Being an electronic artist is a pretty anonymous job.

Most of the time, a typical DJ set focuses more on keeping up a steady beat than playing a wide variety of selections from several intriguing musicians. Not very many raver kids will run up to the booth to find out what that last hot jam was. It's all about maintaining a solid groove at about 140 beats per minute without giving any care or recognition to the artist behind it all.

In the case of British DJ duo The Chemical Brothers, no recognition is sometimes better. Not that there's anything completely wrong with the group, but it hasn't really block-rocked any notable beats in quite a few years. As a result, simply finding out that the DJ is pumping one of their tunes is enough to turn a "Hey, this song is pretty cool" into an "Oh ... them."

This reaction is unfortunate because, without knowing it's the Chemicals, some of the group's music isn't bad. It's hard to explain, but just picturing those two wacky guys -- the one with the glasses and unnecessarily long blond hair, the other completely nondescript, heaving their shoulders back and forth as they move about the turntables -- is enough to add a certain degree of cheese to any of their tracks.

The group's latest album, Push The Button, is no different. Some of its songs might sound pretty good as anonymous parts of an intense DJ set, but knowing who the artist really is changes things, for whatever reason.

But what is that reason?

Maybe it's because the Brothers are no longer good at teaming up with recognizable names to create mainstream but still strange dance music. Most of us can pull our heads out of the rave-induced blur of the past seven years and recall the triumphant "Setting Sun," which featured Noel Gallagher's best Beatles impersonation.

But Push The Button's attempts to cover that area don't work as well; seven years from now, is anyone going to remember Q-Tip's vocals on "Galvanize?" To the song's credit, it does have a somewhat authentic old school feel, but it fails to reach a climax that "arouses to awareness or action," as the dictionary defines its title. When Q-Tip warns that he's about to press "the button," it's just not as exciting as it's probably supposed to be.

Even without guest artists, though, the group used to come up with some inarguably fresh hooks, and this stuff just doesn't live up to that standard. It wouldn't be the Chemical Brothers without borderline annoying repetition, but while that repetition has worked wonders in the past, all we get now are tracks like "Believe" and "Come Inside" -- solid dance music that just isn't outstanding in any way.

Let's be fair. Taken out of context, parts of Push The Button deserve some consideration, and it's not too difficult to pretend we have no idea who the artist is for a few tracks. "The Boxer" has the album's best bass line and funkiest feel, while "Marvo Ging" sounds like a beautiful accident with its psychedelic backwards loop. Call it repetitive, but don't call it bad.

In fact, it would probably be wrong to call any part of the album "bad." But we could call some of it "not that good." It wouldn't be underground dance pop without some surprises, so the Brothers go for an experimental, So-era Peter Gabriel feel on "Close Your Eyes." As a track that sounds nothing like its surrounding songs, it's not a bad idea, but its complete lack of danceability is awkward.

Soon after that track, Push The Button comes to its end. The Chemical Brothers have pieced together another set of agreeable electronic artwork and the listener can move onto the next anonymous dance record.

Until we hear some better hooks and truly memorable musical ideas, it is going to be difficult not to push the "eject" button.