Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

If you want to post your fan reviews, scores, track-by-track ratings and such, let's post them in here.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

My gut reaction was not loving it. But that's quickly changed after 3 listens. I really love Lewis in Pomona but really hate that yelling/orgasm voice overlapping the fades. It reminds of a really poorly executed Pink Floyd "Great Gig in the Sky" vocals and really wish it wasnt in there. But I LOVE the drums that kick in so I'm torn there. This is my most played track so far #noshuffle #singleplay :P

The album standouts for me are Denver Luna (best track), Hilo Sky, Lewis in Pomona, and Gene Pool. I guess I do love Black Poppies too. The rest don't feel quite right to me. Ottavia is fine, but I'm quite sure I won't ever seek this track out.

Edit: Oh Thorns! is much better than King of Haarlem. Neither are winners tho for me.

So... King of Haarlem. Uhhhh, this is a big no from me (at this point.) Those sour notes by Karl are grating. It just doesn't feel right at all to me. Will it grow on me? Maybe. Right now this is my biggest dislike on the album.

The rest are fine and will likely grow on me. Techno Shinkansen is fine. Burst of Laughter is fine. Colour Red never really hooked me and still doesn't. I like it better in context tho.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

I don't think you can ever review an album on a first listen!!

The obvious stand outs are the tracks we have all all seen live or on youtube numerous times.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Middle of listen 3. If I leave aside Denver luna as a well known track, sweet lands, and Lewis make me dance strongly. Ottavia has my favourite lyrics so far. Techno Shinkansen is growing on me and King of Haarlem is like star. In the beginning it’s overwhelming but I like it more and more.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

It’s great. And I see why they don’t want people shuffling.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

1. It's not quite as segued and flowing as I expected.
2. It's more segued and flowing than I thought it would be from the first few tracks.
3. It's definitely overwhelming.
4. It's utterly, utterly brilliant.

Other than 'And the Colour Red', which I still don't get, but does work better here than in a standalone context, I enjoyed every single track on that. It's going to take a lot to force it all into my head - it kind of feels like a condensed mini-Drift, with its various flavours and lengthy tracklist - but there wasn't a moment there that I thought "hmm, what's this meant to be?" or "heard this before" or "bored now" or "ugh, another failed experiment".

Gene Pool and Hilo Sky stood out on first listen. And of course Denver Luna, which is as great as ever. I think I'm going to be listening to this a lot.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Super disappointing… I love love love Underworld but they cannot write a decent full length album anymore - their best work is in b-sides and experiments like Drift

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

There isn't one miss on the album, I think it's absolutely incredible and flows super well. even the more "difficult" tracks like 'Iron Bones' I knew right away had great ideas that are bound to click after I sit with them for a little bit. Believe me, if I thought one song was even meh, I'd say so, but the ideas are absolutely worth digesting properly. #1 LP of the year for me so far, and it'll be hard to dethrone I reckon

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

except King of Haarlem. :confused:

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

really hurts me to ask this however...
I've noticed the trend to make a lot of off-key vocals choices. Think this has to do with their voices aging? or just an artistic choice? Its no surprise that I do give them more leeway because well, I love UW. But if King of Haarlem was by some other band I'd roast it even harder than I did knowing it was UW. And there are a few other tracks on here where the vocals sound off key.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

After a lot of listens, for me there's about 3/4 of a great Underworld album here.

Black Poppies is lovely, as it always was. Techno Shinkansen has really grown on me as a 'classic Underworld' track. And the colour red makes more sense in its place on the album to me. I love Sweet Lands Experience - it really works for me.

Lewis in Pomona was the first slight wtf moment. It's grown on me, but I still don't really get it tbh.

Then we're onto HiloSky, which was great at the RAH gig, and is still fantastic here. Love it.
Burst of laughter is not my cup of tea at all, none of it really sits together for me.
King of Haarlem has grown on me a bit. It's got an interesting flow - Karl's vocal reminds me of the nursery rhyme style of STAR.

