Underworld - Classic or Dud?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIDas-lWuhc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhcgUodizro

these are the two Necks collaborations, taken from their recent EPs which are available to stream etc.

So are all the constituent parts of Drift a collaboration with The Necks? Two episodes each with multiple parts? You can't buy a physical copy anywhere (I know I'm old fashioned)?

no, just those two tracks are collaborative so far. the EPs are only available on streaming and for digital purchase at the moment.

You can check them all out here:

https://underworldlive.com/drift/

the extensive sleevenotes to Vol. 2 imply there are more collabs coming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJmjNTM5Ba8

buzz on the fan forum is that this is it for episode 3. No Necks to end this one. "Featuring the violin and saxophone of Georgia Ellery and Lewis Evans of Jockstrap and Black Country, New Road"

The posting for "A Very Silent Way" mentioned that they were only in studio with the Necks for a couple of days. "Karl and I spent two glorious days with The Necks at AIR studios in London exploring long improvisations based on our music for Drift and I had the time of my life with these incredibly talented, beautiful people. This initial release represents just a small part of that body of work." Sounds productive.

Loved ep 3

Drift 3 out now on iTunes and the like. No word on when/if the series will continue, though I imagine it will shortly...they're on a roll

As much as I've enjoyed the vintage techno/banger side of this on stuff like "Threat of Rain" or "Another Silent Way" I've really been digging the tunes where they just go completely outside of Underworld..."Appleshine Continuum" and "Molehill" especially. hoping to hear more stuff like that.

interesting tidbit here

https://sonar.es/en/2019/artists/underworld

Their latest project, Drift, is a self defined “journey without a fixed destination” consisting of 5 EP’s (and possibly an album)

so that's about 2 1/2 hours of material? very nice.

― frogbs, Thursday, February 14, 2019 4:45 PM (two months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

2 more? This is the only place I've heard anything about this.

You should follow UW on Instagram at least. Good diary/photography stuff from Karl and you keep up with new music and tour dates.

xp...yeah I wondered about that too. I'm guessing it was just an off-hand remark and not an actual plan...the whole point of "Drift" is that it's not planned out in advance, right? in this case I noticed that the email announcing the release didn't say "Drift continues xx/xx" like the other two

I thought they said at the start this was going to go on for a year, but maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.

It's not:

DRIFT is an ongoing experiment that will regularly publish new Underworld material – music, film, stories, etc – right here on underworldlive.com. The DRIFT series is an epic year-long road trip by the band in collaboration with Tomato and friends old and new from playwrights to DJs in jazz and techno to painters and poets.

going to add the Episode 3 tracks to my ipod now that they're all out and two of them are longer than the EP versions, and noticed that Pinetum and Poet Cat are only 160kbps

but I can't be bothered to replace with "full"-strength versions and then copy the single artwork over to the 320s

I found ep. 1 to be a tad underwhelming but ep. 2 is incredible, one of the best things they've released in years imho. I look forward to hearing ep. 3.

kinda the same way I felt about the Riverruns - the first one was "okay" (with one really great track, at least), but the second one really drove the whole idea home. Same thing happening here. Vol. 3 is very nice...that "do you wanna buy my car?" refrain has been in my head all week

apparently they're gonna clear out more stuff from the vaults in the next few weeks, can't wait

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vewj8NR08nE

Had never realised what an airtowel was until this second

I didn’t until you pointed out that was what the image was supposed to depict
I’m satisfied to have that mystery cleared up but I will kind of miss its former status in my life as a nonsense phrase

Maybe also worth noting that this is a “Born Slippy” (the original) jam as much as it is “Air Towel”, I heard this recording in bootleg form years ago and came to the same realization then

never thought of the "Airtowel" -> "Born Slippy" thing before. I hear it now. though to me the "definitive" original Born Slippy is the one on Bootleg Babies...what a corker

anyway, here's 26 minutes of "Pearl's Girl"

https://soundcloud.com/underworld/pearls-girl-jam-080624

fuck

Also these two tidbits of news:

Underworld 2019 News Coming Soon

We have some exciting news coming on the 21 May, including some new live shows. As a subscriber you will have access the exclusive ticket pre-sale. Watch out on Tuesday 👀

#DRIFT Episode 4 Starts next week

hope this never stops tbh

i feel very fortunate to be an underworld fan in 2019

You can't buy a physical copy anywhere (I know I'm old fashioned)?

