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Old 11-09-2019, 11:01 AM
Bargo
pants
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 291
Re: Drift Series 1 media reviews
4-1/2 star review from The Australian newspaper (online review is paywalled)::
Quote:
Got six hours? That’s about how long it will take to burn through Underworld’s extraordinary 10th album — and it’s time well spent. At 40 tracks, DRIFT Series 1 is “one year inside the minds” of Rick Smith and Karl Hyde, a now ongoing music and film experiment that has seen the production and release of new material every Thursday for a year, starting November 1 2018. When the pounding drums and acid lines of album opener Another Silent Way dropped last year, no one quite knew what was to follow but, dutifully and methodically, the new material came. Linking with a handful of collaborators, including Australian experimental jazz trio The Necks and London techno producer Ø [Phase], the project soon took on a life of its own as the first of five self-contained “episodes” was released, collectively forming DRIFT Series 1. The follow-up to 2016’s Grammy-nominated Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future is a unique and expansive audiovisual document of an open, constantly evolving recording process. It’s experimental and improvisational in parts — that’s kind of the point — but also assured and confident, reflective of Underworld’s pioneer status. There’s a looseness in many of the meanderings here, but the end result is tightly produced and stylish. There is so much to love. Hyde’s impressionist vocal performances are as impressive as ever, evidenced on mellow tunes like Do Breakers Trip, where he vulnerably wonders “What’s that voice? Is it in my head?” amid a backdrop of warm keys, soft percussion and weird background mutterings. Modern classic STAR is a frenetic and soothing earworm, while Doscentitos is a moody, downtempo number, anchored by beautiful keys and sax stabs, intertwined with Hyde’s soft vocal. The scale of this project is impressive. Hyde and Smith, for so long dependable stalwarts of the evolving electronic music scene, have put it all on the line here, and have pulled it off in spectacular fashion. Ambitious, expansive and danceable, DRIFT Series 1 is a triumph of modern electronica that’s not to be missed.