Rating: 9/10

Track Amount: 7

Running Time: 39 minutes and 6 seconds

Genre: Electronica/Big Beat/Breakbeat

Personnel: Tom Rowlands, Ed Simons

Producer: The Chemical Brothers

Record Label: Virgin Records

Recording Location: N/A

Art Direction: Marcus Lyall

Best Tracks: If You Kling To Me I’ll Klong To You, Life Is Sweet – Remix 1, Leave Home – Terror Drums

Quick Verdict: A DMT length dose of tripped out Breakbeat EDM

This EP release was one of the early EP releases by The Chemical Brothers. The song itself featured on the album release by The Chemical Brothers earlier in 1995, Exit Planet Dust. Notably, the main song featured in this review is sung by Tim Burgess of The Charlatans. This release did fairly well at the time, reaching #25 on the UK singles chart shortly after its release. In retrospect, this should be a good listen to observe, given the history of it all, so let’s take a listen to this EP, and we shall hear where it is at.

1. Life Is Sweet – Edit is the main track from this release, and features Tim Burgess. It begins with a cool sound patch and launches into a fantastic tune with bombastic beats and glorious sounds throughout. An absolutely awesome and sweet tune that is pretty, varied and wonderful throughout. This is a memorable and fine tune that many will love upon hearing, be it on the first listen or for the 1000th time. Overall, this music is a solid tune at hand, which is super cool. With some expressionistic lyrics and music that is original, memorable and varied, The Chemical Brothers and their friend do justice to this song. This music is light-years ahead of much of what was being made back in 1995. The Chemical Brothers seriously impress with their substance and knowledge of sound, and this is a winner of a tune. The crunchy bass riff throughout is fantastic, and this track is a joy to hear. A great song. This edit quickly launches into the outro, which is Psychedelic, trippy and dreamy. Awesome music to hear. A quick fade-out at the end follows.

2. If You Kling To Me I’ll Klong To You is an underrated B-Side of The Chemical Brothers. It begins with an interesting instrumental patch and launches into a warm and moody soundtrack. This sounds deep and meaningful, without any words or vocals. It is from an entirely different universe. This tune is like a hit of DMT, and not just sounds excellent, but is very memorable. Drum hits occasionally enter as this piece continues on. A flanger-heavy section emerges before this track finally launches into action. The instrumental that follows has some fantastic basslines, perfect beats and some science fiction-based Techno sounds. A very trippy listen, with some Acid House style approaches and like-minded sounds about it all. This tune is a very emotionally charged and memorable listen, which is very cool. It breaks down in the second half, with some voice samples and interesting sounds about it all. The bassline present is enormous and wonderful. This is followed by beats in the right channel, and more beats in the left channel. Nonetheless, this is definitely a great masterpiece of a tune that is underrated. It builds up to an emotional and excellent conclusion to a fantastic and imaginative instrumental. If you love The Chemical Brothers, you need to hear this track. It concludes with a gradual breakdown with some Roland TB-303 styled sounds and excellently intricate beats. Fantastic.

3. Life Is Sweet – Daft Punk Remix is a great-sounding piece of remix by the legendary Daft Punk team. It launches into a bombastic and fantastic piece of original-sounding music, even though it is based on the original tune. This tune is an upbeat and electrifying winner, with 4/4 beats and unique editing. This is a clever and, quite frankly, awesome remix that sounds deliciously wonderful to listen to. It is an eight-minute-long tune, but it never gets dull or boring throughout. It is designed for Ecstasy pill-popping diehards who want something fresh and different to listen to under the influence. This remix just sounds top, with variously layered sections and a very original take on a classic tune. In fact, this is much more like the works of Underworld from the 1990s than a simply remixed tune. This is a repetitive tune, but it works if you love this sort of music to dance and go crazy to. The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk ought to be congratulated in equal measure for this outstanding remix. It proves that the two were at the cutting edge of music back in the 1990s, and that they were innovators in the best sense of the word. All in all, an extremely upbeat and wonderful tune is at hand. The second half has some interesting melodies, warm basslines and pounding beats to get you going. A really interesting and sonically adventurous tune. The progressions throughout are mindblowing, and even if you are stone-cold sober upon listening, this is a tune you can cherish. It sounds exactly like the collaboration on this tune is a resounding success, and has a unique House Music flavoured styling to it all. Even if you don’t love EDM, this is difficult to criticise as a piece of genuinely great music. Nice to hear something different that breaks down music barriers. If you need a tune from this release to blast in your car at 200km per hour down the highway, this is the one. A really fantastic listen from beginning to end, and a worthy addition to this single EP. Fantastic. It sounds blissful at the end.

