"I Exhale" - first single from Shining Future

[Troy McClure]

'I Exhale (edit)' on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4nTRJuvDnM

[kontakt1968]

Karl phoned in an interview , interesting new track and they are playing 6 music festival in Bristol in February.

[scary man]

We seem to have a radio edit of the new single I Exhale.

https://youtu.be/z4nTRJuvDnM

[miss glitch]

Very different - but I really like the distorted guitar fuzz. Bit Pixies-y. I wasn't super-keen on the sampler so am pleasantly surprised!

[purlieu]

Strange choice for a single but I think I like it. I'm really glad it took me by surprise, that's something I was really hoping for.

[King of Snake]

Well it's certainly different, and I always leave open the option that something new from Underworld might grow on me if I don't like it immediately. But tbh I can't see myself getting into this at all.
Not my cup of tea to say the least.

[kontakt1968]

Just downloaded I exhale from the underworld store as a free download if you ordered direct from them.

[holden]

First listen: uhm, what?
Second listen: wow, there're a lot of sounds in here.
Third listen: I think I get it!

Sort of like "Trim" or "Ring Road" in that the melody doesn't really evolve, its a dirtier, rock sound, and the snippets of Karl's reports from the streets are a little bit all over the place. Maybe repeated listens will help me suss it out. But I like the groove, the overall atmosphere, Rick's voice in background, and yeah, a lot of noises to be revealed!

[mothra]

Very glad I pre-ordered, really cannot wait for March. Nice juncture.
I am not an Underworld anthem kinda of Gall myself so was really hoping for it to go more in the vein of OWB and tracks like Sappys curry etc those epic sublime tracks in between the commercial floor fillers. Thank you Rick and Karl for your fantastic musical brains.
So want to see this live but it costs half a mortgage to go to the Emerald City.....:(

[qirex]

I like it but we only have 7 tracks this go around with 6 left... If there were 9 or 10 I would be happy to find this eventually somewhere on the album but as a lead single of an already short album? Mixed feelings.

[khouri]

Feels like an unfinished jam, and Karl's voice thrown in as an afterthought.

[jetpig]

I dig it, but something is off. In my experience their radio edits usually butcher the full track, though.

[Dino3D]

Love the song! And love that the album version will be 8 mins!

[jetpig]

full track here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvU8wuXQgE8

[potatobroth]

The 8 min version is available on iTunes if you preordered.

[twicezero]

full track here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvU8wuXQgE8

The 8 min version is rocking my world. It reminds me so some things but I can't say what yet. Its got something of the radioshow vibes in it...

Yes, that it, it's a riverrun... its full of JAL and Peggy sussed...

[potatobroth]

My initial reaction first few listens:

LOVE the music. Love the progression of the sounds overlapping. love the background vocals. am luke-warm to Karl's main vocals. my initial reaction this was a missed opportunity to have a rolling spoonman/slippy lyrics set placed on top. as it is now, i get a Me White Noise vibe from Blur - ranting lyrics. Eh. It may grow more on me, but so far its not the homerun i think it could have been. still loving it tho.

Totally a Pixies vibe to the chords. Love that actually.

[holden]

The 8:11 album version is so much better. Vocals still remind me of "Ring Road", for some reason, but yeah, echoes of "Peggy Sussed", too, with the buzzy bass and blasts of sound.
You really get the sense that the boys were experimenting with lots of instruments...the often-cacophonous sounds combine to make perfect sense as the sum of their parts.

This seems like a song one could listen to a bunch of times and hear new noises with each repetition. I'm five listens in and went from "eh" to "yeah" over that span. Of course, i'm predisposed to love UW...

[potatobroth]

I'm five listens in and went from "eh" to "yeah" over that span. Of course, i'm predisposed to love UW...

exactly. the only thing not gelling with me at this point are the style of the main lyrics. they're too spread out; i can't sing to this song like i can Jumbo, Slippy, TMO, Moaner. There's nothing to sing except little snippets.

[King of Snake]

Yeah that's my biggest beef with this song too. First listen I thought "Oh this is gonna be the intro and we'll get into the song proper in a bit" but then the whole song was like that. Long version doesn't really add anything. Just more of the same.

[darkvoice]

Yeah... Bruce Lee

[Flywaver]

Karl doing a great Mark E Smith impression there

[potatobroth]

Yeah that's my biggest beef with this song too. First listen I thought "Oh this is gonna be the intro and we'll get into the song proper in a bit" but then the whole song was like that. Long version doesn't really add anything. Just more of the same.

