New Underworld interview

[noisegeek]

Haven't seen this one posted yet.
Futuremusic's U.S. edition has a suprisingly not half bad interview with Rick and Karl this month.
Not sure if they have the whole article online yet (didn't have time to check), but at least part of it is on the website. http://www.futuremusicmag.com/archives/2006/02/underworld.php

[negative1]

nice, but short interview.

they even mention dirty.org and
underworldlive.com also..very good..

the only ominous things is that it
leaves the future of a new album
and tour up in the air though..
even perhaps that they don't really
need to rely on these usual methods
of promoting their music anymore..

however, i'm sure they will still
feel the need to do live shows
though..

later
-1

[stimpee]

here's the text:

RETURN OF THE KINGS OF SNAKE
UNDERWORLD

In the middle of a field at England’s Glastonbury Festival in the summer of 1992, halfway through an epic gig, Underworld members Rick Smith, Karl Hyde and Darren Emerson had a musical revelation.
Perched above the field in a scaffold tower outfitted with an old quadraphonic mixing desk that once belonged to Pink Floyd and surrounded on all sides by four massive Funktion One PA towers and three 70-foot projection screens, the group was performing a 14-hour set. With the help of engineers John Newsham and Tony Andrews—and a rotating cast of guests that included veteran session drummer Trevor Morais and DJ Danny G—Underworld engaged in a non-stop jam that many consider to be one of electronic music’s most compelling live events ever: the Experimental Sound Field.

In addition to fully immersing the crowd in high quality sound and visuals, the performance proved that musicians and DJs could improvise in new, exciting ways that broke previously conceived notions of how artists could present electronic music to an audience.
“We looked at each other after that gig and said, ‘That’s the band for us,’” Hyde remembers. “Somewhere in there is the band for us.”
Smith and Hyde’s identity quest began almost a decade prior to that monumental performance at Glastonbury, when the two were part of Freur, an early Eighties five-member art-rock band that enjoyed one-hit-wonder success with the title track of their first album, Doot Doot. Freur disbanded after releasing their second and last album in 1985, but four-fifths of the group—Hyde, Smith, Bryn Burrows and Alfie Thomas—regrouped in 1988, calling their new project Underworld. This lineup signed to Sire Records and released two albums—1988’s Under The Radar and 1989’s Change The Weather. Their goal was to achieve pop stardom by the decade’s end. Instead they went bankrupt.

“Nobody wanted to give us a deal after Sire dropped us,” says Hyde. “We were a dance group with a singer, but we didn’t have a drummer. To a lot of traditional thinking, that was a bit too odd. We learned in the early days that you have to go off and do it on your own, then come back to the table and demonstrate how it works. So that’s what we did.”

Over the past 26 years, Smith and Hyde have seen their share of crowning achievements, grand mishaps and well-timed reinventions. They even survived and succeeded after Darren Emerson’s surprising departure in April 2000, but their current projects and output suggest that Underworld could very well be entering their finest era yet.

While previously the adventurous Experimental Sound Field mentality inspired new ways of producing and performing music, it has now also influenced Hyde and Smith to explore new, unconventional means for distributing the music they create. Having already established an intimate connection with their fans via Underworld’s official website, dirty.org, they’ve now expanded their reach with underworldlive.com, a new destination for purchasing and downloading fresh audio right off the mixing board. No need to wait for the record company to okay the release. No pressure to launch a massive tour to promote the material. Smith and Hyde have come back to the table in 2006, and they’re ready to demonstrate how it works.

(doesnt look like full text to me)

[King of Snake]

nice, but short interview.

they even mention dirty.org and
underworldlive.com also..very good..

the only ominous things is that it
leaves the future of a new album
and tour up in the air though..
even perhaps that they don't really
need to rely on these usual methods
of promoting their music anymore..

however, i'm sure they will still
feel the need to do live shows
though..

later
-1

wel, in this interview (http://www.dirty.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2679) Karl talks a bit about these points. There will be a "physical release" in the future (not this year though :() and there will be "at least one more" installment of the Riverrun project (Let's hope it's more than one! If not, what will happen to those 180 tracks then?). There won't be many live events this year but there will be the filmscore, and they want to try and play more special and interesting places. Also there's talk about more books/films and from previous interviews we know that they are doing collaborations with some other artists as well.

