Barbara Barbara interviews
 

Really excellent, insightful interview, which was revelatory for me with respect to how Rick and Karl interacted in the wake of NUXX, and especially the change in the past couple years:

http://www.spin.com/featured/underwo...ure-interview/

Re: SPIN Interview with Karl
 

Very interesting indeed. A little disheartening that the last decade's music isn't held in very high regard, at least not by Karl. I think Underworld created an utterly unique sound in that decade. Everything from AHDO through Oblivion and the live shows and broadcasts and the art jam music and soundtracks and the books of jam and the RiverRuns... all of it to me is this massive artistic statement of sound and vision that I love dearly. So find out they weren't really keen on that stuff, and even feuding, that's a bummer. But I suppose the band would agree the music is the most important thing, and that music definitely works for me.

This interview also sheds more light on the way Karl approaches creating art, which I think might be a topic of debate. Ever since Barking (or perhaps more accurately, since the writing of the songs that became Badking), Karl seems more and more inclined towards form over function in his work, which I think has resulted in three non Underworld albums and one new UW album that IMO collectively amount to his least interestingl output since Underworld began.

Re: SPIN Interview with Karl
 

Just goes to show the chasm between intent and reception. I agree, the Noughts seemed like a prolific time for UW. For me, AHDO had the spirit of a band soldiering on after losing a key player. The RiverRun seemed to express an experimentalism that may have been lacking previously. OWB is not my favorite, but at the time of release, Karl called it the album Rick always wanted to make. In light of the interview, maybe the chasm between the two was growing here. And on second take, maybe Barking's many guest producers were called in to salvage unfinished tracks by the duo? Pure speculation.
Still, so active in name these past 6 years, to pretty awesome results, it'll be great to hear what they've created in this new mode of working.

Re: SPIN Interview with Karl
 

Re: SPIN Interview with Karl
 

it's nice to see them excited again and encouraging to hear Karl cop to post-2000 Underworld being a bit of a struggle (though there's a wiiiide collection of great tracks in the last 15 years). it'd be interesting to see what he thinks of the Riverruns now though, since everything he's talking about– how the edges were wearing off, how it wasn't in the same zone– felt like it was getting back to those specifically by not being "the Underworld that is an album", it sounded like an edited jam session, and it's still my favorite thing they've done since Darren left.

Rick is a bit odd isn't he? I have a hard time reconciling the frankenstein/olympics soundtrack with Bungalow with Stairs and yet they're both firmly solo projects of his. if OWB was really the UW album he's always wanted to make, the only thing linking all of these is a preoccupation with the kind of polish that i think Karl is sort of arguing against here. it's all gotten a lot less... dirty. It's sort of back here though, which is maybe why i find myself liking it a lot despite my superconscious yelling all sorts of unkind things about it as it plays.

I'm noticing the angle for these interviews, whether deliberate or a press angle, is that the last 15 years were some kind of forgotten weekend, that they're here now and ready to "be back". While I agree that we've mercifully shed OWB's acoustic pursuits (at least, toning it waaay down), this still fits pretty comfortably on their continuum; the raw days aren't coming back. They've rewound to AHDO energy and surpassed it as an album, but we need more than an EPs worth of material to feel what they're really doing here. we got ansum, we got headset, we got jams and rejects and it felt like no time before we got Riverruns and then a hop to OWB with more side bits. in earlier days when they weren't even "Being Underworld", they rattled off material to last for days. since that shift, each subsequent album created a distinct space and vision, before we even felt anything about it. By the time Nylon Strung wraps up, i feel like it was halfway to something larger, which is frustrating but also pretty optimistic too

Re: SPIN Interview with Karl
 

OWB is probably the band's most overtly 'musical' album, crafted in the studio, more ambient and soundtracky, so it makes sense to me that it's more Rick's than Karl's. It's probably my favourite - although I know I'm in a very significant minority on that - so it is a little sad to see it being brushed under the carpet by both the media and the band (to an extent), but I can hear some of what Karl's saying about their sound between BF and OWB. Barking's guest-producers make a lot more sense in context of this, too. With my own music I often feel that my most recent material is over-thought and lacking some of the innocence and spontaneity of my earlier stuff, despite being more popular and better produced. Something about those early records just feels more honest to me - so I completely relate to what Karl's saying here. It's brilliant that they've been able to rekindle that feeling without attempting the sort of 'return to our roots' record that never works.