I love the music. Just missing that one piece, that one run-on-sentence lyrical awesome that defines a lot of UW for me. i had the EXACT same experience on first listen... ok these short phrases are leading to the full lyrics. oh, they arent? hmm ok.

[Dunwho]

Yeah that's my biggest beef with this song too. First listen I thought "Oh this is gonna be the intro and we'll get into the song proper in a bit" but then the whole song was like that. Long version doesn't really add anything. Just more of the same.

Funny, I thought the lyrics were also some sort of intro and, to be honest, I was cringing for when the main song would kick in... cringing, because based on how Barking went, that main song was inevitably going to be super cheesy (imo)... but it different happen. It kept going, and I was delighted. Its actually not very unusual either... its just a standard progressive house idea. The song builds on the one repeating shape. Two chords..

The only thing missing is a dominant 4 to the floor beat.. but otherwise it is a progressive house tune and there are some really cool noises.. sonic walls... The background chant gives it a nice bit of structure.. but otherwise it is pleasantly unpredictable.. lots to listen to.. lots to like and consume on multiple listens.

This is fun. This i like.

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

The 8 min version is rocking my world. It reminds me so some things but I can't say what yet. Its got something of the radioshow vibes in it...

Yes, that it, it's a riverrun... its full of JAL and Peggy sussed...

Definitely - this is the direction I think most of us thought they were going in 2005-2006.

Karl doing a great Mark E Smith impression there

yup - sounds very much like 90's Fall, plus I hear a bit of Eno's "Golden Hours" in those BG vox.

I dig this tune a lot. This group has been a huge part of my life for nearly twenty years, since I was a kid delivering papers really, I'll always cherish the nights I spent going mental to Everything Everything but I really want this new album to be something new, cuz these guys are so talented and I'm afraid if they go the way of an electrodinosaur act they won't want to make music anymore. I've been listening to OWB a ton lately, some days I think it's actually their best album, an opinion I never would have understood nine years ago, but I've grown up and I love that they have too.

[dubman]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[scary man]

It's sounds like Sleaford Mods covering 'Raspberry Beret'.
I love it.

[vacant]

Early thoughts (on the radio edit): Love the bassline, and how it works musically. Not too keen on the vocals, seem a bit too like a song (or poem) and less stream of consciousness than what's come before. Lyrically it seems a bit 'current' and slightly cringey.
Sure it will grow though and I look forward to the album.

v.

[TheBang]

Ugh. Please don't listen to the radio edit. I don't know why they do this, but UW posts deliberately low-quality (low sample rate, mono instead of stereo) versions (they did this with Cut Clouds too), presumably to encourage you to buy the real thing. Instead, all it really does is make it sound like shit, and then, because this is the Internet in the 21st Century, someone else just posts the full quality track anyway.

Please just listen to this one:

fvU8wuXQgE8

[holden]

The more I listen to the 8:11 version, the more I'm impressed with UW's willingness to try something different. Yes, the vocals aren't anything we haven't heard before, but the tune...its like they are walking a fine line between harmony and dissonance... I respect these guys as musicians, and am impressed by how they've layered guitar, bass, horns, electro squelches, background vocals that all are a bit rough, but are no doubt carefully planned and produced.

I like what Karl's been saying in interviews, that they challenged themselves to create something new each day. Oh, and that they hope to be back in studio by years' end.
http://m.bristolpost.co.uk/Exclusive-Underworld-proud-headline-6-Music/story-28568603-detail/story.html

[qirex]

Ugh. Please don't listen to the radio edit. I don't know why they do this, but UW posts deliberately low-quality (low sample rate, mono instead of stereo) versions (they did this with Cut Clouds too), presumably to encourage you to buy the real thing. Instead, all it really does is make it sound like shit, and then, because this is the Internet in the 21st Century, someone else just posts the full quality track anyway.

Please just listen to this one:



Don't listen to that one either.

It was just added to Spotify.
https://open.spotify.com/album/64MpcmzRXQWHKhdMkpHUvP

Edit: Now having finally heard the full 8 minute track in high quality I can say this track is definitely growing on me. A lot of new details are shining through.

[DeJackyl]

As with anything with this band, it doesn't matter what I think now, I will love and binge on it in ten years time.

[Dino3D]

Will there be a single release with remixes of I Exhale?

[purlieu]

Oh, and that they hope to be back in studio by years' end.


