Preview: Rock: Explosions from a chemistry set

The Chemical Brothers The Point, Belfast

The Chemical Brothers live experience can be reproduced by putting yourself in front of a wind tunnel at the airport. Planes flying overhead and the risk of brain explosion is on the same wave as the supersonic force of the Chemical Brother's beats per minute.

Don't expect critics to have a handle on their sound as it blows genres to smithereens. For a clue to their sound think chemical, mineral, vegetable and metal brothers. Their finely orchestrated mix belies it's technological birth, and manages to make sounds which began life as a stick rattling off railings mutate organically into the exotic. Take their music at home and fun is to be had imagining where these noises could come from - anywhere from birds' tweets in the morning, to a sample from a Byrds record.

In the past 12 months Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands (brothers in the best friend sense), have made a new path as underground and cult DJs propelled to international stardom. This year they became the first British dance act to sell a million in America with their album Dig Your Own Hole (while Oasis and Pulp dug a hole with their attempts to woo America).

The Chemical Brother's are producers, musicians and vocalists in one small package. Via vinyl, computer hard-drives, midis, dats, tape loops and synths, they are one of the few who can make this work as a live set. Loud and disorientating acid house makes an adventure in pushing the boundaries of sound and technology. The track is laid down on computer, but this doesn't mean that their live performance won't come up with some surprises as the component sounds are mixed live on the desk. And there will be no turning the volume down.

The Chemical Brother play tonight at The Point, The East Link Bridge, Dublin. Tickets from The Ticket Shop (00-3531 456 9869). Then Manchester Apollo (28), Glasgow Barrowlands (29), Sheffield Octagon (December 1), Exeter University (3), Wolverhampton Civic Hall (4), and Brixton Academy (5 and 6).