The Information on: `Surrender' by the Chemical Brothers

What Is It?

The third album from the Chemical Brothers. They may look like nerds, but are reckoned to have invented big beat, and generally have their fingers on the pulse of dance music.

Who's On It?

Almost everyone, not least because the Brothers - Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands - can't sing. Noel Gallagher, Bernard Sumner, Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) and Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donahue all help out.

What They Say About It

"A huge leap forward from its dance-floor dominated predecessors, not least in the shift from huge, in-your-face breakbeats to subtler, more techno-oriented rhythm tracks. This preference for seething activity [brings] a wonky, enthusiastic charm to the album that is hard to resist," Andy Gill, The Independent.

"It won't cause riots in the streets. It might, however, have many of you gazing out at the sun, the sky and the trees in a curiously different way," Dave Simpson, The Guardian.

"Whether it deserves to be such an inescapably enormous, all-consuming record is neither here nor there, it just is. Surrender won't change your life. But it will make it more enjoyable," Piers Martin, NME.

Where You Can Hear It

Surrender (Freestyle Dust/Virgin) is on release. The Chemical Brothers are scheduled to appear at Glastonbury this weekend, Reading/Leeds 99 on 28-30 August, and the Homelands Festival in Edinburgh on 4-5 September.