Free Yourself (New track)

[MIKL]

This is just a guess cause I can't remember the whole BITE promo/publicity trail but were they concentrating more on Apple Beats 1 as a media channel for airplay?  Or were they still doing some BBC stuff too like getting the track on rotation etc? Likely Radio 6 but I know Radio 1 are very Pop at times  for the demographic or if cause they went to Apple Beats they won't be doing a promo mix or anything like that for BBC? Like exclusivity agreements. Or cause the album is not til next year they'll hype it all up closer to the date cause everyone wants everything now and everyones attention spans are beyond short with technology.

I"ll keep an ear out for radio airtime down here. The new release show is Sunday Evening so a chance could get airtime then.

As its been pointed out, theres no video and the single is already out so maybe its a soft release and the official single will be later on.

[GLAKO-FAHN]

This track does not feel to me like a Born in the Echoes track. It clearly has a similar mastering mark—but the drum samples reflect their roominess more like a Dig Your Own Hole track. With respect to the attitude, it reminds me of the fun irreverence of 2003 and of C.H.E.M.I.C.A.L. and less like the more ~serious~ tight composition style of Born in the Echoes. And the structure of the songwriting smacks of the bridge-chorus-breakdown pop-song motifs of 1990s Chemical.

[neorev]

I only heard the initial MP3 that was circulating and my opinion was based on that. I'm hoping the FLAC may improve the experience. I have learned that the wrong/low bitrate can suck the life out of a track. There was actually a study about that where really crappy bitrates actually made the song feel more depressing to people. Frigging weird lol.

Update: Nope, it's a legit 320kbps I had.

[Stefan]

I really like the track!
Yes, it may be a bit "tame", but it's fun and would feel right at home on any dancefloor. I'm really looking forward to hear it live next weekend

[neorev]

Free Yourself sounds like EML Ritual/C.H.E.M.I.C.A.L. mixed with the melody of Saturate and the breakdown of Base 6 with the production of the Born In The Echoes album.

[Wolkenkrabber]

Just for Bosco & Csar:

https://twitter.com/ChemBros/status/1045691992590684160

(Do ANY tweets embed any more? No emojis!)

[Mippio]

bonjour chems people

hate to be a hater, but i found this track bang average apart from the little breakbeaty part in the middle (which is great and should be the whole track tbh) the rest of left me really cold.

uninspired cliche vocal
ploddy dull bassline
overly polite drums
no excitement
bit of a cheesy vibe

wheres the transcendence? the psychedelia? the 'oh my god, how did they get there' feeling?1?!?

such a shame as i really liked BITE and C.H.E.M.I.C.A.L.

im filing this with Go and Midnight Madness under 'chemical cheese'.

sorry if a bit harsh but apart from the video (which is great) this track isn't for me....

there's a good track in there if they dropped the vocal, rolled out the little acidy arpegiated synth at the start/end a bit more, dropped the big cheesy bassline and worked the whole groove around the breakbeaty bit and gave the drums a bit more bombast!

roll on 5th October!

mips x

[WhiteNoise]

I guess I'll be the unabashed homer on the forum and say, I really like it! I can't argue with people saying it sounds familiar. Me personally, I get the 'Nude Night' vibe, but more blitz-y.

Did I miss the memo where majority of the forum didn't enjoy Born in the Echos?

It's not bad, but I won't hesitate to say it's my least favorite Chems album.

What we've heard so far feels like BITE 2.0 - in a good way. Similar sound signatures (I'll put a finger on what they are sometime!) but... better. More detailed. More cut loose. More wild. More doing what the Chems are good at.

[neorev]

I guess I'll be the unabashed homer on the forum and say, I really like it! I can't argue with people saying it sounds familiar. Me personally, I get the 'Nude Night' vibe, but more blitz-y.

Did I miss the memo where majority of the forum didn't enjoy Born in the Echos?

It's definitely toward the bottom of my Chem Bros album list...

01 Surrender
02 Dig Your Own Hole
03 Exit Planet Dust
04 We Are The Night
05 Further
06 Come With Us
07 Born In The Echoes
08 Push The Button

[androidgeoff]

Good "Single" version of the song. I would not be surprised to hear a dub version a la Go.

The breaks part of the song was pretty damn cool

Feels like Direct Buki's more accepted sister

[androidgeoff]

late to the party on lots of stuff i bet but this is def the album version, not even the single version, because of the lead in on the track

[GLAKO-FAHN]

01 Surrender
02 Dig Your Own Hole
03 Exit Planet Dust
04 We Are The Night
05 Further
06 Come With Us
07 Born In The Echoes
08 Push The Button

Ah, we're playing this game now..? 

