Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Looks like all of my thoughts so far, from the email news falling flat, to excitement at their album description and 15 new tracks, to the wondering which title the original Strawberry Hotel song has been renamed to, have been thoroughly covered now.

They seem to have really leaned into the still life objects altar thingy across all of the merch and breakdown of them on the album sleeve. It's all very cute (which is not something I expected to say about Underworld), but as a creative director it's leaving me baffled (maybe I'll eventually just be bemused).

I've mainly just been hoping for a Beaucoup Fish this time (given the epic new songs they played out, the previous artwork, and its spot at the end of another rough trilogy) and getting the vibe so far that it's probably more of a Barking.

For you, always...

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

all this negativity confuses me.
I am well stoked for the new album. Really excited to hear it as a whole!
Interesting how many tracks there are on it - a lot for an UW album. I can't wait to see/hear how the album flows. Anticipating a number of styles.
Also, interesting there is no fen violet.
A large part of an album is the contrasts it contains. Like how it seems to have different styles.
For the first time ever, have pre-ordered the cd and vinyl from the store, alongside a tshirt.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Any theories to why the tracklist on the website (and the back cover as far as I can see) lists most of the titles in regular title case, but "denver luna" and "and the color red" in all lowercase?

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

If it is, then it's so cryptic that I don't get it.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I mean, that's how they were listed on their respective 12" sleeves, and the art style has changed since then, so it might be because of that. Although that still doesn't really answer why they made such an odd decision.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Yeah, I noticed that too. That's the way those two singles were released last year. I guess they decided to retain that, but not continue the aesthetic to the rest of the new tracks.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I'm seeing preorders for the physical releases starting to appear at US retailers and Australia retailers. Still none appearing in Japan.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Totally. Underworld have been my favorite band ever since I got a Sony Walkman. They've earned it too. It started with Beacoup Fish and "Born Slippy", then discovering all the wonderful mid-90s stuff, then later having all the Riverrun stuff and OWB really grow on me, getting obsessed with Barking, BBWFASF as a 'return to form', all the amazing Drift tunes...nearly everything they do is special to me. They've been so good for so long. As for this new album, I really like what we've heard of it so far. I get the rollout has been weird, but it always is. I just hope there's more coming!

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Just went and pulled it up on Youtube to refresh myself. I'm pretty sure they played this in LA when I saw them last year (2023). I love this vibe from the boys and I would be curious what happened to the song itself as well. might be that it changed titles, much like how alwayslovedafilm morphed a few times.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I assume it's stylistic, We know the boys and Tomato are all about the little things sometimes.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I also revisited Techno Shinkansen today just to feel out how it goes after Denver Luna, and it makes more sense that way than as a standalone (which I wasn't too plussed by). Did notice that the album version is about 30 seconds shorter than the one on the game soundtrack too. Maybe it's been restructured a bit,

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I don't think Tomato are involved at all this round?

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I keep doing what they don't want me to!! I'm playing the 4 released songs over and over and thus, shuffling!

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I am curious if there's something more conceptual to this album that would make them say that. I am intrigued by the fact that there's 2 versions of "denver luna" on this. iirc I don't think they've done anything like that before, outside of maybe some of the Drift stuff

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Well they placed two versions of the same song on Beaucoup Fish: Push Upstairs and Push Downstairs.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Oh weird, I didn't know that. The cover art is distinctly not Tomato so that would not surprise me. I guess regardless I have always seen UW as an art jam with the world's best music.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

lol can't believe I missed that, I remember thinking there was one example out there but my mind blanked

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

There is also the need to re-invent, challenge themselves, and create something new to make people (including themselves) go WOW!. First time I heard denver luna at the albert hall was immense.

