The Chemical Brothers

"Block Rockin' Beats" ought to be the Chemical Brothers' M.O. As de facto leaders of the late-'90s electronica movement, along with "big beat" acts like the Prodigy and Fatboy Slim, the crowd-pleasing duo spread dance music to the masses through chest-caving synths and memory-triggering samples (the Schoolly D refrain of "Block Rockin' Beats"; the psychedelic, Beatles-esque beats of "Setting Sun"; the sunglasses-at-night hook — swiped from Meat Beat Manifesto — of "Song to the Siren").

The Chemical Brothers don't just hammer you into submission, though. They know when to slow their roll, expanding their sound into uncharted territories, like our Next Steps.

Don't worry — this party's just getting started, a fact made abundantly clear by the distorted, dagger-like drums of "Piku," the peak-hour techno of "Under the Influence," and the devastating laser light show that is "Come with Us," arguably the greatest album opener of the Chemical Brothers' decade-plus career. Need a break from all that bombast? No problem, the Brothers are gonna work it out through pinwheel pop (the hangover haze of "Where Do I Begin"), a Strokes/New Order mating session (the robo-rock of "Surface to Air"), and a simple, synth-grazed guitar ballad ("Dream On").

That's a lot of genre-jumping to digest, right? You haven't heard anything yet; we've still got a slew of hidden EP gems to reveal in our Deep Cuts.

As is often the case with dance producers who were DJs first, the Chemical Brothers have saved some of their best (and, at times, more experimental) material for club-friendly singles and EPs. That includes the flower-powered percussion patterns of "Studio K"; the ecstatic, electro-slapped dub of "Hot Acid Rhythm 1"; the acid techno throb of "Clip Kiss"; the club-clobbering drum 'n' bass of "Swiper"; and "Not Another Drugstore," a brutal but catchy big beat song that's so solid it could've slipped onto Dig Your Own Hole — the Chemical Brothers' flawless breakthrough — without anyone noticing.

If you're wondering why our Chemical Brothers playlist sounds like the digitized record crate of a schizophrenic DJ, it's because Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons got their start spinning marathon sets around Manchester, England. That is, until they cranked out the first Chemical Brothers single in a modest bedroom studio ("Song to the Siren," which was immediately championed by influential DJs, such as Darren Emerson of Underworld and Andrew Weatherall of Two Lone Swordsmen). Once that track took off, the duo didn't look back, leaving a trail of their influences (everything from the noise-pop beats of Public Enemy to the electro loops of Kraftwerk) behind in a back catalog of hit singles and hidden triumphs that sound as good in a club as they do at home on your stereo.