Artist interviews, music reviews: Ink Blot Magazine

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  • The Global Chemical Web at Astralwerks
    Good label site. Label-only discography compensated for by excellent interview selection, including a track-by-track of Brothers Gonna Work It Out.
  • Chemical Beats
    Very handsome Shockwave design. Plays eponymous track while you surf. Features an amusing "sound studio" that lets you do a little pretend mixing.
  • Chemical-Brothers TV
    Another Shaun Love creation, and quite nice. We're keeping tabs on this site - in a month or two, it may come out on top.
  • Chemical-Brothers
    A new site that's just getting off the ground. Not much traffic yet, but it's helmed by Shaun who does the best Fatboy Slim fansite, so it's got promise.
  • The Chemical List
    Home to the Chemical Brothers' Mailing List.
  • The Unofficial Chemical Brothers SiteA New Chemical Link
    A brand new site. Not much here yet, but growing.

    The Story So Far
    Tom before being diagnosed with an acute case of the hippie spins Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons were Home Counties boys drawn to Manchester University by the city's musical heritage. While completing history degrees, they discovered their shared musical loves (New Order, The Beatles, MBV, Public Enemy), and after Tom's stint in a Balearic rock band, they became back-room DJs at Justin Robertson's Naked Under Leather club.

    Trading as the Dust Brothers as a tribute to the heroic production minds behind Paul's Boutique, they moved to London and convinced Heavenly Records to let them be house DJs at the nascent Sunday Social in London. As they ran out of records bangin' enough for their parties, they turned their hands to remixology, including stellar turns on Bomb the Bass' "Bug Powder Dust" and Deeper Throat's "Mouth Organ."

    Debut single "Song to the Siren" impressed Andy Weatherall enough to start dropping it at his Sabresonic nights, two EPs on Junior Boys' Own preceded big beat manifesto "Chemical Beats." This track paved the way for the first Chemical Brothers album, Exit Planet Dust.

    Heavenly Social's infamous logo -- stolen from a Soho porn shopSoon a whole new club culture emerged in the wake of the Brothers and their Social sets, and dozens of indie and techno acts dumped their old tools for breakbeats and 303s. Second LP Dig Your Own Hole saw Tom and Ed perfecting their head-mashing template while at the same time hinting at a more experimental muse. The album and associated tour brought them worldwide success and an amusing Grammy for "Best Rock Instrumental" ("Block rockin' Beats") in 1997.

    Now club culture's first official crossover, they returned in 1999 with Surrender, an LP which abandoned their breakbeat template in favor of faster techno rhythms and psychedelic pop.

    Brotherly Love

    Michelle Mondo writes: I love the Chemical Brothers because they have such a massive cool vibe. Their live show is awesome -- they came out and just totally blew me away, without speaking! Their show was one of the best live shows I have ever seen. Rock on, Brothers!