The Darkness That You Fear!!!

[neorev]

well damn! That got squared away quick, thanks Neorev! It was a great short, and contains commentary that lives true to today.

Have you seen 'The Burbs'? it's kind-of a movie adaptation of that episode. It ups the comedic edge and lightens the social commentary. One of those fun non-blockbuster Tom Hank films.

Spoiler

I absolutely love The 'Burbs since I was a kid. One of my favorite movies.

[Bosco]

I absolutely love The 'Burbs since I was a kid. One of my favorite movies.

haha, awesome! I was too naive as a kid so anything mildly scary was a no go for me. I think I was eased into this as part of TBS's 'Dinner & a Movie' back in the day, but didn't return to it until a few years ago, where I realized how hilarious it is.

Anyways, it gets my recommendation, too.

[wrclaguna]

hmmm.... 

[𝒥𝑅𝒮𝒵]

hmmm.... 

It was already flying on vimeo for about a month.

Reminds me of WATN era tracks

[Ben_j]

Work Energy Principle is officialy out on digital platforms

[neorev]

Available on Qobuz...

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/the-darkness-that-you-fear-the-chemical-brothers/um230f7322wda

Kind of a shame they didn't include all the remixes too.

[Bosco]

Congrats to the many of you that predicted this as part of a new album. I'm tremendously interested what the Harvest Mix will entail. 

I guess the new questions is will this re-appear in the live set?

[𝒥𝑅𝒮𝒵]

Congrats to the many of you that predicted this as part of a new album. I'm tremendously interested what the Harvest Mix will entail.

I guess the new questions is will this re-appear in the live set?

I hope so!
It didn't had a proper chance to shine when played those few times

[Bosco]

I honestly think Caroline Ellis provides one of the best vocal samples ever in Chems history. I'm forever grateful.

Great ear, Tom and Ed.

[Wolkenkrabber]

I honestly think Caroline Ellis provides one of the best vocal samples ever in Chems history.

I think she sings flat. Honestly. Yep that's my hot take!
But I understand it's still an original choice of song sample source.

In terms of directly sampled, sung vocals (i.e. no collabs, no spoken word samples) I would like to offer several examples that appeal to me more:

Dead Can Dance (Lisa Gerard) on Song To The Siren & Her Jazz
Barbara & Ernie on A Modern Midnight Conversation
Swallow on One Too Many Mornings (Its a big sample -or two- but a smaller vocal one, I guess)

In terms of directly sampled, sung vocals, there haven't been as many as I might have imagined over the course of Chemical history, athough there are of course a number of them on the new album (French Coffey on Magic Wand, Second Layer on No Reason, a brief snippet of Barry Brown on The Weight, and Soul Brothers Six are also on TDTYF)

Some other noteworthy directly sampled singing on Chems tracks:

Catch Me I'm Falling sampled a huge chunk of Bears On My Trail by Snowbird (yes that's Stephanie Dosen's voice but it's not a collab cos it's a direct sample).
Hold Tight London sampled a huge chunk of Afro Blue by Ace Of Cups (no copyright, it seems).
Eve of Destruction sampled Class Action's Weekend. Admittedly a much smaller sample.
Music Response: Missy Elliot (small sample)

Getting back to TDTYF, I'd be curious to hear what Caroline's voice would have sounded like on this track if it had been "fixed" to sound less flat. I can't help thinking that Tom may have considered it. But perhaps he opted for the imperfection of the unadulterated sample.

Ps if we want to consider "intepolation" vocal samples, that could open up a whole new box:
GTKO is a fantastic cover version or interpolation. Goodbye is too IMHO.  SIFSD ain't bad either. Just off the top of my head.

[gfa2001]

Congrats to the many of you that predicted this as part of a new album. I'm tremendously interested what the Harvest Mix will entail.

I guess the new questions is will this re-appear in the live set?

I think it will come back - strange it went to begin with honestly after the visuals were used 3 times. Not the best return on investment that!

