What used to make them great was the way they made dance music without having any real background in dance music. I'm pretty sure they had never been involved in raving or clubbing even up to the time they made Dubnobasswithmyheadman. The result was dance music that was incredibly elegant and articulate and unusual. Seems to me the longer their career has gone on the more clubby influences they've absorbed and the less interesting their music has become. This album, with all those collaborations, is clearly nine tracks intended to be dancefloor smashes and that ain't why I tune into Underworld.
noikeee
They've been playing Scribble all the time in the radio over here for the past month or so. When I learnt it was Underworld I couldn't believe it, the track was far too to be them. :\
RapidFire
just skimmed through the tracks to get a quick feel for the album and i like it. its different but it has that trademark underworld sound. don't get what the fuss is about, just because a few of these artists are making lackluster music by themselves doesn't mean that they can't come together with underworld and add a little positive outside flavor. especially since the majority of them are capable of making great stuff.
I will say that the last few tracks drift a bit and the PvD collaboration wasn't at all what I hoped for but the end result left me satisfied. you know the saying...
ghostridenhuffy
I'll wait for a full review before I spend the $$
idoru
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
What used to make them great was the way they made dance music without having any real background in dance music. I'm pretty sure they had never been involved in raving or clubbing even up to the time they made Dubnobasswithmyheadman. The result was dance music that was incredibly elegant and articulate and unusual. Seems to me the longer their career has gone on the more clubby influences they've absorbed and the less interesting their music has become. This album, with all those collaborations, is clearly nine tracks intended to be dancefloor smashes and that ain't why I tune into Underworld.
Nail, head, etc.
To say that this album is an absolutely tremendous disappointment is to say that the Atlantic Ocean is damp. Ack. :(
idoru
I think a lot of what disappoints me is that, having followed Underworld very closely over the last ten years, it's painfully obvious that what they're putting out is just unreleased live material that has been "Pop-ified". Always Loved a Film comes to mind, but the biggest insult is their bastardization of a track they've been playing in their sets for years now, and that's You Do Scribble. Think I'm talking out of my ass?
yes. I don't care if I sound like a trancecracker, but that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it, and I love it. The percussion in that is miles above what you hear in the "studio" version, and it doesn't sound like an obnoxious, synth-filled wall of sound atop a heavily-effected (despite the echo in the video) vocal track. Everybody else is applying that concept to their music, and Underworld have never really fallen under the category of "samey" until recently.
Their live performances have been where they've excelled the most in the past five years, and I hope that the shows don't fall down the same route as their productions.
Ian
Too much dubfire & PVD to be good at all.
There's a good remix of I think scribble, by Netsky but it's obviously for those with a particular taste.
Prototrance
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
What used to make them great was the way they made dance music without having any real background in dance music. I'm pretty sure they had never been involved in raving or clubbing even up to the time they made Dubnobasswithmyheadman. The result was dance music that was incredibly elegant and articulate and unusual. Seems to me the longer their career has gone on the more clubby influences they've absorbed and the less interesting their music has become. This album, with all those collaborations, is clearly nine tracks intended to be dancefloor smashes and that ain't why I tune into Underworld.
Agreed. I am truly saddened by this album. As soon as I saw the collabs I was worried, then I heard it, oh dear. Bird 1 is ok to good, would sound better if it was in the middle of an album such as Beaucoup Fish.
What worries me more is Karl Hydes vocal on this album. He actually appears to be singing about something rather than random but haunting phrases.
The melodic content is very cheesy also, not good.
Underworld used to sound like no one else, I've literally heard nothing even close to their sound. Those days are gone it seems. The last good stuff being the downloads from riverrun on their website.
FSOL went off doing psychedelic electronic jazzy , now Underworld are doing cheese and piano ballads. Next up Burial Feat' Basshunter.......
SYSTEM-J
quote:
Originally posted by Prototrance
FSOL went off doing psychedelic electronic jazzy , now Underworld are doing cheese and piano ballads. Next up Burial Feat' Basshunter.......
The FSOL are back to electronic stuff. They've done three Environments albums in the last few years, all experimental electronic ambient stuff.
Prototrance
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
The FSOL are back to electronic stuff. They've done three Environments albums in the last few years, all experimental electronic ambient stuff.
Yeah I've got Environments & Environments 2. Environments was the mystery album shown in the Lifeforms sleeve which was famously unreleased. I've got all the from the archives albums too, I thought with environments albums being released alongside the archive stuff (some environments tracks being on the archives albums) that they were also old FSOL tracks. Good news if they are new compositons (2 & 3 anyway) and we are back to experimental beautiful weirdness.
sami2203
Versant has some really awesome tracks coming up on 21st, I have heard some and already a fan. You must check it out too