[MikeyC]

the actual article in the magazine is much longer. its got some interesting stuff in it. the photos of them are absolutely idiotic. they look like mtv commercials. but its funny that hyde talks about how he simply sang into the built in mic on his powerbook for the vocals of jal to tokyo. they sounded crap apparently and that is why they ended up being vocoded. nice to see people trying something a little different and coming up with interesting results.

[myshkin]

Holy shit, that's a scary photo of Rick. Looks a bit like from the set of a Hammer horror film.

[froopy seal]

[...] and there will be "at least one more" installment of the Riverrun project (Let's hope it's more than one! If not, what will happen to those 180 tracks then?).
Rumours have it they will release a data-dvd with all 180 tracks, promo versions including vocal samples. It will be accompanied by a second dvd containing photos from Karl's mobile phone, 800x600 videos from the 2005 live shows and Tomato artwork (that's why they didn't have time to work on their website). In case you don't want to spend the 9,90 pounds on the double-dvd set coming in dirty-brown fake snakeskin with a 80-page booklet, you can download it for free from the underworldlive members section; modem users will be offered a free cable upgrade (one month only!).

Source? Read it on German teletext somewhere... can't remember exactly...

[rayray]

mmm, snakeskin.

Rumours have it they will release a data-dvd with all 180 tracks, promo versions including vocal samples. It will be accompanied by a second dvd containing photos from Karl's mobile phone, 800x600 videos from the 2005 live shows and Tomato artwork (that's why they didn't have time to work on their website). In case you don't want to spend the 9,90 pounds on the double-dvd set coming in dirty-brown fake snakeskin with a 80-page booklet, you can download it for free from the underworldlive members section; modem users will be offered a free cable upgrade (one month only!).

Source? Read it on German teletext somewhere... can't remember exactly...

[stimpee]

14-12-05 Underworld to make next batch of downloads available

Underworld is preparing the third installment in its recently launched Riverrun Project of downloads. Also included are a number of photographs shot by the group. Band members Hyde and Rick Smith have more than 180 pieces of music ready to go, but some of them may be used for Underworld's next studio album, which should be out early 2007. The next project for Underworld is the score to the film "Breaking And Entering."

http://musictarget.com/webmusic_news.shtml

and:

Underworld Cooking Up Downloads, Eno Collaboration

Veteran U.K. electronica act Underworld is prepping the third installment in its recently launched Riverrun Project of downloads, which group member Karl Hyde said "is probably a bit more chilled than the other two" that have already been unveiled.

Hyde says he and partner Rick Smith have more than 180 pieces of music ready to go, but that some of them may wind up being used for Underworld's next studio album, which should be out by early 2007.

Also on the horizon is a tantalizing potential collaboration with electronica legend Brian Eno, who became friendly with Underworld while they were working in Croatia on behalf of the War Child campaign.

"We played him most of the 180 pieces of music in his studio last year and he just started picking up instruments and jamming over the top of them," Hyde says of Eno. "We have a live studio up here in the country. He said, 'Can I come up and bring my gear and jam, and see where it takes us, in terms of a live project?' At that point, we were touring and working on the film. But we've kept this virtual studio alive passing files back and forth and waiting to hear what Brian is doing with our words. When the dust settles after the film, we can think about getting together in one room and improvising."

[Jafs]

Hyde says he and partner Rick Smith have more than 180 pieces of music ready to go, but that some of them may wind up being used for Underworld's next studio album, which should be out by early 2007.


No better information was possible :D

[holden]

i'm jonesing for another RiverRun! Heck, if 180 pieces of music are in the can, they couls still release 160 or so and have stuff left over for an awesome, epic longplayer in 2007 ;)

[Jafs]

Why not ? Chris Rea just released an album composed by 11 Cd's !

[negative1]

yeah, but how much would it cost?

thats the problem even if they split it
up into parts, and release each one of
those..

it would be rather expensive i think.
it will be interesting to see how much
of that actually makes out to an
actual release..

later
-1

[rudydaduck]

i'll be content to settle for the next one if the next one is NOW! champing, man.... champing at the bit.

[bryantm3]

now that i think about it, i think it's good that they're not rushing to release an album immediately; they'll have more time to work on it and perfect it. moby isn't known to do this, as he tends to immediately release stuff (hotel, anyone?).

[joethelion]

well... I just hope that the bulk of the 180 tracks get released...

I just get the funny feeling that it's going to go down like some other bands, where they talk-up all these recordings, and how 'fantastic' they are... but end up collecting dust and the fans end up getting maybe two or three tracks years later on some reissue version of whatever album corresponds with 'all those recordings'

david bowie is especially bad at this