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Background

The Chemical Brothers began in 1992 as The Dust Brothers, naming themselves this after their production heroes of the same name famous for producing Beastie Boys' 1989 album Paul's Boutique. Their initial work included a remix of an Ariel song (a band which included Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers on drums) (released under their '237 Turbo Nutters' name) and the track "Song to the Siren", issued as an independet single on Diamond Records, reportedly inspired by a nickname Ed Simons had. The single also contained two longform remixes of the track. The band took the song to various dance record shops around London but no one picked it up. "Song to the Siren" was made simply using a Hitachi hi-fi system, a computer, a sampler, and a keyboard, using a sample of This Mortal Coil.

Andrew Weatherall of The Sabres of Paradise had heard the track. He decided to play it live in his DJ sets, and signed the duo to his Junior Boy's Own record label, which re-released the single in 1993. The band had become popular remixers, mixing tracks ranging from "Jailbird" by Primal Scream to "Voodoo People" by The Prodigy (their remix of this particular track also became the A-side of "Voodoo People" on select versions).

The duo worked on new tracks in 1993, resulting in the EPs Fourteenth Century Sky and My Mercury Mouth E.P. The former included popular track "Chemical Beats", which laid down the big beat template used by the duo for much longer. "One Too Many Mornings" from the same release was the first glimpse at the duo's more chilled side. The duo began the idea of making an album in 1994. Around this time they began DJing abroad.