Then Ottavia. I've listened to it maybe 1 and a half times, and that's enough for me.

Gene Pool is a thing of beauty - it ebbs and flows nicely and the vocals work really well here I think.

Oh Thorn! is ok, just a bit of filler really with its King of Haarlem retread.

Iron Bones is the other track that doesn't work at all for me. I like the start but then it just disintegrates.

Then Stick Man Test's simple, attractive melodies round out the record nicely.

I think the fact there are so many strong tracks, and that the ones I don't like are so out there is indicative of a duo that still have their eyes on the future, which is fantastic. I'd rather have it this way than for them to just play it safe. You can't say that about this album for sure.

It's the best album overall for me since RiverRun, so I'm very happy to have so much great new music to listen to!

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Was waiting for physical CD to have a nice first listen, but delayed US delivery, so...had a streamed listen.

First, very undeveloped impressions: that was some experience, hearing the album front to back, familiar songs with a ton of unheard-material. Overall positive, excited by the sounds and experiments, not too shocked and no skippers...in fact, more eager to hear it all again and form better opinions!

The run from opener "Black Poppies" through "King of Haarlem" sounds fantastic, energetic, epic, quintessential, still forward-loving...

End tracks a bit more "out there", and rough, but having lived through the "Drift" experience, it kind of makes sense. Closer "Stick Man Test" is beautiful, warm vibes and callbacks to many reference points along their career.

The spoken word on "ottavia" is maybe the bit that stands out as less successful on first blush, but i'm sure i'll change my mind!

Agree with other posters that this is probably the most enjoyable first listen since "The RiverRun". Much as i like aspects of "OWB". "Barking", "BBWFASF", and "Drift", they all in their own way seem disjointed or a little too much filler. "Strawberry Hotel' just seems more deliberate and cohesive, y'know?

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

There's a lot to digest here - saw it alluded to once as like a mini Drift, although overall it's probably both more dance-heavy and oddly experimental than Drift. Always expect a lot of variety with Underworld and glad to have it here, but the sheer number and short track times are making it harder to get a handle on (and yes Drift was obviously a lot bigger and more varied, but following along with it a track at a time per week or so really let them breath and get ingrained).

There's a lot of classic Underworld sounds and motifs throughout the album mixed with some newer modern takes and techniques, and Karl always tends to go off into some new vocal territory each album, but this feels surprisingly different this time (in both a really exciting and weirdly incongruent way somehow). It's like there's a backbone of fresh-yet-classic Underworld tracks with some odd surface details going on. Tiny bits that would normally add depth further back are front and center, and vice versa, with buried vocals sometimes low in one channel (and pitched up vocal samples, ala modern hip-hop/R&B, while understood for cultural value and trying to add a new spin, always rub me wrong there as they do here). There's also a weird interest in sculpting static surf/dead air/tape hiss sounds this time that's hard on my tinnitus.

I don't know that this is the reason and it's probably much more complex an interaction between artists, but the review from the Arts Desk touched on something I have been thinking about: "Then the music gradually quietens down, with less predictable Underworld fare: including Ottavia, a bewitching track for Hyde and Smith, with a spoken word vocal from Rick Smith's daughter, mezzo-soprano Esme Bronwen-Smith, written by her and based on an aria from an opera by Monteverdi. She also co-produced the album, which may account for the welcome off-piste quirkiness of some tracks..."

I think overall it's energizing and was probably really enjoyable in the studio, but I do wonder if there was ever a "lowercase" version of the album that was rethought and expanded later (not to harp on it, but the 5 original tracks played live, the style of visuals with them and on the single drops, seemed to have a different more classic trajectory - they even kept the lowercase titling on the singles tracks with same exact edits and didn't segue them any into other album tracks, which seems unusual).

