The Chemical Brothers - The Salmon Dance Remixes

Photograph by Mick Rock

The Chemical Brothers, "The Salmon Dance (Herve remix)" (YSI link) 320

The Chemical Brothers, "The Salmon Dance (Glimmers Heavily Smoked mix)" (YSI link)

The Chemical Brothers, "The Salmon Dance (Crookers Wow mix)" (YSI link) 320

Let's take a look at another legendary name that's making a return this year, The Chemical Brothers. They actually released a new album this year, featuring all new material. "The Salmon Dance" is the second single from We Are The Night and one look at the remixers proves that the guys were clearly keeping tabs of some of the most interesting names in the electronic music scene. I guess I'm a little surprised that this one got released as a single, as it just doesn't do it for me at all. My main gripe is the weak rap by Fatlip of Pharcyde fame; maybe it's because I've been feeling disconnected to rap lately, but this rap about a salmon dance is just awful. I mean, as the kids say, "WTF!?!" The Chemical Brothers probably couldn't do a lot to save this one, but they sure didn't put anything together that demands attention. Buy the CD here and see if I'm completely crazy about this one.

The remixes are a marked improvement over the original, the more the remixers cut the rap down the better the remix imo. Shockingly, the Crookers Wow remix is my pick of the lot; shocking when you consider that there's a Herve remix on the disc. Don't worry, Herve didn't drop the ball nor are my tastes changing; Crookers just killed this one, plain and simple. They've whittled the rap down to a line or two repeated throughout, the key step, concentrating on one which the remix's name should give away. From there, they lay down a jackin' house track, complete with synth effects and an edgy bass.

Herve does his thing, bringing that Dubsided fidgety sound to bear with a ton of crazy little squeaks and chirps and wicked bassline. Again, another great vocal sample is chopped up, for a nice dirty vibe. I really love the interlude halfway through, when the bass drops out and keys and vocals come up, check it out. I'm a big fan of the Glimmers and I'm an even bigger fan of the fact that they named this the Heavily Smoked mix, but their choice to use the entire rap kills it for me. They lay down a rock sound behind, complete with a guitar solo, but again it's nothing amazing and pretty much gets drowned out.