''No Geography'' is the ninth studio album by English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

duo

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre t ...

, released on 12 April 2019 by

Virgin EMI Records Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

in the United Kingdom and by Astralwerks in the United States. It is the duo's first album in four years. The album features vocals by

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

and Japanese rapper Nene. The album won the

Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards — a ceremony that was established in 1958 — to recording artists for quality albums in the dance music and electronica genres. Honors in several cate ...

at the

62nd Annual Grammy Awards The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Al ...

Background

The album's name was announced in November 2018. The album takes its name from a line in the poem ''Geography'' by the New York poet Michael Brownstein, whose reading of it is sampled on the title track. The album's cover is an image taken from the booklet of the 1977 album ''

Consequences Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...

'' by

Godley & Creme Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music vi ...

. The artwork is that of a motorway or autobahn from the point of view of the rear of an early British Chieftain main battle tank turret; looking out over the gun, behind the commander of the tank, toward the empty highway ahead. The 'cloud face' on the cover of 'Consequences' is visible in the sky.

Promotion

The first single, "Free Yourself", was released on 28 September 2018, with "MAH" (Mad as Hell) following on 7 January 2019. Music videos were filmed for both songs. On 1 February they released the third single, "Got to Keep On", accompanied by a music video directed by

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...

. It since served as a theme tune for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Critical reception

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Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

weighted mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

Thomas Smith of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' said the album is "another leap forward" for the Chemical Brothers. Luke Pearson of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' expressed a lack of enthusiasm for the album's second half, yet ultimately left a positive review, stating "even b-tier work from the Chemical Brothers is worthy of interest". ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' stated the album blended "psychedelic sensory overload with riotous club bangers" and said "the shape-shifting electronic duo’s ninth album is their most entertaining in years."

Year-end rankings

Track listing

Adapted from ''No Geography'' liner notes:''No Geography'' (

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

). The Chemical Brothers. Virgin EMI. 2019. * "Eve of Destruction" incorporates a sample of "Weekend" by

Class Action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

* "Got to Keep On" incorporates an interpolation of "Dance with Me" by Peter Brown * "We've Got to Try" incorporates a sample of "I've Got to Find a Way" by The Halleluiah Chorus * "Free Yourself" incorporates a sample of "Revolutionary Letter 49" by

Diane di Prima Diane di Prima (August 6, 1934October 25, 2020) was an American poet, known for her association with the Beat movement. She was also an artist, prose writer, and teacher. Her magnum opus is widely considered to be ''Loba'', a collection of poem ...

* "MAH" incorporates a sample of "I'm Mad as Hell" by El Coco * "Catch Me I'm Falling" incorporates samples of "Bears on My Trail" by

Snowbird Snowbird is a common name for the dark-eyed junco (''Junco hyemalis''). Snowbird may also refer to: Places *Snowbird, Utah, an unincorporated area and associated ski resort *Snowbird Lake, a lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada *Snowbird ...

and "A Letter from Vietnam" by Emanuel Laskey

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums The Chemical Brothers albums Astralwerks albums Virgin EMI Records albums Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album