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BEATS OF LOVE

101. Paused in Cosmic Reflection by The Chemical Brothers with Robin Turner

NOT SURE why I bought this coffee-table book. I don't have a coffee table. However, the part of their story that has been mythologized into Manchester folklore is always interesting and I wanted to hear what Jim and Emma have to say. They don't disappoint. 

I'd always been a bit of a fanboy and I only made an effort to integrate into the more elitist Balearic clubs when I became obsessed with Justin's remix of Sea of Beats. Ariel were brilliant and quite possibly too cool for their own good. Their death knell was rejecting Tom's groundbreaking Song to the Siren. It instead became the Dust Brothers debut single and quite rightly gets analyzed at length. Moonboots turned me onto it and it blew the roof off the Boardwalk when Weatherall played it. 

What has been revelatory is Tom's candid and illuminating contribution. Much of my time was traded by stock taking in a warehouse and when I read this book I am filled with an admiration for his self value and the fact he had horded so much time to absorb himself in passions that have withstood the test of time. Maintaining an integrity and grace whilst co-masterminding a tacit understanding of musical abandon. The warehouse is now rubble. 

Ed always had an easier charm but comes across as deep and analytical, which again surprises. I should've guessed he was mixing in Acid Jazz circles coz he wore really nice hats. Jonno recognizes the key to their success when he cites them as being at the epicentre of clubs I was in. I was too self-obsessed to notice their gravitational pull, or too lost in Justin's music. What is apparent is how fucking cool they look in these pictures. 

I recall wincing when they said in an early Face interview that they wanted to inhabit their own world like the Beastie Boys. It's still a naff thing to say, but as this book testifies repeatedly, that's exactly what they've achieved. 

And it feels surprisingly good to be let into it.