Anyway, long story long, I spent today both shuffling, and first-time for an Underworld album, actually editing almost half of the tracks. Mainly just fading out endings to join better or remove some blank space, but I cut Iron Bones before the pitched up third vocal refrain at end and replaced Ottavia with Velvet Does then it. Flows nicely into the acapella. I've also bumped Oh Thorn to a companion remix album I plan to make (with the Kettama tracks and others, as Thorn is more a remix/reprise of Haarlem), as well as Stick Man (which is obviously not a remix, but will end that album better). And finally I put Black Poppies as the end track right after Gene Pool, which flows really well and feels like a more beautifully epic conclusion together (I also experimented with cutting out the orgasmic sing-yelling runs from Lewis in P, but I'll probably still hear them in my head and get used to it, so doubt that will last). :)

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

apologies to underworld...

i dont hear them now as much: mellowed out mix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JygbhQWo0nM

also want to add the ross from friends track to the album at
some point..

later
|| | | ||
n egative 1

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

This is perverse and I am against it. Small strangenesses like these characterize underworld tracks throughout every album. let it click or reject it, but stop squirming and making it fit what you're comfortable with. it's against the art of it.
why are we getting so comfortable with fan-fic headcanons of this release? seems insulting.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

hilo sky (mic drop). overall at 1 listen and for me it's a solid LP with some Most Excellent tracks - HILO SKY (it's landed in my UW top 5) : Denver Luna (Amazing as always) : Techno Shinkansen (still have a hard time pronouncing Shink...a what??) : Burst of Laughter : Ottavia and Gene Pool (These stood out the most for me). A few oddities, but it wouldn't be an UW LP without them... "Do you still feed the animals? ;) Was hoping to listen to the vinyl but alas it is delayed... OH Well - I couldn't wait - so I gave it a 1am listen... and am planning another in the near future... but Hilo Sky is on REPEAT!

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

This is the first time I've ever written this about Underworld... but the album is whatever-the-opposite-of-growing-on-me is. Fading on me? There are still a few solid tracks on here, but the rest I just don't seem to care about. My gut reaction was 'its okay'. Then some of the middling tracks grew on me, but now I'm back to "its okay." Which is fine.

Black Poppies, Denver Luna (!!), Hilo Sky, Gene Pool, and probably Lewis in Pomona. Techno Shinkasen has a chance to grow on me still. But the rest is just kinda there.

I guess its like I felt with Drift, but that was because of the sheer number of tracks. There are dozens on the full Drift album that I won't revisit. But I do play the Sampler start to finish (usually skipping Brilliant Yes because mood killer.) I just can't see myself playing this start to finish. Once King of Haarlem starts its basically over for me except for Gene Pool.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Shin-kan-sen (pronounce kan as Khan)

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

IDK, I think the genie has been out of the bottle for a while now on remaking music - with it mainly being a digital form now for most of the audience, the democratization and easy availability of digital editing tools, and internet culture being what it is, it's definitely going to happen and often more extremely. The good news is it's generally done by passionate fans who are engaged and excited by the work (that's who is going to put in the effort and want to share it), but I also get the questionable nature and ambiguity of it.

I also see it as an extension of mixtape/playlists/DJ-culture (which Underworld is a huge part of), with DJ's making their own edits/selections/remixes. Autechre famously started out in the 80's by making pause-button edits at home to "tighten-up" (as they said) their favorite tracks to play to friends, which led to deeper remixing, then inserting their own compositions in their mixtapes and later DJ sets. The electro culture lent itself to this, but it also just happened anyway by people finding their own means and stepping up. Autechre are about to drop a new collection of live sets in place of an album (their words) and some fans will soon be chopping them up and enjoying that as well.

I know for myself it's something I really enjoy both the process of and end results of, and is something I probably can't turn off easily. I don't really consider myself a musician, but as a music producer I've done a ton of editing of my friends' work and collaborate mainly by suggesting or physically making edits (and I have written a few albums worth of tracks solo, but they've still mainly felt like editing as well). I'm a creative director in my day job, so spend the day recommending, deciding or physically making edits to other designer's work. And as an avid collector, I really love curation, which sometimes extends beyond the initial object into related items, and making decisions about fit and relevancy.