I am looking forward to see how the album flows, view it as a whole piece.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

this is by far the quietest release, and discussion i've seen for a new album from them.

but then again i didn't really pay attention when barking, or barbra barbra we face a shining future came out either. i did pay attention all through drift, and i dont think that will ever be matched again though.

since this is a traditional album, it was always going to be more low-key.

later
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ne gative 1

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Barking got a lot of pages very quickly, and at least one spin-off thread (title complaining about PvD), although the somewhat contentious nature of the album certainly fed into that. I think Barbara was busier than this, too, but that's largely the nature of message boards these days. With social media and Reddit and the like, there's nobody to replace people when they leave, so it all ends up a bit... quiet.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I rarely hear about releases ahead of time, unless I have their insta added. Most of the time I'm pleasantly surprised by the custom RYM release calendar, which only goes ahead by a month or so. very "well how about that". It's kind of nice even if it makes me feel old. Music doesn't lead me by the nose like it used to. These are all artists, shifting in their own way, and you hope for an alignment. There isn't the absolutely toxic hoovering of material and aesthetics like it used to be.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Yeah, as mentioned, traditional web forums have been largely supplanted by social media and other outlets. But I can add some numbers to it. In the run-up to Barking, we were averaging about 80-100 (logged-in) users visiting the forums per day. For Barbara Barbara, it was about 30-50. For Drift, on each weekly release date (Thursday), we'd get about 40 users. It picked up to about 50 users when the whole Series 1 release date arrived. For Strawberry Hotel, so far, it was about 40 users on the announcement day, and about 25 users per day since then.

That said, I think part of the problem is that there just isn't much to discuss about the album yet. Even on Reddit and the socials and Discord, there just isn't much to discuss yet, after the initial comments about the artwork and tracklisting and such. We've already heard and discussed the songs that have been released so far over the past year.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

There's something new called Strawberry Hotel Listening Party on the store, but nothing new listed there yet:
https://store.underworldlive.com/col...istening-party

Also, Japan is, in fact, getting a bonus track ("Velvet Does") on their domestic CD release:
https://www.virginmusic.jp/underworld/
https://www.hmv.co.jp/artist_Underwo...HM-CD_15286332

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Thanks for the info on the Japanese CD, The Bang.

Looking forward to this one!

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Of course I'd see this after I just pre-ordered the vinyl... :). Nice to see an alternate version of the LP. Aside from the artwork, which I'm still not quite sure about - but I'll take back my statement as it being the worse... I was pissed (literally) when I posted that note. Much more hype is coming down the pike and now the UW fanboy in me is getting excited :D It was never a question about the music being good.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I usually buy my Japanese CDs from these guys....
https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UICB-1030

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Cdjapan are reliable and rather fast. Ordered the Strawberry Hotel with the bonus track from them this week.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

wonder how much quality the extra track is,
and does it throw off the listening...

so maybe you will need to shuffle some of the tracks after all.

later
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n egative 1

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

fwiw places like Reddit and Facebook seem to have plenty of UW discussion, as do certain Discords. I just think the concept of a message board, particularly one dedicated to a single band, has been slowly dying for the last 15 years. I was kinda surprised this place was still around tbh.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

this is the only message board I still use with any frequency.

I'd much prefer everything just be on Reddit (or similar) at this point but willing to
continue here because history + Underworld :)

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

i dont see a lot of discussion on reddit. just a lot of upvotes for basic topics.

most of the other ones are older topics, or fan service stuff.

never been to their facebook page. dont have an account.

later
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Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

correct. its barely a discussion forum currently.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Less than a month out from album release and still surprised how quiet it is here and on Reddit (as discussed). Guess we've already processed everything we know collectively and are all just waiting for the album itself now. Had figured the energy around a new release would generate some additional discussions and maybe revive some old topics, but that's probably for afterwards.

Still hoping we get IIFU launching soon, but that seems like will probably be on album release date as well (remember that being discovered somewhere). In the meantime I guess there's all the ramp up around The Cure's new album finally dropping a week later (for those interested).

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I will say I've had Techno Shinkansen running in my head for the last 3 days. I finally went to go listen to it on YouTube today, even though I'm trying to limit that, only to find it taken off!
I've got an earworm with no release except for fuzzy bootlegs, so I guess this counts as hype for me.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Sounds like you need a fix - first post on the Techno Shinkansen thread has a link to the audio. :)

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

it's been defunct for a long minute, and unlikely to get reposted since it's now on official business :)

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Ah - yeah didn't check the link, makes sense. At least it's less than a month to go now. :)

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

They've been posting the teaser shorts every 2 days. If they continue that pattern, in order ("Please don’t shuffle"), we could get our first tease of an unheard track, "Sweet Lands Experience", today.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

9/24
9/26
9/28
9/30
Should be 10/2 then
and so on.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct