Exit Planet Dust

The debut album from the Chemical Brothers starts with an absolute banger in Leave Home. This album is good and still rings true 30+ years later. These two were pioneers for their time and brought more attention to electronic music just like several other early artists did. This is not their best album but it is still really good and gets a solid 8/10, so 4 stars is what it will get from me.

This album could be best described as: You’re in the middle of a heist in GTA V and ts plays in the background. Normally I’m not very fond of electronic music. But this was unexpectedly so entertaining. My only complaint is, it gets a bit repetitive and boring towards the end. Also, One Too Many Mornings, I did not like that song.

I've always been a fan of this kind of big-beat electro-pop stuff. Good album.

2/10 Escuche los dos primeros temas y no me gustaron nada. Probé un toque los otros pero no va, no me gusto

It's been ages since I've gotten the other Chemical Brothers album on this list, but I'd imagine that this one was a bigger deal considering that it was the group's debut and big beat was still pretty novel at the time. It's solid and not too abrasive, with the first half sounding like tracks that would feel very at home in a "futuristic" racing game from back in the day, and the latter half lending itself to more of a softer electronic tone. Not a bad listen, but this subset of albums on this list has yet to truly *impress* me I guess.

Cool cover

Ok, sure. I've said before I'm nowhere close to an EDM aficionado. It sounds like the mid-90s PS1. I don't know it well enough to compare against others. Beth Orton's vocals on the final track "Alive Alone" is good.

Jos tykkää tämän kaltaisesta konemusasta, tykkää taatusti tästä albumista. Itse kuuntelin tämän kuulokkeilla kiiretömänä sunnuntaiaamuna ja kyllähän tällä hyvin lähti päivä käyntiin. Muistan, että Chemical brothers oli jonkinlainen juttu ysärin lopulla / opiskeluaikoina mutta tällä albumilla ei ollut minulle entuudestaan tuttuja biisejä yhtäkään. 3/5

Listening to this album made me realize my main issue with dance music. And a note here before I launch into this; I actually do enjoy dance music. I even love some Chemical Brothers stuff. *Come With Us* is fantastic. But generally, the genre of dance music is so limited in what it can convey. So many other genres have a range of emotions. Sure, blues is sad, but it can also be hopeful, funny, even scary. Rock can be rowdy but it can also be tender, and yearning, and furious. Dance music is just - dance-y. It makes you want to dance, and that's fun, and I love dancing too, but - that's really all it has. DANCE! It's so limited. And hey if you're stretching maybe you can say that by DANCE!! I mean "the joy of life," but I don't know. Anyways. This was decent. Extremely repetitive in sections. My oldest son was listening with and asked me, "Why does your music today suck so badly?" Anyways. TWO STARS

Cohesion: 5/5 Theme & Narrative: 1/1 Sonic Identity: 1/1 Arrangement Synergy: 1/1 Genre Authenticity; 1/1 Transitions & Flow; 1/1 - Rating it high in cohesion as I couldn’t tell sometimes if we have moved on to a new song or not which means the album is high in cohesion - Could also mean that I found it monotone at times since I couldn’t tell if I was on a new song or not Production: 5/5 Clarity & Balance; 1/1 Instrumental Performance: 1/1 Sound Design; 1/1 Dynamic Depth; 1/1 Mastering; 1/1 Enjoyability: 2/5 Immediate Engagement; 0.5/1 - At times it did keep me enageged but only a couple tracks Replay Value; 0.5/1 Emotional Resonance; 0/1 Playlist Potential; 0.5/1 Sticking Power; 0/1 Composition: 3.5/5 Melodic Development: 0.5/1 Harmonic Progression: 1/1 Structure & Contrast: 1/1 Motif / Theme Usage: 1/1 Emotional Storytelling: 0/1 Favourite Songs: 2/11 - Three Little Birdies Down Bea - Fuck Up Beats Final Thoughts: - Kind of album I’d probably have in the background while gaming - Great production - Kind of boring as it feels like ive been listening to the same song most of the time so, not much variation

Not bad

Astronauts do this.

Niet-stoffige muziek van de stoffige planeet

I think you have to be in the right mood for this kind of music if it's not your usual listen. I guess I just wasn't in the mood today. I don't think this is really all that original.

This album sounds like a lot of 90s movies.

Sounds exactly like a techno album from 1995 should sound.

Reasonable electronic sounds. I didn’t mind this album and would happily listen again despite it not being my go-to genre.

I like dance music. I like electronic music. I like club music. So I like what The Chemical Brothers do. But by the 50th repetition of the same bar, even I start to get a little tired of it. Unless I’m in a club and have had a lot of beer.

This is peak electronic music and this is the best it gets for me.

Solid electronic debut.

I'm usually extremely bored with electronic music but this one kept me interested. It felt like a rave came into my living room. It started out dance heavy, party time and slowly evolved into something deeper.

I enjoyed the Chemical Brothers back in the 90s and 00s and this had great energy for a Friday. It gets a little repetitive and samesy, even with the slowdown towards the end, but it was still a block rockin' good time.

