Love Letter To A Record: Tijuana Cartel's Paul George On The Chemical Brothers' 'Dig Your Own Hole'

Many of us can link a certain album to pivotal moments in our lives. Whether it’s the first record you bought with your own money, the chord you first learnt to play on guitar, the song that soundtracked your first kiss, the album that got you those awkward and painful pubescent years or the one that set off light bulbs in your brain and inspired you to take a big leap of faith into the unknown – music is often the catalyst for change in our lives and can even help shape who we become.

In this Love Letter To A Record series, Music Feeds asks artists to reflect on their relationship with music and share with us stories about the effect music has had on their lives.

Paul George, Tijuana Cartel – The Chemical Brothers’ Dig Your Own Hole(1997)

Someone handed me a tape copy of the Chemical Brothers’ first album Exit Planet Dust the year I left high school. Needless to say, but if you’ve listened to much of Tijuana Cartel’s back catalogue you could hear that it had a rather large impression on my musical journey. It was down-tempo enough to bliss out to in headsets, but it had enough of an edge not be played in trendy cafes.

By the time Dig Your Own Hole came out I was a total convert to electronic dance music. I’d give up Hendrix T-shirts and donned yellow-lensed sunglasses, glow sticks and what I thought was a very cool raver backpack. You’d find me at Sydney’s Home night club in the break beat section every Friday night until they kicked us out or my tinnitus rang too loud. Thank god I’ve been able to destroy most photo evidence.

Dig Your Own Hole was my first CD purchase. At a time in my life when music seemed to be the only thing, these were the only songs. That classic Beastie Boys sample “Back With Another One Of Those Block Rocking Beats!!” What a ballzy way to start a record. The whole album was full of confidence, in your-face-synths and complete with the obligatory chill tunes to wind it up.

The Chemical Brothers were able to cast aside genre and show just what monster producers they were, somehow bridging the gap between, Break Beat, Rock and Pop music. They got so big that Metallica asked them to remix ‘Enter Sandman’ and, heroically, they said no. It was so good that in a way it began the quick demise of a genre of dance music I loved so much. It’s only the last few years that I’ve heard new Breaks’ producers popping their heads up on Beatport and Spotify Playlists, the genre perhaps got too big for its boots, but I still think it has something to say, and more importantly, to dance to.

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Tijuana Cartel are a Gold Coast-based electronic-dance outfit who’ve just revealed their exuberant new record ‘Acid Pony’ – produced by band members Carey O’Sullivan and Paul George.

To celebrate, they’re also embarking on a massive national tour kicking off this month. Catch all the details, and listen to ‘Acid Pony’, below.