new Underworld album: Oblivion with Bells (October 2007) + tour dates

oi, calm down everyone! :-)

ok, so nobody cares. *mopes*

No Stan, this is definitely good news. And thank you for showing me the album art. I fucking love it.

have to be honest, that cover distresses me.
obviously its a throwback to the first albums art with the stark black and white, but this feels and looks like someone is in pain, and the deranged scrawls only remind me of stuff my kids do when they are in a bad bad mood.

It looks promising, yes.

Are we agreed that the last one (1000 days holiday, or some such title) was such a bad once coverartwise? I got it for £3 at fopp eventually. Can't remember owt else about it mind.)

bad one coverartwise?

oh, a hundred days off, that light bulb cover? yeah, I also only remember the single ("you bring light in") ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXAbJ1FpctI )

100 days off

I like it. It sounds lush.

I just found out Karl Hyde is 50 this year!

Has anyone heard all this download only stuff they've been doing?

the cover art is pretty boring/throwback to their older stuff. i've never really liked any of their artwork tho.

i thought the last Underworld album was that ambient soundtrack they did : breaking and entering ?
a very mellow laid back minimal affair that i dont think i ever actually got all the way through.

Yeah, that download stuff is pretty nice & entertaining but ultimately doesn't compare to their studio albums (way too patchy).

So they're on at the Roundhouse in London in October ...

Hmmmm

I'm going to go. Which of you ageing raver 90s refugees are with me?

New Underworld - "Crocodile"
http://www.stereogum.com/archives/new-underworld-crocodile.html

streaming mp3 track

love the track, sounds a bit like New Order technique era

so psychedelic with a vocoder type of voice

It's time Mojo or Uncut put Underworld on the front cover.

what, not Keef Richards or Paul Weller?

No those duffers should be ridiculed

Karl's a duffer now too!

i need that intro to be longer

50?! Did he do anything much before Underworld? (I'm guessing he was some sort of legendary underground DJ and I've just revealed my ignorance...)

he was making music before you were born, as Freur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freur

new Underworld reminds me also of Fluke

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Fluke

well that's not good really. Fluke were always the poor man's Underworld.

I was about to say, how is THAT praise?

Blueski did you groove to tracks such as electric guitar and Slid in the 1990s? A: no, you were probably too young in 1993!

Ha ha my intro to Fluke was 'Groovy Feeling' which I saw on MTV at the time and is nice musically (and similar to Underworld's own 'Eclipse' - or 'Minneapolis' can't remember which one now, under their Lemon Interrupt guise) but they had even lamer lyrics than Hyde usually. I liked the Bjork remix a lot and a few of the singles after that but despite having similar concept and approach to Underworld they never seemed to make anything with quite the same power or depth. But perhaps I will listen to more of their '91-'93 stuff again, to be sure.

Crocodile's nice, but is it a single?

anyone going to the boston show? dan perry? i am coming in from chicago!

For a first single, this song sure ain't no club banger. Very disappointing.

If this song becomes a hit, I'll eat my hat.

I might go!

I got a promo of this the other day. Should I listen to it?

Nah, pour honey on it and make it into a waffle. Only proper way to treat Underworld.

You can call it Oblivion with Bells (Flour and Honey Mix).

This is actually alright, you know?

With or without honey?

Sans, at the moment.

Having said that, track five is a proper talky nonsense one, and Hyde sounds like Mike Skinner's dad. This is not a compliment.

"Crocodile" video
http://www.underworldlive.com/home/crocodile.html

"Crocodile" - Alligator version video
http://www.underworldlive.com/home/alligator.html

This thing leaked yet?

http://www.geocities.com/~junebugtd7/uw-freur_header.JPG

love it

Alfie is a true classic.

caught the first night of their tour in SF and was pretty disappointed. definitely had major technical problems for 20+ minutes that practically ground the show to a halt even though they kept playing weird instrumental tunes with little direction. when they hits finally came in i felt it was too much too soon and found it hard to summon excitement. i think it's the 6th time i'd seen them, but the first since 2001 (i think). so much has changed. oakenfold opened, is that a bad sign?

doesn't seem odd to me, even if it does seem vaguely repellant for other reasons

Saw them in LA and it was probably the best concert I've ever seen in this city. LA people are not normally that friendly to each other.

that show was awesome. oakenfold was so, so bad though.

what's not to like about giant visuals of a pretty girl shaking water off her body in slow motion?

oh right, the music.

what cave does a DJ live in that he'd spin a trance remix of the James Bond theme?

This thing leaked yet?

http://i22.tinypic.com/4so08o.gif

It's nice but mellow but nice.