I think I have probably remade about 1/4 of my favorite albums, generally just dropping tracks, re-sequencing for better flow, and/or occasionally pulling in b-sides from same sessions to replace tracks when seems to fit better. Already re-sequenced the new Pixies album which also dropped yesterday to give it more energy upfront (and does our loose cultural/narrative preference for energy to kick things off and quiet/beautiful/slower endings stem actually from the limitations of vinyl, which preferred denser more bombastic songs physically be placed first and quiet songs last on the more limited inner bands, or is it more inherently intrinsic?) Is the album version definitive or the single edit that more people will probably hear and know? Or the live version that gets refined and settles more into itself sometimes from the comparatively early on album one?

I don't participate in any other online communities, so please forgive the occasional diatribes, but obviously something important to me that I care and think a lot about. I have totally redone Drift as I shared here, but other than that, for the albums, I've only adjusted Barking by replacing Diamond Jigsaw with Downpipe and dropping Louisiana (which really makes the whole thing quite a stomper). I've been there for every new release since Second Toughest and love the surprises (and still love most of SH), but I'd be lying if I didn't take stock of it feeling and fitting oddly different this time. IDK, still very exciting overall.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Thank you for the phonetics. I was totally mispronouncing it! :D. After some more time I do have to say it's growing on me because of its solid tracks. Will this be a go to album for me? No, but the standouts will be on regular rotation for sure. In whole it does make sense for me in a way that none of their other albums have, especially mid-album from Lewis to Harlem with Hilo right there in-between. As far as the vocals on some of the tracks - I feel it's totally intentional because Karl can still hold a solid note. King of Harlem has totally grown on me - the lyrics are catchy and at first I was like WTF... but that bouncy beat - gotta love it! Ottavia is so different I give it to Esme for the emotion in that track. That shriek in Lewis feels more like agony and pain than an O, but that's just me, it's still unsettling. It will likely fall to the wayside. I find it interesting that they decided to close the album with an acoustic number, but it really closes out this album.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

And as a follow-up here's my final album cover that I'll be using for my gently remade SH. I use the artist's own work of the period, sometimes swapping out completed covers from a related single release (actually pretty rare compared to swapping audio, and haven't done this for UW before apart from letting the Drift single covers be their album collection covers).

For this one, it's a still from their Denver Luna video that had the same colors as the actual album cover and with the magenta circles pattern kind of suggesting an abstract strawberry. Couldn't get the source resolution above 1000px due to this, but think it's good enough for digital use. The title stack is based on the back of their new album shirts and placed similar to the single covers. Your mileage will vary...

https://i.postimg.cc/NLC6Gcmq/UW-Str...-1000x1000.jpg

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

I feel like we're talking about different things if we're comparing this to DJ edits and remixes. those embrace the original and rearrange the furniture so that it'll fit a set, or reveal its compatibility to other genres.

I'm also not saying that rearranging or cherry-picking tracks is off-base. I have playlist folders for bands like Underworld that constantly de&re-contextualize and build a vision of an era as I understand & love it. I hate certain tracks like Boy, Boy, Boy, but I never thought to fuck with it to make it fit. I just ignore it. They can't all be winners.

What's going on here is taking ones antipathy to a track and making it more digestible. It doesn't even try to get inside of it, it doesn't respect it with the time it deserves, it just rejects the difficulty and starts aligning it with what we're comfortable with. it's depressing, a waste of dialogue, and frankly embarrassing that we get more inflexible with age than the band themselves.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Really? He can hold a LOW note, but almost every high note on this album sounds 'wrong' to me. Or intentionally wrong? Which is totally baffling. I just heard Velvet Does for the first time and oh man, its just more of this weird out-of-key singing.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Hello all... Been a while!

First couple of full listens this week. Overall I am positive - think its a really confident release with a strong direction and lots of the different directions they've been going in since OWB seem to be resolving into a clear Underworld (Mk.4?) sound.

