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Old 08-04-2019, 06:18 AM
stimpee
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Netherlands
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Re: Interview with Karl Hyde from 2007 in OOR (Dutch music magzine)
Incredibly scary, Hyde emphasizes. But it gave the pair the much needed uncertainty and therefore the opportunity to be creative again. beaming: 'the internet is a blessing. It has given us the opportunity to discover new things and to let others discover new things. " The technical possibilities are endless, but, he emphasizes, it is ultimately about feeling. 'It reminds me of the nineties again. Everyone works together, everyone is connected. It feels like we are part of a network, of a larger whole. " Take the radio show, Dirty Radio. Thanks to the internet, Hyde and Smith make liveradio everywhere. At home, from hotel rooms, you name it. They mix well-known and unknown music. Music that small labels have sent to them or that they have discovered in the local record stores of the cities they visit. 'There is so much inspiring and good music. We want to show that to our listeners. Every day we place a link on our website to a band or an artistic movement. Kopna Kopna, Ellen Allien, Dada, Fluxus, you name it. ' Since 2002, Underworld has released two hands full of songs - The RiverRun Project - as an exclusive download, eventually physically available as five 12inches in a limited edition of ten thousand pieces and for sale as a digital download on Beatport. Tomato also experienced a new spring thanks to the world wide web. 'At the end of the nineties we had grown too big, a kind of myth. There were so many designers who followed us and were much cheaper. That was a good time to stop everything. Now we are together again. On the internet we have created a kind of video art studio where we work with creative people from all over the world. In this way we create books, TV shows and installations together. An unprecedented artistic freedom. "

But why release a traditional album again? "That was certain beforehand," Hyde emphasizes, "all those other things were needed to feel the freedom to be truly creative again." He does not want to downplay the activities that the duo has carried out over the past few years. Far from. In fact, Oblivion With Bells forms a whole with the digital representation of Underworld on the internet. One cannot do without the other. Take the slow pace of the new album. That is a logical consequence of the development that the duo went through. "Because of our presence on the internet, Sven Väth invited us to jam with him live via web television. His set was much slower than our new material. So we had to adjust our set to make the music run synchronously. Sounded really great. " In addition: all songs on the album have been carefully selected from the more than two hundred songs that the duo has written over the past five years. A number of them ended up as a download on the website or appeared on the soundtrack of films such as Breaking And Entering by Anthony Minghella and Sunshine by Danny Boyle. Twenty finally appeared on the shortlist of Oblivion With Bells . Up to the very last moment the choice remained uncertain. Eventually all the faster songs were dropped and Ring Road got a place on the album. "That number would certainly not come up, had we agreed in advance," Hyde chuckles, "but due to the slow pace it suddenly turned out to fit very well." Ring Road is in many ways a typical Underworld song, without sounding that way. The Indian percussion deviates too much for that. Hyde itself is in top form. In his typical, distant manner, he describes a walk through Romford, the immense satellite city north-east of London.

Romford is exemplary of England, Hyde emphasizes. He has been living there for years and has no aspirations to relocate. That makes him pretty much the only one. Romford is a city on the edge, where the inhabitants only dream of one thing: move as quickly as possible. "You live there to leave the city," says Hyde. "There are many workers who have left East London because there are immigrants who have brought new cultures. That is now also happening with Romford. The city is so average, the average England is set here. " The idea for Ring Road originated on a boring but beautiful day. Hyde shifts his chair, gets up and walks to the window. He points out: 'A day like today actually. Sunny, but not too hot. I listened to The Last Poets album and was very impressed with the lyrics. That is how I got the idea to take a circular walk through the city and write down everything that I would encounter. Back home, I made a text of it. By the way, I applied the same experiment to JAL To Tokyo that is on one of the RiverRun 12inches. I recently told Brian Eno that he should do it sometime. " One of his best lyrics, Hyde admits. finds everyone who has heard the song. In any case, text plays an important role on Oblivion With Bells . What does he write about? Roam the city, Hyde says decisively. Not literally of course. In fact, Underworld's music is always about roaming the city. "You understand that displaced, yet slightly tingling sensation of excitement?" Hyde believes that he has done very well at Oblivion With Bells .

Is mainly at the expense of partner Smith. 'He has an indefinable ability to sense exactly what is and what is not of value. Call it typical Welsch. That is really a Celtic trait, you know. " His way of working reminds Hyde in a certain way of the way Ash Ra Temple and Faust made music. Not literally of course, but also with the Germans a certain chemistry was released which enabled them to use electronic instruments in a natural way within a rock idiom. Perhaps that is why the music nowadays sounds far from dated. In addition, Hyde says enthusiastically, very interesting things are happening in Scandinavia. 'They also mix all kinds of music styles together. From krautrock to psychedelics. We recently played in New York with Trentemøller. Great what he does. " But how is it possible that the musical feeling of the early 1970s is connected to the current dance scene again? Is it freedom in music? The naive but rock-solid belief in a better future? Hyde looks at me in surprise. 'What you say there is interesting. I'll make a note of that, if you don't mind. " He quickly notes a few catchwords in his black notebook. In the meantime, he thinks aloud. 'We have to work more with people. With James Holden for example and with Trentemøller. That way we can come to a new idiom. " "Why not Faust?" I suggest. With twinkling eyes: "That's a great idea!"

Appeared in music newspaper OOR sometime in 2007.
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