The Chemical Brothers

On studio LP No. 5, the Chems settle into a comfy groove, surrounded by a clique of mostly-new collaborators, including Q-Tip ("Galvanize"), Anwar Superstar ("Left Right") and the Magic Numbers ("Close Your Eyes"). "Come Inside" proves they can still incite siren-level mayhem; "Hold Tight London" is a back-rubbing friend.

It's been a tough season for the former great hopes of electronic music -- the recent
Fatboy Slim and the Prodigy releases ranged between middling and drecky -- but there's
hope for stadium-ready dance music in the Chemical Brothers' fifth studio album. Push the
Button keeps to a formula familiar to followers of the U.K. duo, opening with a
block-rockin' break-beat track ("Galvanize," a hip-hop romp with Q-Tip on the mi... More >

Their genre incontrovertibly passé, they can put futurist games behind them. So, free to do their thing without looking over their shoulders, they turn in their best album since 1996 even though some schmuck from the Charlatans ruins track two. "Believe" and "The Big Jump" rock the block. The Arabian strings of "Galvanize" are augmented-not-improved by the tyrant-bashing rhetoric of "Left Right." And the three abstractions that complete the project clatter, tweetle, shudder, chime, whoosh, and phase. (Grade - A-)