labour to iTunes in the year’s most barren week of quality singles.



Not that ‘Galvanise’ – a chrome-plated collaboration with Tribe Called Quest rapper Q-Tip – is merely the sweetcorn in this week’s turd of releases. In truth it’s as fresh and funky as Ed and Tom have sounded in an age. Shimmering strings, a huge breakdown and lyrics about – hey! – the party being “over here”; the end result is luscious future-hop that’ll restart parties in the heads of all who cross its path and not just those dribbling E victims still trying to drink the green goo out of their glowsticks.



Tim  Jonze