I still think the length of BBWFASF signposts a more direct approach, i.e. a shorter record every 18 months or so rather than a longer one every few years. Given Karl's enthusiasm towards the creative process this seems to make sense - putting stuff out while it's new and exciting, rather than working on it endlessly. This quote obviously backs that up somewhat.

[BrotherLovesDub]

This is a pretty boring song and not even as good as the songs UW gave away for free or relegated to digital only (RiverRun). The reviewers at FACT were certainly not impressed.

http://www.factmag.com/2016/01/25/fact-singles-club-underworld-four-tet/3/

Chris Kelly: Just in time for the Trainspotting sequel, and also about a decade overdue. (2)

April Clare Welsh: It took a few listens before this half-clicked for me. I think it’s probably a case of Underworld doing what they do best – stitching together a patchwork of ideas (a rowdy football chant here, some deadpan poeticisms there), but it still kind of sounds like Sleaford Mods doing the Fall doing Underworld. (6)

Tayyab Amin: This sounds like a formative, even climactic excerpt from a Danny Boyle film about League Two football. The spoken word veers from the meagre inspiration of football manager pep talk realism to pretty much every time I’ve been to a pub sober and had to listen to a mildly drunken, forever-unraveling non-ecdote. (5)

Son Raw: There was a venue in my hometown called Underworld that used to specialize in skate punk and indie hip-hop. It really aimed to become a home for the kind of commodified misfit-by-choice demo that no one really much has time for these days. It closed down last year and the club that took its place books bass house and arty trap.

What I’m trying to say is I don’t know why this still exists. (4)

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: This doesn’t make for a bad stomp about, with Karl Hyde doing a Mark E Smith ramble over pleasing swirls of distortion and #LadsOnTour backing vocals, but the song fades into the memory the second it ends. Three minutes and not a hook to grab onto. (6)

[philth]

Will there be a single release with remixes of I Exhale?

From the promo text accompanying the original mix:

"An incredible remix by none other than DJ Koze is coming imminently..."

[Dino3D]

I hope there won't be just 1 remix, but a whole remix package! :)

[BrotherLovesDub]

+1 for the DJ Koze remix. That's the best name i've seen attached to an UW remix since Marshall Watson.

[mark3]

Best 'first single' since Push Upstairs, imo...

[crank]

push had a hook, a progression, transitions, more than three interesting sounds, etc.

[potatobroth]

this is the first time an Underworld song is un-growing on me. Waning? Its just too long for what little is happening. Something is definitely missing here and I'm not sure its just the lyrics as I first guessed.

[cdave2]

I'm becoming quite fond of it. It's the saxophone that gets me - bit reminiscent of "Pacific," only pleasantly off-kilter.

[hexagoneye]

Hello, i am a long time underworld fan but have never registered here before now. I felt compelled to have to comment on how much this single has grown on me since the first listen. Certainly on first listen i didn't know what to make, it was alien sounding for an underworld track and to me at that point sounded too much like an indie band trying to release an electronic style track so they can add "diverse" to their biography. But with each listen i am discovering it is much more than that, i find new sounds with every listen and i now absolutely LOVE this track. I cannot wait for the dj koze remix as i reckon he will be perfect for this, check him out he is pretty interesting. It's probably not Karl's strongest lyrics but they suit the slightly chaotic nature of the track. Good to see them do something different! I reckon a lot of people will really appreciate this track on the album, a lot of singles i wasn't fond of in the past only worked once heard in context.

[potatobroth]

Hi Hex. Welcome.

I'm not too worried about the full album tho considering I loved the way the teaser clip sounds and the "yeah" youtube teaser.

Although the first song on that teaser clip has a very very similar style to I Exhale doesn't it? Soccer-chanting-esque?

[hexagoneye]

seriously, this is underworlds best single since two months off, there should be more excitement about this tune from underworld fans! I am hearing a little bit of dirty epic in this track but sounds completely 2016.

[Dino3D]

Yeah, it's a fucking great and hypnotic song!

[holden]

While it doesn't have the exuberance of previous lead singles ( TMO and Scribble come to mind...), the more I listen to I Exhale, the more it reveals. Headphone music. Yeah, at first blush, simple two note bass, steady beat. But so many layers and as I mentioned before, noises that in this context make sense. The vocal and video are also growing on me.


Still, holding hope for some straight up electronic tracks, such as the middle part of the Shining Future sampler.

