Surrender

By 1999 the Chemical Brothers had proven they could bludgeon a dancefloor, and Surrender is where they trade the sledgehammer for something warmer and stranger — a rave record that wants to be a headphone album.

The turn is loudest on "The Sunshine Underground," nine minutes that refuse to detonate, building instead on a slow-blooming Indian-scale drone until the release feels earned rather than triggered. Their guest choices tell the same story: Noel Gallagher rides the tumbling breakbeats of "Let Forever Be" like a man happily lost, and Bernard Sumner's ghostly vocal turns "Out of Control" into a New Order record smuggled into a warehouse set. Even "Hey Boy Hey Girl," the obvious floor-filler, is built on a hook that repeats until it stops sounding like a command and starts sounding like a mantra. The result is a dance album that trusts patience, and it made the case that electronic music could hold a whole mood without ever raising its voice too soon.