This album is the example of how something that can be interesting is not necessarily something good. It has some nice layers, but it is too plain, at least for me. The songs do not evolve much and just constitute repetitive patterns that are not even that good to carry the weight of a whole song – sometimes pretty long, to be honest. Electronica is a complicated genre, mainly because sometimes (and more than I'd like to) it is just that, something that can be innovative but purely computerised without any soul, and simply reiterating in sounds that go nowhere but to fill up a long song. It does not transmit much, that's all.

Yeah this was a super good debut. Love this shit.

Vibey and energetic, i like it. Last leg of the album loses me enough that i’ve gotta drop it to a 3. Standouts are Leave Home, Song To The Siren and Three Little Birdies Down Beats.

Day1012 - proof that music is subjective. at least it was only forty nine minutes

I'd never heard this album before but I liked it. More industrial and heavy than I expected from The Chemical Brothers, but interesting and fun.

wow 95 here we go...banger! c

was pretty neat

Energy from start to finish. Good album that I was proud that my wife could figure out the artist

Excellent

3/5

Ees are good madchester mad for it. Liked this.

- Electronic does not typically do a lot for me, but I see the appeal here. Repetitive (of course), but the Chemical Brothers do a good job of throwing in curveballs just when the audience starts to lose interest. - The vibe of the first six tracks, which all meld together, is pretty good. Found "Song To The Siren to surprise me the most...some interesting use of silence to keep you guessing. - Second half of the album was less propulsive in comparison. I did find "One Too Many Mornings" to be the highlight.

Kind of just amelodic trance & break-beats; doesn’t really do anything for me.

Not my kinda thing

The Chemical Brothers scratch an itch in my brain that I didn't know needed scratching.

Kinda fine but still just some techno. Not the worst I've heard on this list though!!! I really like the album art and it was fine for background music while I'm working.

Not my cu⁸I p of tea

Big beats: all about the beats! Big fun

This is just The Prodigy but not as good

Dancing on the chair, maybe

Like them, but this was just too atmospheric for me. Nothing really to catch my interest.

Навіть неочікував)

Masterpiece! I like it. Super electronic sound.

Good for working, but even there not that engaging.

I agree it would make good action movies or game music, but it's not something I necessarely enjoy listening to outside of that. Maybe as workout music?

Pleasant with a vibey industrial sound. Pretty sure I've heard some of this stuff in movies and I get why.

Obviously going to give this one a 5 aren't i.

Not normally my thing but i quite enjoyed it, only criticism is its a bit repetitive. Not something I would buy but not something I would turn off either.

4/5

2/5

This kind of music really leaves me without much to think about. I liked this, great sort of thing to listen to in the shower, really got me pumped up for that. But I don't ever really have the desire to listen to this otherwise, I liked being exposed to it as a part of this challenge, and really appreciate that this is a really good album. But it's simply just not my thing, so I can't really rate it any higher. All I can do is appreciate that for people who like this kind of thing on a much deeper level than I do, this is definitely one of the best albums out there for that.

Interesting and likable- 3.5 if there were half stars

álbum incrível pra programar (se ainda fosse 2023 e as pessoas ainda programassem que nem os astecas) dito isso, álbum ok pra passar instruções pro claude

vibe indescritível de filme de hacker dos anos 90 nao eh um album pra ouvir preso no avião aguardando a liberação pra decolar a uma hora. enfim. nao eh ruim nao, apenas meia boca

6/10

This is pretty annoyingly repetitive for a majority of the album. Might be good "I need to lock in and focus" music, but otherwise, I would definitely not intentionally listen to this again. (2)

nice enough

Suddenly I'm transported back to the 90s: I'm playing a beloved video game, but I've paused it. I'm looking through the menu, trying to find the setting to turn the background music off. Phew, that's over. Wonder how many more flashbacks on this list...

Did not expect electronic music in the 80s

way too repetitive

Yea it kept me entertained while I ate shitty pizza and avoided additional slot machines at the Vegas airport

61

My second album from The Chemical Brothers and it was pretty good but I definitely preferred Dig Your Own Hole out of the two. I didn’t get bored of it at any point which is more than I can say for a lot of Electronic albums on here, it just didn’t have anything that massively stood out to push it beyond three stars.

This album was the big bang of big beats! Fabulously outrageously hard banging!

Were these all the same beat for 49 minutes? Yes. Was I kinda into it? Also weirdly yes.

Once again, I find myself wishing I had a big family tree diagram of EDM.

Solid. I'm not a huge house/EDM person, but this is definitely fun to listen to on occasion and shows a lot of variety and creativity. I honestly think the link to jazz and some other free-form tribal music is understated.

"The Brothers Gonna Work It Out" Yes, they are. Probably one of the most accessible of the CB albums. Nirvana is over and the world is moving in interesting places. Music tastes are becoming more eclectic and radio is no longer the sole arbiter of what's good as rave culture and DJs and electronica have emerged into the mainstream. Also, there's this new thing called The Internet where you can listen to music without going to the record store. Check it out. This album is definitely "of its time" but it's still fun to listen to and it feels pretty cool to have this play while you're driving somewhere - anywhere - preferably over the speed limit. Any music that makes you feel an ounce or two cooler while driving to the grocery store can't be all that bad.

