at a glance...

Hometown: Manchester, England
Formed: 1992

Personnel:
Tom Rowlands -decks, effects
Ed Simons -decks, effects

Bands in the family :
Oasis, Justin Warfield, Mercury Rev, The Charlatans, Primal Scream, Spiritualized, Beth Orton

Notes:
Tom and Ed, then trading as the Dust Brothers as a tribute to the heroic production minds behind Paul's Boutique, made their name first as party DJs extraordinaire at Manchester's Naked Under Leather and Heavenly Records' 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 Deep Throat's "Mouth Organ." Debut single "Song to the Siren" impressed Andy Weatherall enough to start dropping it at his Sabresonic nights, and big beat manifesto "Chemical Beats" paved the way for the first Chemical Brothers album, Exit Planet Dust. Soon 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.

Links:
Chemical Brothers Mothership
Chemical Brothers at Red Rocks
We Love The Chemical Brothers

Why does this album exist? It doesn't offer any new Chemicals tracks (although five of the Brothers' remixes and b-sides turn up to the party). It's not a state-of-the-mix document of the Chemicals as DJs, either -- Dubtribe's "Mother Earth," Renegade Soundwave's "Thunder," Carlos Berrios' "Doin' It After Dark" have been in their set for years.

No, this mix is here to remind us how much The Chemical Brothers have changed the rules. Distilling DJ'ing to its essential ingredients -- some mad underground beats, some funky lost classics, a few anthems -- and heaving them into the air with drunken abandon, this pair of shy suburban students woke up parties that had been sleeping since the last days of acid house. This album is here to take the spirit of Tom and Ed's home club, The Heavenly Social, to a world that never got to witness The Greatest Night Out Ever in person.

Sure, 1996's Live at the Social: Vol. 1 showcased the same party, but that mix was a covenant for the converted British masses. It's unlikely that America's club kids will embrace Brothers Gonna Work It Out in the same way, but you can't help but root for this record. Where else do forgotten funkateers (Willie Hutch, The Jimmy Castor Bunch), Acid House demons (The Serotonin Project) and space rock visionaries (Spiritualized) find such joyous common ground? Nowhere. This is the party.