Review:
Underworld released first new material in 2 years
Underworld released their first new material in 2 years, but for the first time they are releasing download only 'packages' available globally and exclusively from their website
www.underworldlive.com.
• Anyone looking for a definition of the meaning of psychedelia in the twentyfirst century should reach for their ipod now. We are pleased to announce a new way of listening to music from dance music’s most innovative, cerebral and experimental group – Underworld. They’re about to raise the bar a notch with regard to their own output.
• These will be a series of listening experiences which are neither singles nor albums, but an entirely new way to hear their music. Featuring a series of interwoven pieces. It’s an opportunity for the band to venture into whichever direction they like, and release their latest music directly to you, whenever and wherever you want it.
“The idea is to give us the chance to stretch out into areas we have only been able to touch on with traditional album releases, and give you the listener an underworld experience over the time it takes to listen to one side of an old vinyl album. Another aim of changing things to this more immediate format is to give us the chance to respond to what's happening musically out there in the world and put an underworld spin on things more than once every three years. None of this spells the end of traditional albums, remixes, tours, gigs it's just a way of getting music to you without the help of a multinational everytime we feel inspired. Expect to see underworld in the charts, on the radio, in the press and in your town again but in the meantime fill you're boots at
www.underworldlive.com ”
- Rick & Karl (2nd November 2005)
So here’s the deal. Taking time out from the corporate waltz which forces bands into a Groundhog Day style loop of recording and touring, Underworld plan to swerve standard procedure. From November 9th 2005 Underworld will issue a series of download-only listening experiences that will be an entirely new way to hear their music. Starting with ”a lovely broken thing” which morphs into a hypnotic bleep odyssey during which we get barely audible snippets of conversation (“When I was in New York she said”/”Get your legs waxed!”) technicolour flashes of glam techno and blitzkrieg sub-bass, all laced with sub-aquatic shuffles, the sound of heavy rainfall and one soporific passage which sounds like a lullaby by Kraftwerk. The overall effect feels more like a dazzling, disorientating moodscape to match the disconnected ambience of ‘Lost In Translation’. Think of it as putting the synth into absinthe. By the end, the stormclouds finally break and suddenly we‘re in the elevator to heaven, Karl beatifically crooning: “You smell good/ Touching skin to skin/Familiar/This is me/Where are we?” Even better, there’s already second instalment recorded.
And this can be all yours for just a fiver. Really, what are you waiting for?
The band are busier than ever. A quick rummage through Karl and Rick’s diaries reveals all manner of surreal adventures, from Karl’s recent graphic novel to an on-going collaboration with a certain sonic futurist, to a soon come film score to Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella’s next flick Breaking And Entering.
Underworld will see you in the speakers.
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