I listened to this while walking home in the dark and felt like a vampire hunter

9/10

Ive made something similar in FL studio. Weak

Their early days, very little vocals, but good sound.

Good EDM album. I'm sure it was influential. I don't listen to this kind of music, but it is interesting, creative, and makes you move. There's worse.

banging tunes, what can I say?

Sounds like the soundtrack to parts of the Matrix or from an early Command and Conquer game. Absolutely love it!

Disco que traz dinâmica rítmica, mas se perde na repetição dos temas, tornando a audição um tanto quanto cansativa.

Amazing dance music. Rarely has music intended for a club fascinated me like this album. 4/5

Just what I needed on a busy work day - some poppin' electronica! If you enjoy the genre, you will like this. getting close to the end of this journey - only 11 more albums to go! #990

This is the debut album from English group Chemical Brothers. The music is electronic with some limited vocals. They did a good job finding different beats and sounds. Overall nothing extraordinary, yet not offensive. Middle of the pack.

This is one of those bands (is a duo a band? I guess so) that I think I've heard before, but I might be mixing them up with someone else. 90s electronica, though, so I've probably heard them somewhere or another. (Update: yes, I have, although more their third album than this one. 'Let Forever Be' is a banger.) This is very Basement Jaxxy. Every song sounds a little bit like 'Where's Your Head At', but a bit better, in my estimation, although it'd be better still without all the "yeah"s and suchlike. When my neighbor was leaf-blowing, I wanted to give this a 3; when it was quiet outside, I wanted to give it a 4. I will round up, because that's the world I want to live in. I think the middle of the album was the strongest. Hey, Beth Orton (vocalist for the last track) was on this list before. I guess there are only so many British people. Grammar check: Is 'Three Little Birdies Down Beats' supposed to be 'Three Little Birdies's Down Beats' or is "down" a verb here? I guess I should respect the text as written... but I think it's the first one. Anyway, I support the little birdies whatever they're doing. Highlights: 'Chico's Groove', 'One Too Many Mornings'

4.4/5 - Into the first track, and I thought I was going to be in for some Fatboy Slim repeating vocal track BS. Well, I was partly right on the repeating samples side of things, but overall this album pleasantly surprised me. Wasn't repetitive enough to be offputting (not to say all Fatboy Slim stuff is either), given that the samples used were (mostly) quite interesting and to my tastes, and all felt played for the right amount of repeats before changing to a different subset of sounds. I don't know jack about music in general, but this the closest I can get to expressing my positive thoughts about the structure of most songs on this album. Clean transitions, and although I can't say ALL of the looping sections in this song were super interesting, most were enough to keep me engaged for a first time listen. (However, I probably wouldn't be able to come back to the album and listen to it again in such a focused manner as compared to a first time listen i.e. not interesting enough. Once you've listened to this album, it has shared all its secrets, and there's nothing deeper to listen out for next time. Noises generally not too harsh, although I hated Playground for a Wedgeless Firm (had to turn volume down 4 notches because this shit was painful to listen to). Otherwise, really enjoyed this album: although a couple songs were lacking in interesting sounds (and of course P4aWF sucked) making it fall short of the 4.5/5 needed to be rounded up to a 5, it still gets a solid 4.4

definitely not for me, i don't think i'll ever listen to the chemical brothers again.

I think this was a cool listen and I liked the sound. I think it’s not quite as like impactful as some of the greater albums, but still cool and opened my mind to more electronic stuff.

Really chill electronic album, cool to hear a classic, flew by in an instant. Kinda reminded me of aphex twin, very ambient at times.

no friends.

Nope. Just noise, repetitive noise to me.

3.95

some cool beats, good driving music

mostly familiar with these guys through the remixes they've done for others, this is my first time listening to them alone and it's great, flows incredibly well

Another example of an artist that has influenced so many of the artists I current listen to, and who I have seen live, but I've never taken a moment to really appreciate their own stuff - this is great

Excellent

You know when you're at a party, and there's that one friend who's always reliable for a good time, but never steals the show? It's got a solid groove, decent variety, but it's not trying too hard. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - Leave Home - Chemical Beats - One Too Many Mornings

4.5/5

Meh.

Looking back, there is no telling how large a role this album title played in my tendency to confuse the Chemical Brothers with the Dust Brothers. And I typed that sentence before reading their Wikipedia page and learning that their original name actually WAS the Dust Brothers! (My knowledge of this entire genre is obviously quite lacking. Which is a little surprising given my love for the Beasties and Beck.) This music reminds me of the scores of every movie from the late '90s. The repeating noise in "Song to the Siren" is EXTREMELY annoying. And then that transitions into the slightly-less-annoying repeating drone in "Three Little Birdies Down Beats." I don't think this music is intended to be listened to in the morning at your desk while working. Much like most of the genre, this album does nothing for me. It sounds incomplete.

Not my type

Yeah pretty nice 🙂

Liked Three Little Birdies Down Beats and Alive Alone.