[Bosco]

I think she sings flat. Honestly. Yep that's my hot take!

Come on man, it's taken from a children's album! If you're focused on the vocal performance over the perfectly sincere innocence of Caroline Ellis' voice, I pity your childhood and the lack of comforting nostalgia.

[Wolkenkrabber]

Come on man, it's taken from a children's album! If you're focused on the vocal performance

Of course I'm focused on the vocal performance! I don't listen to the Chems to get nostalgic for a kids TV show I never watched!
Tha Banana Splits on the other hand, I won't hear a word against.

[Biff]

Singing flat/sharp > singing perfect. Modern music is making our ears too accustomed to the latter. I'm a fan of microtonal stuff and slightly out of tune music. Those subtle sidebands cause by things being out of tune gives songs more girth.

Anyway, I'm really glad they did another version of this song. I always felt the original had something about it that wasn't sitting right. It reminds me of Midnight Madness in the same way where the drums were more energetic than the rest of the track (hot take: MM should've had portions of heavier real drums like Saturate). The new version has hi-hats at half the speed, the kick and snare work nicely (snare is much softer in frequencies) and the rim-shot sample is lower. It works better for the vibe. The other thing I think was a direct improvement over the single is the Soul Six Brothers ("I'll be loving you...") sounds less processed and much more natural. It's used less and between being more organic and more strategically placed, I really like the use of it in this version. I do miss the brass being a main part.

Overall, I think I can say I prefer the Harvest/campfire version more even after the new/excitement novelty wears off.

Is this going be be a divider, or does everyone think the album version is better? Let's hear some more controversial hot takes!

[Biff]

Just read the Variety interview and Tom nicely articulates the differences of the two:

And it did feel like it had a connection with that time [during the pandemic]. But when we were putting the album together, we'd done a new version of it, and we felt that the different approach to it gave it a new life that felt like it fitted in with this record. So as we were putting everything together, it was like, "Oh, the feeling I want at this point in the record, we have a song that does that."

The first version feels like a song of optimism, but still dark (i.e. heavy piano chords and saxophones), which would be accurate for the time and the newer version feels like those feelings have grown/materialized (maybe that's the Harvest reference?).

[whirlygirl]

Just got done hearing this for the bazillionth time today ☺️ The Harvest Mix is perfect in the context of this album. I am not sure which version I think is best - right in this moment for me, context is everything and I love that this ray of light made it to the album. I'm digging the conversation and different takes and perspectives here!

[shakermaker]

I, for one, did not even recognize it as The Darkness That Your Fear.

[Enjoyed]

Barbara & Ernie on A Modern Midnight Conversation

This is my personal favourite. Hoops is a (very) close second.


Anybody else wish they hadn't given a name to this version on the album?
I love it, and it works great in the flow of the album. But the visual of '(HARVEST MIX)' on the tracklisting doesn't do it for me, personally.
I loved back in the day when a new version of a track would just end up on an album, with the same title (or sometimes a completely different title - looking at you Fluke) and it would simply be referred to by fans as the [Insert Album] version of the song.

Harvest Mix does make sense, and I do like the title in isolation. If it were released alongside the single, kind of like 'By The Light Of The Moon', I'd have no feedback. I just would have LOVED to have expected the original TDTYF after seeing the tracklist a few months back, and then BAM a completely new FTBF version!

[satur8]

The Harvest Mix is perfect in the context of this album.

Whirly nailed it. I very much enjoyed the original, and for me personally, it hit hard at the time of release. It was a gift from Tom and Ed, and I really, really needed it. I'm also fond of the HAAi remix and felt the track lived its cycle. I recently wondered if we needed to revisit it again now a few years later, especially since other tracks released in-between albums sometimes don't get the album treatment. However, the Harvest Mix is perfect within the flow of the album, and is both familiar and new at the same time. I'm glad it was included and updated.