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Friday, April 26, 2019 11:00 PM (three weeks ago)

Hey Nick - you can pre-order the CD now direct from the band

By the end of the DRIFT series, more new music and film will have been released by Underworld in its one-year duration than in the last fifteen years.

Born lippy: how I helped Underworld write a socialist banger

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/21/born-lippy-helped-underworld-write-socialist-banger?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Obviously not about me, I didn't help them.

nice, about today's new (bonus?!) track.. haven't got to listen yet.

I hope Sue Tompkins (Life Without Buildings) shows up somewhere along the way. Karl mentions discovering/meeting her in the episode 2 notes!

ordered the box set immediately

today’s track seems like it might be a “proper” single - not on Thursday, no free download, serviced to radio (well, to one DJ), tied to print media coverage, &al. also it’s a belter!

I’d guess the next chapter starts on Thursday, to ride the promo wave

yup it do

the track in the announcement video sounds awesome...wonder what it is

really digging the new "Soniamode". sounds like a proper track now

https://youtu.be/D_c0cnV5hGk

so this pretty much confirms what that one interview I alluded to above said - it'll be 5 EPs plus a studio album, though I'm curious as to what exactly the album's gonna be...will it be a 'best of', or will the tracks be remixed, edited, smashed together? or could it be new stuff?

really digging the new "Soniamode". sounds like a proper track now

― frogbs, Tuesday, May 21, 2019 6:40 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm this rips

I'm curious as to what exactly the album's gonna be...will it be a 'best of', or will the tracks be remixed, edited, smashed together? or could it be new stuff?

DRIFT SONGS expands and enhances a selection of the recordings from the DRIFT Series since since it began in November 2018.

So I'm assuming some of the other tracks will get a treatment similar to what they've done with Soniamode.

DRIFT #4 starts on Thursday and if it's running for 12 months presume there'll also be at least a DRIFT #5 and probably #6

well its supposedly 7 discs which includes a Blu-ray & the album itself which suggests there will only be five, BUT they could probably spill 6 across 5 CDs, especially since they'll have to split up EP 2 anyway

yeah, I assume they're just going to fill the CDs, rather than breaking the arbitrary Drift "episodes" onto specific discs

This is on their FB page.

"nearly halfway through" !!!

We’re now nearly half way through our #DRIFT series. We really hope you’ve been enjoying listening and watching as much as we have had creating. We will be releasing a full album: DRIFT SONGS in October to the conclusion of the 52-week series:

great new track out, the one heard a bit last week when they had the video announcing a coming announcement!

No download? But it's on streaming services.

Funny thing about the nearly half way, yeah. Doesn't really make sense given the Oct 25 album release.. but it could mean there are 6 episodes rather than 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFXVQJb_Bpg

this is, of course, completely fucking killer

whoa, this is right up there with "Two Months Off"

though I think they might have recycled the "Skyscraper" bass line ;)

No download? But it's on streaming services.

Available on itunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/listen-to-their-no-single/1463935549

and Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Listen-Their-No-Underworld/dp/B07RXZPB6M/
(who also have the Aditya Soniamode: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RXXTTNJ/ )

IIRC the first track in Episode 3 was also purchase-only, no freebie?

As yes you're right - same as the start of episode 3. Not sure where I got my Dune MP3. Anyway I ordered the box :D

i like how they put it out early in the day - that was new. Had it on repeat driving to work!

yea I've probably listened to it a dozen times already. woke up with it stuck in my head. starting to get really jealous of everyone who gets to go to those shows, there are so many new tracks that would just be killer live

This thread gives me the impression that Underworld has, in the last four months or so, released approximately 138 hours of can't miss, best-they've-ever-done material.

i'm on record as someone who enjoys the AHDO/OWB/Barking albums to varying degrees but i think they're re-peaking w/BBWFASF and this project.