''For That Beautiful Feeling'' is the tenth studio album by English
electronic music
Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...
duo
the Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat gen ...
, released on 8 September 2023 through
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...
in the UK and
Republic Records
Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...
in the US.
It is the duo's first album in four years, as well as their first to be released by Republic in the US, as all prior American releases were via
Astralwerks
Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featur ...
. In November 2023, the album was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album
The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards — a ceremony that was established in 1958 — to recording artists for quality albums in the dance music and electronica genres. Honors in several categ ...
for the
66th Annual Grammy Awards
The 66th Annual Grammy Awards are an upcoming music awards ceremony which recognizes the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year (from October 1, 2022 to September 15, 2023) as determined by the members of National Acad ...
.
Background
The band announced the album's name and track list on 19 July 2023.
The album was paired with a career-spanning retrospective book ''Paused in Cosmic Reflection'' published by White Rabbit on 26 October 2023. The book is made up of new interviews with the band, as well as many of their friends and collaborators from the past three decades, including
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...
,
Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
,
Wayne Coyne
Wayne Michael Coyne (born January 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the lead singer, guitarist, keyboardist, theremin player and songwriter for the band the Flaming Lips.
Early life
Coyne was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United Stat ...
,
Beth Orton
Elizabeth Caroline Orton (born 14 December 1970) is an English musician, known for her " folktronica" sound, which mixes elements of folk and electronica. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit, Andrew Weather ...
,
Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical colla ...
, and
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...
.
Critical reception
''For That Beautiful Feeling'' received a score of 81 out of 100 on review aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
based on nine critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
''
Uncut
Uncut may refer to:
* ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship
* ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997
* '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...
'' wrote that the Chemical Brothers "produce a whole lot of full-fat dance-pop joy" on the album.
Damien Morris of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper Sunday editions, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. ...
'' described it as a "nonsense-free reaffirmation of the dance duo's greatest strength – making largely instrumental
psychedelic house and
techno
Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...
somehow sound like pop music".
Track listing
Personnel
The Chemical Brothers
* Tom Rowlands –
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
,
programming,
mixing,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
(all tracks); vocals (tracks 5, 8)
* Ed Simons – production, programming
Additional musicians
* Halo Maud – vocals (1, 2, 11)
* Beck – vocals (8)
Technical
* Mike Marsh –
mastering
* Steve "Dub" Jones – mixing, engineering
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2023 albums
Astralwerks albums
The Chemical Brothers albums
Virgin EMI Records albums