[Bosco]

I'm with Csar, I'll too wait for the album to drop, not gonna listen to leaks and I did my best to ignore most of the live new stuff you guys are posting. I'm not even sure I'll listen to it on YT if they publish it there. I am going for full Chemical experience when they publish the album.

abstinence makes the heart grow fonder 

[whirlygirl]

bonjour chems people

hate to be a hater, but i found this track bang average apart from the little breakbeaty part in the middle (which is great and should be the whole track tbh) the rest of left me really cold.

uninspired cliche vocal
ploddy dull bassline
overly polite drums
no excitement
bit of a cheesy vibe

wheres the transcendence? the psychedelia? the 'oh my god, how did they get there' feeling?1?!?

such a shame as i really liked BITE and C.H.E.M.I.C.A.L.

im filing this with Go and Midnight Madness under 'chemical cheese'.

sorry if a bit harsh but apart from the video (which is great) this track isn't for me....

there's a good track in there if they dropped the vocal, rolled out the little acidy arpegiated synth at the start/end a bit more, dropped the big cheesy bassline and worked the whole groove around the breakbeaty bit and gave the drums a bit more bombast!

roll on 5th October!

mips x

It is a bit harsh, but I find I agree with some of these sentiments. Though I do still find this an intriguing track - as that was my first impression.

[MIKL]

I genuinely liked this upon first discovery years ago now even when we weren't sure and only had a feeling it was new chems track they were dropping in there DJ Sets. It would be one of the favourite tracks you'd hear out for when they continued to DJ and wanted to hear more of it.

I instantly was drawn to it cause I still think this has the chems blueprint of the delicate hippie free love culture female vocals with some old skool feeling breakbeats and synth sounds. Clashing those 2 styles together is what they do best and are known for. In a way for me its the contrast and clash of these what I like about it. Like its mashed together, it fits well but you can tell them apart still if makes sense. Much like the swirling sirens and other synth sounds that sound like they are running off the tracks towards the end. The clash of cultures coming together.

Even with the original vocal sample, they still paid tribute to it in their own way as the meaning behind it is more of a call to arms protest on society as a whole not a fun, warm and fuzzy poetic vocal.

[Enjoyed]

Just listened about 30 minutes ago, then read through everything you all wrote. I'll try to keep it brief.

I love it. Since I first heard the track in those DJ sets way back when, it felt familiar, like I had already fallen in love with it. It's simple, in terms of its structure and arguably it's production (mastering) but what I find interesting is how they use digital production and frequency effects to create the rawer feeling of the track. There's no wildly distorting synth line, but the delay-panned sirens sound wild despite that, and although they feel like they hit a ceiling of sorts, to me that increases the sense of wild WITHIN... if that makes any sense.
The bass sweeps during the section from 2:03 to 2:33 are another good example. Clean, for all intents and purposes, but the filter sweeping is kind of wildly sloppy, jumping up in frequency at sharp angles rather than smoothly. It's contained, but it feels like it's trying to break free, and I'm a big fan of that.

During the first listen, through my lil' bluetooth speakers, the vocals did sound a little flat at times, which I couldn't decide if I liked or not. The juxtaposition against the music is striking, and definitely deliberate, and I felt myself warming towards it as the track went on. Then I listened through my studio headphones and suddenly, with the rest of the track built around it, the vocals, and specifically their flatness, sit so nicely on top of everything. For me at least.

The breakbeat section is perfection. Let's just move on. Though I do want to say that the little samples, drum rolls, squelches, bleeps, and fills throughout those bars put a huge smile on my face.

The pitched down vocal also works much better through headphones. The slight delay, and being panned to the left side against a doubled up original vocal on the right is definitely a weird choice, but again, I feel like it sits into that world of trying to break out from the inside, a la the sentiment of the lyrics. I will say though, that the pitched down DANCE before the first drop is rubbish. Really unnecessary and definitely my least favourite thing about the track. If that wasn't there I think I'd be completely sold. The rest of the pitched down vocals I like though, especially that they come in later in the song as a kind of variation on the theme.

I also agree with those of you saying it feels more like a development of the BITE sound. It definitely would not fit on that album and the shift to more digital effects, filtering and general experimentation is I think what was kind of started with BITE, albeit in a very safe way, whereas here (and hopefully with the rest of the album) it feels like they used those textures as a starting point and then tried to see where they could push them. I definitely agree with Whitenoise about those hidden depths too. So many little nuances to unpick and appreciate on multiple listens.
The flanging drum fills are very early-2000s BT and I really like them being peppered into the track in places.

So yeah. Overall super happy. I don't think I'm going to limit myself on listens. I just want to enjoy it. And if we have 3 months to wait, that enjoyment is definitely going to roll right back around with even more momentum (especially with a busy few months ahead of me, personally).
I'm pumped. I love it. It's coming. Chemical 9. I'm going to go Free Myself again.

[whirlygirl]

Really dig reading all of your feedback, everyone. Especially the 'brief' posts ❤️

[Stefan]

The track is growing on me, it's pure fun to listen to!

[Enjoyed]

Diane Di Prima is still alive. Do you think she's heard the track?

I kept telling my wife she was surely dead (after she criticised The Chems for riding on her coattails by relying on her sample) but Google says no. Would they have reached out d'you think?

[Csar]

Hm, why would she be critizising the chems, though?