ELECTRONICA

Jim Carrollreviews the Chemical Brothers latest release

CHEMICAL BROTHERS

Brotherhood ***

Virgin

In music business 2.0, it's all about the catalogue pimping. Back in 2004, the Chemical Brothers released Singles 1993-2003, a sturdy collection of their various releases. Now comes Brotherhood, a package termed "the definitive singles collection", but whose omission of such cuts as Song to the Siren, Private Psychedelic Reeland even Chemical Beatsmakes you wonder if the compiler knows the definition of definitive.

Most, though, will pick up Brotherhoodfor CD2, a collection of the duo's awesome Electronic Battle Weapons. These dancefloor- oriented tracks are where Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons cut loose and try out new sounds and patterns. Listening to all 10 in one sitting is quite a treat, although it would probably warrant a release on its own. That, surely, is yet another box to be ticked by their record label in the future. www.thechemicalbrothers.com  

Download tracks: Electronic Battle Weapon 7, Electronic Battle Weapon 8