Main positives:
Ottavia is a triumph of an experiment. It has such drama in both the reading and the music. I really enjoy listening to it an imagining the stage performance.

They appear to have landed on a progressive techno sound which I personally really enjoy. At its core most songs have a central groove or melody/pattern that they grown and augment throughout. I think of Rowla, Moaner, Spoonman in those instances... But on top of this they've seem to have resolved a sound they developed for Barking and BB which has this more refined structure that is bass melody driven. Barking was a very confident album in a direction I really disliked (chorus/verse pop type consumable tunes) and this seems like a confident thrust in a different direction. An experimental, dance focused experience that I can imagine would be fantastic to hear live.

Negatives:
I think it is too long and the balance of bangers to the fore and more experimental to the back is not my favourite. I feel the album could have ended with Ottavia and by then i start to get quite tired... With a 9 min trance tune still to come I found it just dragged a bit. Felt like a full album and then 4-5 bonus tracks. I'd almost cut out 2-3 tracks and bring forward some of the songs near the end to break up the energy slightly.

But overall I really like it.

Let me try and place it:
1. STITI
2. DUBNO
3. BF
4. OWB
5. SH
6. AHDO
7. BB
8. Drift
9. Barking

Was not sure to include drift there... 'd almost also include rhe riverrun series then... But i'd love to just emphasise how bottom of the list of everything Barking is.. its right down there... Underneath the Radar is higher than barking in my book.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Listened for the first time last night. Found it really impressive. I can get why old school fans wouldn't like it, it really does not sound like UW albums of the past, it sounds like they rebuilt everything from the ground up this past decade and this is sort of the culmination of that. Yet at the same time it's stuffed with references to old Underworld tracks, not just lyrically but a lot of the exact sounds are there. Kinda adds to the dreamlike vibe of the album, it sounds very new but it still constantly reminds you it's Underworld.

The sequencing of the album is pretty interesting to me. It flows together but in an odd way. Very stream-of-consciousness. I agree with the other comments that the last 5 tracks feel like a separate EP. Great stuff - "Gene Pool" especially - but I think the album does work with "Ottavia" as the final track too.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

I get it, but think we're mainly talking about things differently here than talking about different things, and have a different degree of comfort with them, and I'd say, with real respect, that inflexibility can go both ways.

As mentioned, I've never actually done this for UW before and have done it because I'm engaged in the work, and don't want to ignore or drop it because I don't hate it, I actually deeply like it apart from specific elements that make it suddenly lose momentum and drop me out of the spell it's cast.

In the case of Lewis, the vocal runs are kind of integral to the drop-out sections though, and I still hear them in my head, as I figured, so have gone back to the original track. Love the cut-up processing they do on the third refrain of it, which doesn't dominate or feel like it goes on too long like the full raw vocal. Still think Iron Bones is stronger without the processed third vocal refrain and feels more like a single edit with the ending trimmed a little shorter. Funny that they both have a structure of 3 vocal refrains with the third one heavily processed and causing opposite reactions for me.

So why share this? I'm mainly DJing for an audience of one (which I'd say dropping and re-arranging tracks also is), but like Autechre sharing their edits with friends of songs recorded off the radio they tightened up, it seemed like a partially receptive audience here, with others mentioning their issues with the vocal runs in Lewis and album overall hitting them strange, but loving many parts of it. We're obviously all passionate about it.

...

One thing I haven't really seen mentioned much yet, and maybe better to focus on, is how hard a lot of the tracks go - haven't felt that in a long time actually (mainly Border Country recently). Denver Luna, Colour Red, Sweet Lands, Hilo Sky are all fairly intense with Hilo up there with Dirty Epic and Beautiful Burnout. Even Techno Shinkansen and Lewis go there in their builds (especially Lewis in the end third, that was quite a surprise after it's smooth groove). Nothing Moaner or Push Upstairs level of course, but still, impressive.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

this doesn't sound like engagement though, it sounds like molding underworld because you don't like what they've done. That sounds like recoiling from any true engagement.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

i too, like hearing underworlds tracks in my own way..
--

the one thing that may or most likely isnt coming, is a deluxe version
with all kinds of extra tracks
---
i ve gotten used to:
--
alternate versions - demos
instrumentals
remixes

so, for this, i've made an instrumental sampler (about 40 minutes)
of the great keyboard layers, shimmering synths, pounding beats,
and a few vocals thrown in (colour red), all mixed into one flowing
track. i left off most of the slower ones though..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ZZU4jHV8w


made a separate instrumental version of all the tracks too.