4. Chico’s Groove – Mix 2 is exactly that, a more tripped out, variable and interesting take on the original song on the Exit Planet Dust (1995) debut album release by The Chemical Brothers. This music is a real trip of huge magnitude, and it sounds totally awesome. Everyone from Hippies to today’s postmodern music geeks will love this LSD sounding mix up of sound. The beats and bassline that eventually enter are quirky and interesting to hear as well. This remix is a fine effort, which makes the tune more variable and, in some ways, better to listen to than the original. A really upbeat and interesting tune in itself, the audible bassline is also really nice to hear. This tune progresses along very nicely, and really should have been the version on the parent album it is from. In any case, this is a very nice listen with some interesting twists and turns to hear throughout. The bass guitar riff throughout is absolutely fantastic. This wraps up with some spacey sounds galore.

5. Life Is Sweet – Remix 1 is a seven-minute-long piece. It sounds completely different to the original and has some robotic vocals to match it all. This is an interesting listen, to say the least. It is an unusual take on the classic tune, which sounds very much like the influence of Daft Punk was riding high here. This eventually leads to some awesome breakbeats, which sound really fresh, unique and exciting throughout. This remix is a sensationally good listen. It just has unique and wonderful sounds throughout that make it very lively and science fiction-like to listen to. The mixture of Techno/Acid sounds and breakbeats makes this tune sound very lively indeed. The array and mixture of liquid sounds, loops and breakbeats make for an absolutely sensational good tune to hear. This music is like an exploration into outer space, and has some absolutely intelligently delivered and surreal sounds for your ears to remember. If this EP has a memorable moment, then this is it. The array of looped Acid House sounds is particularly prominent in the breakdown, which sounds neat. Undeniably cool, The Chemical Brothers delivered some massive bangers early on in their career, and this tune is no exception. A very joyous listen from start to finish. This is highly enjoyable and imaginative. Very cool to listen to. An awesome remix of a classic tune. The beats at the end are top, looped for a nice length of time, before it all concludes. It ends with a lone kick drum beat.

6. Life Is Sweet – Remix 2 begins with straightforward 4/4 beats and sound effects, which sound quite good. This continues to play on nicely, with some liquid Acid House edited style beats and textures throughout. This music is descriptively original and very different to anything else ever made in the history of music. Sirens go off, and this tune gets nicely underway as well. An extremely cool piece of music to listen to is here. All in all, a really fantastic track to hear and to enjoy. A solid remix that is very reminiscent of Underworld’s music, once again, this does sound nicely danceable. If any credit is deserved for this EP, it is for its imaginative array of digital sounds that make clear sense. A good trip through destiny, The Chemical Brothers indeed prove how great they were early on in their career. Awesome cut-up sounds are present in the second half, and this tune is a serious winner. This is a really great set of remixes at hand, which sound top-notch, futuristic and very, very cool. The cut-up and edited sounds throughout this remix keep it all very interesting. A decent six-minute-long tune. The outro is lengthy, but decent and progressively awesome. It fades out to conclude.

7. Leave Home – Terror Drums is a fantastic finale to the EP with a thunderous remix of the original tune and its outro drums. Nonetheless, this music is a sweet and undeniable winner throughout. This takes the original rather dull tune and makes it 10 times better to listen to. In any case, this is a mad-sounding mix that just is monstrous in sound and music appeal. A really neat and sweet tune that those of you who dig EDM and its subgenres will love. A fine, simple banger with some of the most powerful drum sounds from back in 1995. A very cool listen and proof that remixes can be better than their original source. Great to hear. The differentiation of sounds and sections throughout is very clever.

This is an interesting and vibrant EP that has some awesome, intelligent and punchy sounds throughout. This is like stepping into the future of music back in 1995. If you want a quick example of what made The Chemical Brothers so great, then this EP is definitely for you. Give it a try, especially if you love dramatic Breakbeat-based EDM that looks forward, not backwards. Sensational listening from start to end.

If you like this article, please like, share, comment and follow me on The Ultimate Music Library. Thank you, Chris Airey.