Yeah, I'm gonna be needing that.

:)

Nice but mellow but nice sounds about right - "Beautiful Burnout" is sounding great. [n.b. I hate the culture of commenting on albums while listening to them for the 1st time, so I'll try to make that the last thing I say about this for a while!]

I'm in hell.

ILX works!

really loving this album. just what i needed to start my autumn off right!

"Ring Road" is the best thing I've heard from them in years.

Ha, that's the only track I've had to un-check in my Itunes so I don't ever have to hear it again. Kinda like the "Salmon Dance" on the new Chemicals album.

Japan bonus track <3

<3

aw

The only problem I have with this album (it's not a big problem though) : I keep expecting The Edge to start the intro to Where The Streets Have No Name during track 4. :-/

http://bp1.blogger.com/_etZTCxXJy3w/Rvkmt1qv2fI/AAAAAAAAAZU/gzU8Hbmyetc/s1600/underworld_crocodile.jpg

only heard Crocodile (like) and Boy Boy Boy (dislike) so far.

The "Boy Boy Boy" tracks def outnumber the "Crocodile" ones on the album.

"Best Mamgu Ever" is a beautiful.

The only problem I have with this album (it's not a big problem though) : I keep expecting The Edge to start the intro to Where The Streets Have No Name during track 4. :-/

OTM X 1000

I went jogging to this whole album a couple of days ago and it was not very motivating, in a bad way.

i love love love beautiful burnout. classic underworld. i really CANNOT stand the track where he raps. i mean, really? who green lighted the rapping? worst cadence ever you are british.

i know that this may seem like a bad thing... but this album reminds me of like 1997. I love this album so far, except for ring road. Definitely a better album than 100 days off and i think that i prefer it to beaucoup fish as well.

beautiful burnout is definitely classic underworld and i am very glad that i saw them in boston.

1997 OTM

Wow, a lot of hate for Ring Road. I have to admit I never really thought of what Karl was doing on it as rapping, but it clearly is. I guess it sounds to me like the older (and more beautiful) brother to Beaucoup Fish's "Bruce Lee." And I may be wrong, but I think I recall people having similar problems with that track upon it's release.

Dunno, but I love them both. The rest of the album is good, but seems a bit of a deliberate attempt at recreating the feel of Dubnobass (Beautiful Burnout aside), while I'm more a "Kittens"/"Pearl's Girl" Underworld fan.

i don't mind the second half of ring road but that opening is horrendous

how bout that stylus review

I don't really disagree with anything in the Stylus review, except for the "not particularly interesting" part, and the rating.

The group made a transition on "100 Days" that'll lose some people. Their sound is a lot smoother now, and they seem to have hit a comfortable groove. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but it works. If only U2 had grown old this gracefully.

(I actually bought this! In a store!)

is there any relevance/context for that press shot above (karl in wedding dress)?

I guess (Ring Road) sounds to me like the older (and more beautiful) brother to Beaucoup Fish's "Bruce Lee."

Seriously - like half as annoying and twice as good. Which makes it ... twenty-one, carry the five ... about a billion times better.

re: faxed invitation

Underworld are unique among electronic musicians, and IMO all musicians right now, in being able to convincingly argue for the 21st century as a wonderful place to be.

Most of what I listen to has synths and drum machines, and I love it for inspiring a kind of fierce joy, but it's almost always linked to an alternate reality. It might be, like in Burial, a dark reflection of our own, but it's definitely _other_. This is what originally got me into Aphex Twin - freakish imaginative power that let me escape into a different world.

Underworld is just as escapist, we're looking through a rose-colored lens here ... but, especially in *recent* Underworld, art here is being employed to show you a different view of our own world. And it's a global, social reality that Underworld chooses to celebrate. I've been frustrated and frightened by the way even joyful art, recently, seems to be so doggedly personal - these are small joys that we're celebrating. Underworld celebrate being citizens of the world the way Whitman sang America.

It's not a new idea, but who else is doing it well?

Basically, they're doing what U2 think they're doing.

Underworld are deep into their most creative period ever. I'm in love with their recent work. Webcasts, artjams, live shows, social networking. It's a great time to be an Underworld fan now that the Lager, Lager, Lager heads have moved on. Between Stars and Strumpet are great indicators of their new direction. Karl is doing a poetry thing with Eno and one of the Eno/Hyde collaborations will probably turn up on the forthcoming K7 DJ compilation series Underworld is starting. Big things ahead in 2010.

