NME article: 3 LPs worth o' material - but how?

[holden]

Brief article regarding UW recording a ton of tracks but debating how/if to release them:

http://www.nme.com/news/underworld/47280

[matt]

But surely the most exciting thing about that article is that they're working with Brian Eno!

[Bargo]

I'd be willing to guess that that's the Scenius material (especially when it says they've been working with him in Aus), still, good news all round.

[negative1]

probably via download through underworldlive.com
...right?

be seeing you
+1

[King of Snake]

sounds cool. On the other hand, we've been hearing the "we've got X albums worth of material that we're maybe gonna release but not on an album" from UW for quite a long time already. Other than the Riverruns and a couple of semi-finished downloadable tracks it's never really come to anything, while we did get a regular album in the form of OWB. And even that was rather short for a band that's supposedly has multiple albums' worth of material lying around.

"There's more energy in making tracks, and putting tracks out, and then reacting to that, and then moving on to the next track. There seems to us a feeling of how we used to put 12-inch singles out."

that's great except that they're not actually putting anything out at all. They're just playing them live and then moving on to the next, dooming tracks like You Do Scribble, Bamboo, ALAF to fade into obscurity.

[TheBang]

Originally Posted by Bargo

I'd be willing to guess that that's the Scenius material (especially when it says they've been working with him in Aus), still, good news all round.

Yup, there was a diary entry a week or two ago (or was it Twitter post) about them meeting together to go over the Pure Scenius stuff. And as has been mentioned elsewhere, it's being put together for a DVD release (and CD?).

[joethelion]

Originally Posted by King of Snake

sounds cool.
that's great except that they're not actually putting anything out at all. They're just playing them live and then moving on to the next, dooming tracks like You Do Scribble, Bamboo, ALAF to fade into obscurity.

I kinda have to agree with that sentiment

as it seems that everyone except for me has forgotten about "Telematic Peal" - which was only put out as a part of a radio broadcast, and briefly was available as a streaming file (in instrumental form) on UWlive

and I mean - the only way you can get: You Do Scribble, Bamboo, ALAF, were on LiveHereNow discs

I feel that like... around mid 2008 - there was a legitimate chance that we'd get quite a few unreleased gems in proper studio form* but now - not so much

* I don't mean "final" versions that are mastered/mixed so that they'd be album/single/b-side ready ... I mean finished in the sense of stuff like the "020202" or "Phonestrap" EP's

[Dunwho]

Meh, as far as im concerned this is simply just an article thats about 5 months behind what we have been talking about here constantly for months.

There will be releases and tours and all that stuff, in whatever format it is.. it will happen and quite regularly, for Underworld in particular this is a certainty.

They love every bit of it, the live performances, writing new songs, providing free releases on the site and also out on digital/vinyl releases.. and every so often a major release like OWB

In fairness as a fanbase we are spoiled rotten with material. If YDS or Bamboo are forgotten a bit in obscurity so what, at least we have a version to hear.. many versions in fact...

I think its fantastic! I love every moment of music i hear, and i dont want it to stop! So just give it time and there will be something new, if its not a new album it will be something like a riverrun, or a new track, or something like the Book of Jam, or simply just a video on youtube or a picture of Karl Lyrics...

we're spoiled.. can you imagine being huge fans of some other band... waiting years rather than days or weels for something new.

yikes!

[dubman]

while they've released about three albums worth of material this decade, which aint bad by a shot, plus a book and gallery shows and online texts and 2 live albums, which is even better, the ratio of teasing to material still seems way unbalanced. consequences of updating more than most other bands, maybe. more talk equals more on-the-minute hype with the same process that builds and discards tracks not worthy enough, and now letting us see all this happen is driving us nuts because we like what they're letting atrophy (or polish until it's bad).

okay. but KoS raises a legitimate point that nothing out of the little previews we actually get are going fucking anywhere. their newness wears off for them before they appear to be happy with it so it gets left behind, and a great big vacumm takes its place. they are such friggin artists about this, creating for the personal buzz of it, it all seems fluid, it's all a jam, but when it comes to releases they're just not what they could be because it's a release, and whether it's because it's "the real deal" or because they're using the format as a project for a different kind of sound they may not be totally fluent with, it just struggles to be as dynamic as their methods.

plus, they mention 12" like they're artifacts but hey-hello you can still release material (some of it your best, even) on these things and use sites like bleep and boomkat like many many many people of note still do these days, because people download these now. not as singles from an existing work but as a work on its own. 12" are for those ideas that are relevant and dont need an LP for filler, express something new, and can make a whole lot of hype for any kind of larger release without resorting to press talk gibberish.

but they should and probably do already know this, so what the fuck are they sitting on?

in four years we've had one album and a shitload of talk about various avenues and experimental modes and loud days in the lemon and shutting in, and little in the way of follow-thru. streaming tracks in an audio section wont get you anywhere. the riverruns should have been EP releases in their own right, and while the online avenue may have been appropriate for experimental work, it also got lost, as they didnt have enough people salivating at the time to really hunt it down and give a damn.

i'm done fellating this band as if every scrap is a treat. they are if the output is great but their big result in the last 6 years has been eviscerating good raw ideas into stately finished ones. i never thought i wouldnt give a shit about beautiful burnout when it finally came, but there you have it, it's only "nice".

[TheBang]

How do you really feel?