Re: SPIN Interview with Karl
 

It's good to see that the journey between these 2 artists is not over yet. We've hit a new beginning with underworld and I'm excited for it.

Re: SPIN Interview with Karl
 

Another in-depth interview at Consequence of Sound:

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/0...lds-karl-hyde/

Re: SPIN Interview with Karl
 

Being an artist and interacting with others to make that art is so fucking hard. I really admire those that do it for as long as UW has. The longest I've usually pulled it off has been about five years, and then it all fucking implodes.

Re: Barbara Barbara interviews
 

A few Karl interviews from AP surfaced on YouTube yesterday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_X9LvR1j70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3VhZBMjr-I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05lujCbmQl8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiSy78_bsJw

Re: Barbara Barbara interviews
 

NME.com posted a video interview with Rick and Karl talking about making the album. Two different video clips from the studio.

http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/w...arbara-barbara


Jason

Re: Barbara Barbara interviews
 

That Spin article is really interesting. Puts a new light on a lot of the 00's work and Barking.

I still really like the OWB era (including Riverrun and the live shows at that time) as well as AHDO which to me feels like a new start... but I have never enjoyed Barking as it didn't feel right... perhaps that was a product of the strain they were feeling.. it just eventually met its inevitable end point and something had to give.

Ultimately though it is great that they have found a new starting point once again.

[EDIT]
Further to that actually. Was just thinking about that comment on how they felt a pressure to be "Underworld" once the success of BS Nuxx had set in.

That pressure and that expectation is essentially the backbone of this whole community we are part of. Arguably the popularity of forums like this are because of the success they achieved through that period from 96-99 culminating in EE. While obviously everyone here has a deep appreciation for all of the groundbreaking work they did in the early 90s it was the success of BS the propelled their contribution to the forefront of the musical world.

Without which many of us may never have become aware of their music and much of their later work may never have existed.

It is also important to highlight the contribution and importance of Tomato to all of this... in many ways Tomato has always felt like the anchor that allowed Underworld to pull back from the mainstream even after they had been at the heart of it all... Tomato gave them a purpose that perpetually was beyond the mainstream and much less in danger of falling in... so when in doubt they could just fall back into that space which kept them grounded.

Re: Barbara Barbara interviews
 

The two videos:

Re: Barbara Barbara interviews
 

I think this is actually an EPK created by Underworld. It's on their VEVO channel too (in 1080p):

https://www.youtube.com/user/UnderworldVEVO/videos

Re: SPIN Interview with Karl
 

"When we’re out doing Coachella, we’ve got time, so we’ve decided today, actually, we’re going to take recording gear and go on an American road trip. It’s the first time we’ve ever done this. We’re going to write on the road. For me, writing in diners and motels, that’s paradise."

This has me cheering on the inside, for a couple reasons beyond just more new material:
1. The current political climate in the US could prove to be an interesting source of chatter for Karl to observe.
2. One of my favorite albums of all time, REM's New Adventures in Hi-Fi was also created on tour. I've always felt a strange kinship between these bands, for whatever reason (probably just being a 17 year old when I really got into both), but a chance of that immaterial "road vibe" coloring future underworld tunes is exciting!

Re: Barbara Barbara interviews
 

Necrobump time! Found this:

https://3voor12.vpro.nl/artikelen/ov...nderworld.html


(google translate) https://translate.google.com/transla...-text=&act=url