“Got To Keep On” by the Chemical Brothers
An excellent psychedelic club banger.
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Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s music pick is one of the best (and most overlooked) bangers in the duo’s discography.
Genre: Electronic, House
Label: Virgin EMI
Release Date: February 1, 2019
Vibe: 🪩🪩
I’ve been to hundreds of concerts in my life and, without a doubt, the Chemical Brothers are one of the five best live acts I’ve ever seen. The combination of the lights, the visuals playing on enormous screens as the beats swirl around you, and the little sonic surprises, which stem from the fact that the duo will often remix or refashion parts of their catalog in real-time, is something to behold. I was lucky enough to see them in 2019, before the global pandemic shook the world to its core, concert tickets became prohibitively expensive, and 10-second TikTok videos replaced long-form, immersive experiences as the go-to endorphins generator for music fans. It was, for lack of a less cheesy way of putting it, a simpler time.
As that concert-going memory inches closer to its fifth anniversary (I can’t believe that’s a true statement as I write it, by the way), I wanted to show the Chemical Brothers some additional shine. Videos from that tour for hits like “Hey Boy Hey Girl” and “Galvanize” felt a little too easy. You know them, you love them, they’re a great time for a reason, but I wanted to dig deeper. So I asked myself, “What’s the best Chemical Brothers song not enough people have heard?” The answer is undoubtedly “Got to Keep On,” the third and best single off the criminally underrated No Geography. Like the best moments on For That Beautiful Feeling, the track takes a sinewy, club banger of a beat and smothers it in psychedelia. Synths and phasors stutter and swoon around, while the insistent central chant (“Gotta keep on making me high”) is an earworm that would make
proud AF.Standing in a sea of people, covered in sweat and glowsticks, staring up at the odd-looking figures projected on the screen, that live music moment was nothing short of transportive. The Glastonbury set from the same tour, while on a much grander scale, should approximate what it felt like.
Don’t forget to crank this one as loud as you can muster.
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My wife teaches dance, and for the finale of her school's recent summer concert, she choreographed a piece to CB's 'Block Rockin' Beats.' I am fairly certain most in the audience hadn't heard the tune before, but with the trippy lights, fog machine, hypnotic bass line, and hip-hop movements - it was the perfect closer. It was obvious the high school kids performing it also had a blast.
Earworm indeed! This one has always been a favorite of mine and has adorned many a playlist!