along with an all acapella version.. now thats interesting...

later
|| | || | |
n egative 1

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

This is a great point, ad something I agree with. I wouldn't say the last few albums sound tentative or scared, but they don't sound as confident as the band at their peak. BB's shortness, Barking's safeness and collaborations, Drift's lack of willingness to commit to a distinct album. SH definitely sounds like it knows what it is and why it is that.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

01. Second Toughest In The Infants
02. Beacoup Fish
03. Dubnobasswithmyheadman
04. Riverrun Trilogy
05. Drift
06. Strawberry Hotel
07. Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future
08. Oblivion With Bells
09. A Hundred Days Off
10. Barking

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

For me, this album is obviously a product of their Drift experience... experimenting, playing, exploring. It feels like more of an "artist" album, if that makes sense. Like more of an overall artistic statement, rather than a collection of big club bangers. Which is GOOD. I'm sure they don't want to just keep making Rez and Moaner over and over forever. And honestly - I already have plenty of those from them. Anyways...

“Black Poppies” gets better with each listen. I’d love to hear some combination of the album and string versions. “Denver Luna” might be my favorite track from them since “Beautiful Burnout” If this kind of piece is what Drift gave us, the whole project was worth it. “Techno Shinkansen” feels like a one-off piece that was kind of shoved into the album to fill it out. I like it, but it feels out of place to me. I really love the closing chimey section of “Sweet Lands Experience”… makes me wish that section was longer. And while I wouldn’t put “Lewis in Pomona” on a personal playlist or anything, it feels good in the middle of the album.

“Hilo Sky” is my favorite new song on here. The intro has some familiar Underworld ambient synth, and when it really kicks in, it’s one of the highlights of the album for me. It reminds me of “Always Loved A Film”, which is a plus for me… I don’t share the same disdain for Barking that many of you seem to have. :) It feels like such a joyful album to me.

Burst of Laughter is a fun little 6/8 four-on-the-floor combo, short and sweet. King of Haarlem’s okay, very STAR-like, which I didn’t love either. I find Ottavia to be a cool little palate-cleanser and transition into the back portion of the album. I don’t know that we need the Denver Luna (acappella) on there, because together with Octavia it does seem to chop the album into two pieces.

But man, Gene Pool is great. So glad we get 9 minutes of it. I hear some Brian Eno influence towards the end. The last few songs are good, enjoyable, but they haven’t made a huge impression on me. I have to admit that they do feel a bit like added bonus tracks.

Overall, probably my favorite album from Underworld since Oblivion With Bells.

-

As to the “off-key” vocals... I don't LOVE them, but I know that it's an intentional choice. It's not like they didn't notice or don't care. Rick's attention to detail and melodic ear is not going to just let that slide. I think the dissonance is the point. (The medium is the message after all.) It's like Bob Dylan belting out long held notes that sound wrong, until you realize that half the time he's actually singing jazzy 7ths and 9ths... or is just trying to sound like a desperate and crazy person who can only scream to be heard.

-

Also - to whoever talked about editing the album tracklists... I cannot imagine editing Barking and removing Diamond Jigsaw! I love that song, especially the turn to the minor chord at 2:20… One of my favorites from the album.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

I was basing that comment on previous live tracks. I highly doubt his vocals have deteriorated since seeing them live earlier this year. There is a distinct and I'm pretty sure intentional quirkiness to his vocal style for this release. I think UW have earned any right to experiment however they'd like at this point. I do dare say that I would love to have a full Instrumental version of Strawberry Hotel. There's a whole lot of great going on in the background of most of these tracks. :cool:

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Morning all,

I've been listening to the new album - I think it's probably their best one since the 90s. When I listen to a new Underworld album, I want a mixture of the familiar and unfamiliar, the new and the old. I want it to sound like an Underworld album but not a rehash of previous sounds. Which is why I think this one is so strong.