[Lx_Nen]

There's a promo CD on Ebay already: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381532214897

2 tracks, Long/Short version, no remixes but does have a picture sleeve and a sticker mentions the DJ Kroze mix on the way in a few weeks.

It's UWR00068 if we're still keeping track of UW catalogue numbers.

[potatobroth]

seriously, this is underworlds best single since two months off, there should be more excitement about this tune from underworld fans! I am hearing a little bit of dirty epic in this track but sounds completely 2016.

Well this I can agree with.

I still think it's missing the lyrical brilliance of so many other UW tracks, the ability to sing along, and one more crescendo of sounds (for an 8+min track.) Would love to hear how this track sounded with a long ramble on top of it.

[khouri]

It seems to me like a slightly more melodic Peggy Sussed, one of my least favorite UW tracks. Atonal, rambling (doesn't Karl sing "blah blah blah" in this one? It's almost like self-parody). I think there are some cool sounds in my headphones but in my view it didn't come together as a tune, like a lot of the stuff on the two Eno/Hyde albums.

[Bargo]

I really like the longer version, but I'm trying real hard not to over-listen to it before the album's release so that I don't grow sick of it by the time March rolls around (I kind-of spoilt my enjoyment of Crocodile and TMO by doing that).

It really sticks in my head when I do listen to it though, and I end up thinking about it an awful lot. Absolutely primed for the album now.

[TheBang]

(doesn't Karl sing "blah blah blah" in this one?
Actually, that's Rick.

[ultradave]

I love it when Karl's lyrics become disassociative. It's what drew me to them. Just various ramblings in harmony that somehow make sense once Rick becomes involved. It's what makes these guys so amazing. I'm looking forward to the hearing this new LP. It's definitely a step in a nice direction. For me that is.

[Dino3D]

Koze remix is good! Thankfully it's not a boring club mix.

[Lx_Nen]

Koze mix on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYSUltr5R7Y

Not quite the usual 'throw everything except the vocals away' disaster, but I got irritated by the out of tune bitspeek effect by about halfway through, and found it a real struggle to sit through the whole 4 and a half minutes.

[BrotherLovesDub]

I really loved this mix. Big improvement over the original to my ears.

[ultradave]

It may take a few listens to get into the Koze Remix. The hip-hop vibe is good. I really like that you can understand Karl's lyrics better than the original. My vote is for the original since this remix loses the bass guitar which makes the track.

[potatobroth]

i can barely get past the first awful "yeaaaahhh" of this remix.

[hexagoneye]

I actually quite like some of dj koze's mixes and remixes but i think on this occasion i prefer the original track.

[Dunwho]

Quite like the Koze remix. Its fun.

[mark3]

There's an instrumental version of the Koze remix on Spotify

[TheBang]

Both are available to purchase here:

http://www.djtunes.com/underworld/i-exhale-dj-koze-remix

[kontakt1968]

Up on Amazon too £ 1.49 for both tracks.

[TheBang]

So it is. Here are the purchase links:

https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51hi4wnKOVL._SS280.jpg

1. I Exhale (DJ Koze Remix) (4:26)
2. I Exhale (DJ Koze Remix Instrumental) (4:42)

Amazon UK (http://amzn.to/1O5GDuI)
iTunes UK (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/i-exhale-dj-koze-remix-single/id1081083672?at=1001l9r9&app=itunes)

[BrotherLovesDub]

It's pretty telling they released the remix before the original.

[saintrik]

It's pretty telling they released the remix before the original.

Actually, they released the album version several days earlier.

[BrotherLovesDub]

Well, shit. Totally missed that. Really looking forward to hearing the rest of the album and mixes, esp if they get some more good folks in for remixes.

[Dino3D]

I want a good old CD single (not the promo)!

[richardacre]

Has anyone noticed that the video (aside from apparently being filmed in a toilet) is on a loop - the last few seconds are the same shot and pose as the first.

[holden]

Has anyone noticed that the video (aside from apparently being filmed in a toilet) is on a loop - the last few seconds are the same shot and pose as the first.

Can't say I did, as I can't say I made it through the whole video
10 seconds in, yeah, I get it. Skip through the vid, yeah, more of the same.

Where's my "Footwear Repairs" VHS or even the " Barking" DVD... Repetition, sure, but also variety!

[richardacre]

I love it. Classic bonkers Underworld Tradition (wasn't Born Slippy also filmed in a toilet, for example?)

Wonder how well the video would work with Idol's Dancing With Myself

[stimpee]

one of the nuxx videos was Karl in a bath with a furry hat on.