I've really come around on this album lately. First four tracks are so incredibly ace and I'm really starting to like the last 15 minutes of it too. "Best Mamgu Ever" is such a great groove. Let's face it, what other electronic dudes would put out an album like this? "Boy, Boy, Boy" recalls their Underneath the Radar days!

man

this really is my fav underworld album now

it was kinda obvious this was already their richest period bc of the riverrun eps but i guess if you live with the album long enough it turns out to be just as great????

burning from the inside

I liked it well enough when it came out but rarely feel the urge to revisit it.

when that Tokyo set came out in 2005 it had the track "You Do Scribble" which was absolutely incredible, I thought a studio version of that would automatically become one of their greatest singles. when OWB came out I was actually quite disappointed, not only did it not include that track (in fact *that* version of it never even came out!!), it didn't have "Always Loved a Film/Silver Boots" and the music didn't go in that direction at all.

eventually those tracks did come out, not really in the form I wanted, but whatever. when I relistened to this a few years later it was like a revelation. not only is the music wonderful but the way it sounds is just impeccable.

btw as long as we're talking about great stuff from that era - how about "Parc"? only played live once (iirc) and the 'officially released' take is just the live version, cleaned up. it really seems unfinished but it's such a great tune - this being an *outtake* just blows my mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4eF3-WqOI8

"parc" ruuuules. it sucks that "scribble" and "always loved a film" were held onto until they could be uh... compromised on barking (in a way i still enjoy and love but still it's like there's a lost underworld album)

how fucking great is "glam bucket"

yea the #1 thing on my Underworld wishlist would be Barking minus the remixers. I actually think the album as released is quite good but the remixers glossed over a lot of brilliant stuff - the wobbly bass line on "ALAF", the big chord change and "Jump"-style synths on "Diamond Jigsaw", etc. and of course a full "You Do Scribble" with vocals would be amazing as well

"best mamgu ever" should have produced its own subgenre of dance music

Best Mamgu Ever is killer, and I wish underworld would do an entire album like Best Mamgu, Peach Tree, and Counterpoint Hang Pulse from the Breaking and Entering soundtrack. Good stuff.

Barking does feel like the only compromised UW album. It succeeds at what it's doing but it sounds just a little wrong somehow. OWB is possibly my least favorite true UW album but I like it more than I did at the time of its release. I still would put the dubnobass to beaucoup fish run as their best, BBWFASF just behind, then AHDO and OWB close together.

Glam Bucket was incredible live.

Underworld are unique among electronic musicians, and IMO all musicians right now, in being able to convincingly argue for the 21st century as a wonderful place to be.

this comment from above is interesting. i don't think it's true at all, but i do think they are able to see it with a certain accuracy, especially when it comes to capturing its emotional flux, that no one else is really capable of.

my favorite track on this right now is "holding the moth". such immaculately crafted and sexy deep house, that is about surveillance lol.

i've come around a lot on this one, i think it's much closer to being on par with their best work than i originally thought. the track just burrow in, and it's such a lush and beautifully produced work, which is another aspect which reveals itself more and more. "ring road" isn't my favorite of the Karl rapping tracks but it's good. it was probably regarded as a disappointment upon release (over here, just a bit) but i think it's a slow burn classic.

somewhat related iirc there was actual concern among UW fans and maybe some speculation in the press that a lot of their post-'80s era success was due to the presence of Darren Emerson, and the muted reception to A Hundred Days Off maybe fed into that (or was perhaps a preconceived result of that thought), which seems ridiculous now. not to insult any contributions he made but it seems clear that perhaps his role truly was less consequential to what they accomplished on their trio of '90s classics than one might have thought at the time. but maybe at the time and even as late as OWB, UW was regarded as having passed their peak, and maybe lost something when he left. but perhaps this album is where they started their ascent to a second peak (maybe pausing their progress w/Barking, which does still feel like a missed opportunity in terms of the production if not the core tracks.)

I was very let down by A Hundred Days Off on release, and I do remember having thoughts at the time that maybe Darren brought something they lacked. And I did skip out on OWB at first. I'm still not a fan of AHDO but with OWB and Barking and Barbara and much of Drift I doubt any fan feels there's something lacking anymore. I sometimes even forget Darren was a member of the band for those years (sorry, Darren)

I got into them during the Big Beat era, so the first four tracks on Beaucoup Fish and NUXX were pretty much on constant loop as a 13 year old. A couple years later I heard Everything Everything and thought it was basically the best music I’d ever heard in my life. So yeah those first two post-Emerson albums were a bit disappointing to me, especially since there was that track “You Do Scribble” floating around on 2005 live recordings which I thought was an absolute banger. In retrospect that 2005-2007 period was arguably one of the best in their history, next to 93-96 and probably the Drift era