Send "The Chemical Brothers " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Hanna is a film about a "badass survivalist girl"; the Chemical Brothers have never seemed particularly badass, but it's fair to count them as survivalist, both because last year's Further was their best record in ages and they're the only act from the late-90s electronica boom making music anyone would want to listen to. The Chems are known for welding techno beats to a distinctly rock aesthetic, and for much of the past 10 years they have functioned exactly like a rock band: standard album-tour-relax schedule, few collaborations, monster festival-headliner gigs. (And they can refer to themselves as "superstar DJs" all they like, but their last widely available DJ mix came out in 1998.) For fans of the Brothers, Hanna represents the shockingly rare opportunity to hear a work by the duo whose intentions fall outside their longtime M.O. of making techno for rock fans.I haven't seen Hanna; it appears to be a thriller set in Eastern Europe with a young female protagonist-- gifted in the art of action-- who eludes a ruthless intelligence operative. Digitized techno mysticism has been a go-to soundtrack of choice for this genre ever since The Bourne Identity rubber-stamped Moby's "Extreme Ways" as the perfect mix of heady paranoia, Euro style, and kicking things. The Chems-- with their widescreen sound, relentless bravado, and sturdy belief in entertainment-as-art-- are well suited for this kind of work. Hanna sounds a lot like a standard Chemical Brothers album-- saturated, acidic keyboards; thundering drums; styles and signifiers used to bludgeon-- but with a bit more room to breathe. The band isn't deft enough to avoid the mewling vocals and tinkly music-box of the repeated "Hanna's Theme" (pathos: noted) but it's also not deft enough to apply any subtlety or grace to the Eastern scales and pulsing 2-4 beat of "Escape 700", which is kind of the point. This is a band accustomed to soundtracking a light show that would put most stadium rock bands to shame; the chances of them easing off the gas or thinking too hard about the marriage of music and cinema were slim....full text |
| Harderbloggerfaster |
| The Chemical Brothers’ OST for Spy thriller ‘Hanna’ was released on iTunes today and it’s been on steady repeat ever since we got our hands on a copy last week. For the Chems they had a difficult job at hand, there’s no way that the film and their music was a perfect fit in the same way Daft Punk seemed to be for Tron Legacy. But in many ways this is where The Chems have out shone their French counterparts’, almost immediately you settle into their groove with the enchanting ‘Hanna Theme’ you know that your in for something a whole lot more interesting than Tron’s OST. The CD moves swiftly through a number of genres, tempos and styles – notable highs for us electronic aficionados start with the Sci-Fi induced soundscape of ‘Escape 700’ which builds into a lovely dance orientated piece of electronica, there is of course soundscape throughtout the CD, but it’s all tempered with some really good dance tracks and ‘Escape 700’ is a perfect example. The tempo and length of tracks really lends itself to multiple listens, the longer tracks tend to be the more electronic tracks, but they make such an impact that the CD gels really well for an OST. The versatility on the whole impresses from start to finish, with the playful ‘The Devil In The Details’ showing a side we rarely see from the Chems – it’s such a refreshing change. The CD begins to pick pace by the halfway point and ‘Bahnhof Rumble’ see’s the Chems doing what they do best, a dancefloor destroyer, it almost tricks you into think it’s all pleasantries, then out of know where you get a kick in the face and all is forgiven. Classic Chems....full text |
The Chemical Brothers lyrics
