Pitchfork

We Yanks are rarely privileged to the low-cost singles routinely marketed to Brits. Shelling out $9.99 for two remixes or b-sides accompanying an LP version of the single's title track can be maddening-- especially since UK prices of such releases can run as low as £1.99. The Chemical Brothers know this and they care. Almost all of their releases, including albums, DJ mixes, EPs, and singles have been released in America in some form, eliminating the need to buy over-priced imports. Music:Response is yet another in this series of the Chem's 'cross-the-Atlantic fairness. The boys are giving it back to us Americans. Aren't we lucky?

I must note, though, that the sarcasm stops here. True, it's tempting to hate the Chemical Brothers, the Pied Pipers of the Discotheque that brought their music to America and led an influx of big-beat biters to our turf. No longer (were they ever?) regarded hip by the horned-rimmed elite, it would be easy to take this opportunity to preach to the converted and assault Music:Response. I mean, really, the Chemical Brothers are to, say, La Bouche as Face to Face are to Blink-182, in terms of hipster cred; and that's not saying much for any of those implicated.

This said, though, Music:Response is an arresting release if only because it defies the banality that arises from what we've come to expect from big-beat. Unlike Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers aren't making tepid strides to hang on to their waning popularity. Music:Response is not subversive, per se, but it's a surprising bit of raucous fun for the dancefloor. It's all about making asses shake, and at this point, if the Chemicals can do that, they're far more successful than the majority of their contemporaries.

The title track appears three times over the course of the EP, and it's this sort of overkill that detracts from a potential mini-LP aesthete, and betrays Music:Response as merely a 48-minute single. The album version of the title track, taken from the Brothers' 1999 full-length, Surrender, is MOR big-beat, high on funk and electro bleeps but lacking in unlikeness. Justin Robertson's "Gentleman Thief Mix" of the track, though, turns up the plush factor by adding a deeper, groovier bassline and clinking cowbells a la "Rappers' Delight." With Robertson at the helm, the track is revamped as a late-nite house number and benefits greatly from the cross-over. The "Futureshock Main Response" mix, while not as successful as Robertson's reworking, improves its source material by pumping it up a notch and adding keyboard effects that recall a tinny wind-up symphony.

"Freak of the Week" and "Enjoyed" are both outtakes from the Surrender sessions, and, surprisingly, the best tracks on the EP. The former is a funky, frenetic house song with a brooding, sculpted bassline. Though big-beats monopolize the song within three minutes, the jaunt into house is a welcome one. It's even better in "Enjoyed," with its high-energy house beats and a highly synthesized bassline that sounds ripped out of Donna Summer's much-sampled electro-disco hit "I Feel Love." In actuality, the bassline comes from Surrender's "Out of Control," of which a live Glastonbury version also appears.

Live versions of "Got Glint?" and the aforementioned "Out of Control" close out Music:Response. "Out of Control" is mostly stripped of the Bobby Gillespie/Bernard Sumner vocals of the original, and comes off as a trivial dub reworking with audience cheers at the opening and closing. "Got Glint?" is similarly pointless, as its sole variation is the inclusion of a dicing guitar riff that accelerates until it sounds like hummingbird wings.

The disc features an enhanced portion featuring the video for "Let Forever Be." If you can get past the fact that the Noel Gallagher-sung tune is ultimately just a sad parody of Revolver's "Tomorrow Never Knows," director Michel Gondry's wacky visual effects rank up there with Björk's "Human Behaviour" and "Army of Me," and Daft Punk's "Around the World," as the talented videomaker's best.

Music:Response is an altogether satisfying affair, though as most of the songs clock in at around eight minutes, it's not exactly the best of home-listening electronica. The Chemical Brothers are still doing what they've always done, without watering down their sound and attempting to reach to a wider audience. With big-beat's allotted 15 minutes near the 13:30 mark, the Chemicals seem poised to gracefully fade into obscurity. God bless 'em for it.