More from the past than present

When the late Joe Strummer played the BDO a few years back he stopped and thanked the crowd for turning up to his end-of-day set on one of the more modest stages.

After all, he said, they could be across at the dance tent watching the Chemical Brothers. "Ho, ho," went some of us. No, remonstrated Strummer, they're good y'know, and you got the feeling that Strummer, who knew a good genre-mashing groove when he heard one, would have been over there had he not been otherwise occupied, delivering what turned out to be a brilliant, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

A few years on and the Chemical Brothers are back to headline the dance tent, although Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands are hardly the musical force they were last time. Especially after the career headstone of a best-of album as well as the lacklustre last one, 2002's Come With Us. Then again, British dance music isn't what it once was either.

It's hard to see Push the Button, with its usual array of guest voices, its mix of hip-hop crunch, techno thump and psychedelic haze and decidedly 80s leanings, as halting any declining fortunes.

Still, the best tracks match a warped and wobbly energy to some memorable voices. That includes opener and MC Q-Tip turn on Galvanise, on which the former Tribe Called Quest rapper promises "my finger is on the button" over a backing that sounds like part ELO, part 80s electro pioneers Cabaret Voltaire.

The other is London Hold Tight with alt-country singer Anna Lynne Williams neatly filling the role Beth Orton has on past albums. That song segues from predecessor Believe with some guitar sounding like it's been liberated from the Clash's Train in Vain (presumably Joe would approve). And elsewhere echoes of that decade abound, whether it's the Grandmaster Flash-referencing intro of Come Inside or the very Scritti Politti Close Your Eyes. Left Right, featuring Anwar Superstar (Mos Def's brother) has an unfortunate resemblance to Eminem's Mosh, while Shake Break Bounce sounds like an escapee from a Basement Jaxx album.

The balance is mostly repeats of past Chemical formulas: the song-featuring-the-Britrock-singer (Charlatan Tim Burgess on The Boxer), the song-that-sounds-a-bit-like-Tomorrow-Never-Knows (Marvo Ging) and the hypnotic-swirl-big-ending (Surface to Air).

So it's no great leap forward from an outfit now as set in their ways as the guitar bands they were once meant to replace. Still it's an entertaining hip-hop, blip and jump backwards.

Blues Explosion has lost "The Jon Spencer" from its name but everything else stays much the same for the New York punk-blues trio who have been hollerin' and hammerin' out the gutbucket grooves for more than a decade. That's even with producers such as Dan Nakamura, David Holmes and DJ Shadow neatly mutating the band's two-guitars-one-drum approach and guest turns from Chuck D and Martina Topley-Bird.

The reason they never went the way of the White Stripes is still much the same: more schtick than songs. But whether Spencer is coming on like Iggy Jagger on the likes of Burn It Off or Crunchy, they sound like they're convinced they're still on to something. And as it's always been with this firebrand outfit, one suspects that live is where it's at.

Right-on American feminist electro punk trio Le Tigre could well prove a riot on stage, too. On this, their third album and first with major label backing, they can sound like the snotty placard-waving daughters (and one son) of the B-52s, especially on Yaz Slow, the anthemic TKO and the Ric "Cars" Ocasek-produced Tell You Now. To keep the album on-message New Kicks samples speeches from Susan Sarandon, Al Sharpton and Ron Kovac from a 2003 anti-war march, but they chuck in an amusing helium-vocal cover of the Pointer Sisters' I'm So Excited to prop up a sagging second half. Shrill but infectious.

As the name and the title of their major label debut suggests, Chicago punk quartet Rise Against are a stiffer proposition than the Simple Plans of the world. But there's still a polish and formula to proceedings (it's produced by American hard-rock studio guru GGGarth Richardson and mixed by Andy Wallace) built of punk freneticism, metal-strength riffery and the throaty rasp of singer Tim McIlrath.

They start off angry and mildly political on State of the Union, go a bit goth-rock on Blood to Bleed before veering back to songs of tattooed-love-gone-wrong and ending up somewhere thoughtful on the acoustic double of Dancing for Rain and Swing Life Away, before quoting Mark Twain on finale Rumours of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated. You get the impression they would rather skateboard over a soapbox than spend too much time standing on one. But it's a solid set. They'll be making some new friends in the moshpit come Friday.


CHEMICAL BROTHERS: PUSH THE BUTTON
Herald rating * * *
Label: EMI/Virgin
British dance duo dust off the 80s with mixed results

BLUES EXPLOSION: DAMAGE
Herald rating: * * *
Label: Modular
New York trio still singing those alternative DJ-friendly blues

LE TIGRE: THIS ISLAND
Herald rating: * * *
Label: Universal
Acquired taste third offering from political American electro-punks

RISE AGAINST: SIREN SONG OF THE COUNTER CULTURE
Herald rating: * * *
Label: Geffen
Angry but sensitive Chicago punk-metallers take a solid step up to the majors