Pioneering English electronic duo The Chemical Brothers (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) have released their first new music in two years, and it’s just as infectious as fans might expect. “No Reason”—with its funky bass line, soaring synths, playful “Woo!” hook and acid house elements—pulsates with energy. It comes accompanied by a Smith&Lyall-directed video featuring a neon-clad marching band.
Amsterdam-based electronic duo Weval (aka Harm Coolen and Merijn Scholte Albers) floats a melodic vocal layer atop a feel-good electric soundscape in their new single, “Forever.” “The way in which many ideas from us come together is by combining different demos with each other,” Weval says in a statement about the dynamic song. “So we had made this beat that became an acid DJ-ish track, and recorded the …
When London’s rave scene began in the late ’80s, it ignited a culture around uninhibited style, the Roland TB-303 synthesizer and blissful hedonism. More than wild revelry, the scene—dubbed acid house—became a meeting place for people across genders, sexualities, class and race. That unity is revealed in former The Times editor and photographer Dave Swindells’ book Acid House As It Happened. Swindells, who followed the …