It reminds me of the Riverrun releases - occasionally challenging, sometimes slow burners but ultimately rewarding.

The lyrics make reference to classic Underworld songs without just copying what went before. Some tracks borrow phrasing (possibly subconsciously) from tracks like Skym or Puppies, and tiny phrases from STITI era tracks, but use vocal processing in a new way. I also thought Ottavia reminded me of Dirty Guitar or Little Speaker - like the vocalist hadn't realised that the mic was on.

The beats are a mix of new and old too - Techno Shinkansen uses the 707 cymbal crash from almost every UW song in the 90s, but the tracks often have an ebb and flow rather than an obvious "drop", giving it a more balearic feel in parts. The synths work in a similar way too, swelling and releasing on tracks like Gene Pool.

I think it's a step up from Drift, which I think occasionally suffered from a lack of self editing and the need to create when sometimes it felt the ideas were being forced instead of naturally occurring.

However - not sure we needed driver luna acappella (sic) or Oh Thorn! in the track listing, and I think and the colour red and Techno Shinkansen were ideas that could have been explored a bit further.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

As someone who lives and breathes UW, I'll admit that it's not my favorite record right ou the gate. But that's also how I felt about BBWFASF when it first came out.

It's interesting to me to see the boys and their progression. They don't HAVE to make club bangers anymore, and honestly I think that is good.

I liken it to when Robert Miles (RIP) released "Dreamland". That album is brilliant. But after that, he got to do more of what he wanted to do. And that's something that I think artists should be able to pursue.

This record has a lot of darkness to it. Not in an off-putting way, necessarily, but I think you can hear through it that like, shit went down over the past years, and everyone is working through a lot of that (COVID, etc. etc.), in their own ways.

I think in the long run it'll always end up being one that I put on from time-to-time, of course. Personally I still love the Drift series and the variety of tracks in it, and what I have always really loved about UW is the way that every song is sort of just one of many iterations. They inspire me greatly with their work in that way.

That said, I'm gonna go listen to it again.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

What I want to know is, can we use that acapella in remixes? Because... yeah.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Been meaning to post my thoughts on the new album for a while, but hey... infants take up a lot of time!

I was worried I was having a bit of "Phantom Menace Syndrome" b/c it was just the 'new' album, but honestly - I still think the album is great. I will say - It definitely works better on vinyl, than on cd... just so you have these pauses between each side (Disc 1, Side B is all killer)

In its vibe - it kind of reminds me of R&K's radio shows in the early/mid 00's, where you'd hear rough demos mixing with more polished tracks.

I will say, it's borderline perverse to still have a Japanese exclusive bonus track these days.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Been a few months now and I can say that my predictions for myself have come true. When I do play this album, I usually go from Black Poppies thru Hilo Sky and then skip to Gene Pool, and then I'm out. I do like the album, but overall this is the most skipping I do on any album (the full Drift mega-album aside.) Thats 7 tracks I'm very 'eh' on, and Sweet Lands Experience gets a pass because its still in the middle of the good run.

I will say that Techno Shinkansen has elevated quite a lot to me. As well, And the Colour Red works MUCH more cohesively on the album proper than as a single. But that second half is a total skip-o-rama for me. Even if individually each song is fine (except for King of Haarlem.. ugh) they're all tracks that I have no interest in listening to again. Contrast that to BF or AHDO where I don't skip a single track (and that includes my dislike of Ess Gee.)

Re: Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews
 

Yeah for me this is kind of in the low regions along with Oblivion with Bells. Though I think that still has more individual tracks I enjoy listening to.