Strawberry Hotel - Dirty reviews

[thee carp dreamer]

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.

[botkiller]

Originally Posted by thee carp dreamer

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.

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