why don't you poll me I feel like flying to... the UNDERWORLD Poll Results thread -- produced by Smith & Hyde for ILM Artist Poll #102

Yeah, this was def one of the finds on listening to the box set properly

it's quite good but i wish it had a little more to it

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/interupt-appleshine.png

Originally a 3-minute youtube video to commemorate Underworld's first Northern Irish gig in 2018, expanded to a nine-minute free mp3 to launch the second phase of Drift in 2019, expanded mightily through The Necks some weeks later, and then reinterpreted again for the box set, Appleshine would have placed right here on title-only votes: 9, bestowing 362 points.

Apple Shine For Belfast video by Simon Taylor
Drift video by Simon Taylor for Tomato

like "tree and two chairs" just takes a while to really get good idk

still one of my favorites in the set. I really love the drums, as repetitive as they are

the fact that the original Ep 5 version deleted the keyboard bits is still nuts to me

"JAL to Tokyo" is great as well. IMO the Tokyo live version from '05 is the one to hear

https://media.giphy.com/media/JUvohC6n9tyqXVo2is/giphy.gif

hell yeah. Appleshine+Continuum in the top 10 for sure

It's true, this is from a Ronald Reagan press conference

That's it! Thank you. This has been bugging me.

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u059-020657.png

59. Faxed Invitation
363 points, 8 votes
2007 album track from Oblivion With Bells

audio
audience audio 2005
jam audio 2008

definitely too low, absolutely gorgeous tune

Faxed Invitation is also a sleeper worth spending time with.

― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, October 24, 2012 1:54 AM

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?

― lukas, Friday, October 16, 2009 2:12 AM

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

― lukas, Friday, October 16, 2009 2:17 AM

https://i.imgur.com/IvrwSiV.jpg

A life without Faxed Invitation, Peach Tree, Trim, Best Mamgu Ever, Oich Oich, 8 Ball, Thing In A Book, and River of Bass is a life not worth living.

― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, May 31, 2018 2:19 AM

sounds like a full evening.

This is one of those that always sort of floated right by me... but listening for this and the praise it got, i wound up voting for it

65. To Heal (And Restore Broken Bodies)
... uncut on Songs For Tibet

Another discovery here. This is weird..lol

Rick's dad on vocals!

ah cool

"faxed invitation" is literally perfect, think it was in my top ten

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u058-978304.png

58. Winjer
372 points, 9 votes
1999 album track from Beaucoup Fish

VHS promo

Although not a highlight from the album that pummelling bassdrum pattern on Winjer is pretty novel and makes me wish they'd experimented more rhythmically on that level.

Well, okay. Having had an opportunity to at least listen to the first half of _Beaucoup Fish_, I'm somewhat staggered by how much I actually LIKE it! Granted, it's all stuff I've heard before, but if the rest of the album holds up, I'm going to have to temper many of the negative things I've said about them.

― DJP, Friday, January 19, 2001 12:00 PM

So, after that initial euphoric burst, I've come down somewhat on encountering "Winjer", although I note that as far as vaguely-ambient Underworld nonsense goes, it's pretty damn cool. So, we're still in the plus column...

― DJP, Friday, January 19, 2001 12:00 PM

https://i.imgur.com/xDWSIdW.jpg

I'm voting "Winjer" so it doesn't get shut out

fuck "Bruce Lee"

― DJP, Wednesday, July 6, 2011 11:19 PM

"Winjer" and "Kittens" were the songs that made me stop just dismissing this album out of hand and really LISTEN to it, at which point I realized that "Push Upstairs" wasn't the plodding mess I'd claimed but was actually bludgeoning awesome.

― DJP, Wednesday, July 6, 2011 11:51 PM

I had Winjer high up on my ballot - it's a really beautiful ambient track, except with pounding kick drums.

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u057-601792.png

57. Between Stars
376 points, 11 votes
2010 album track from Barking

official video by Michael Horsham
DVD video by Dylan Kendle & Jason Kedgley
audience video 2009

yayyyy

live audio 2010 (link at 38:55)

Between Stars is a superior euphoric house banger to Always Loved imo - the latter is a little ploddy, if I can go against the tide.

― rhythm fixated member (chap), Saturday, September 4, 2010 12:04 AM

oh yeah between stars was aite too

― deej, Saturday, September 4, 2010 12:29 AM

https://i.imgur.com/tnMR1fo.jpg

still love barking, some of my favorite underworld jams are buried in the second half like "between stars" and "grace"

― BradNelson, Wednesday, March 21, 2018 7:33 AM

fan cover

Barking was full of bullshit collaborators. It wasn't really an Underworld album.

― brotherlovesdub, Friday, March 11, 2016 7:49 AM

it's still really great imo

― BradNelson, Friday, March 11, 2016 7:50 AM

also "between stars" is evidence they should compose with darren price more often

― BradNelson, Friday, March 11, 2016 7:51 AM

^^^^^^^^

― DJP, Friday, March 11, 2016 7:52 AM

+1 for Darren Price

― brotherlovesdub, Friday, March 11, 2016 9:19 AM

is the line on this "Everybody cram" ??

choon

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u056-960281.png

56. Brilliant Yes That Would Be
378 points, 8 votes
2018 digital single

video by Simon Taylor
extended album audio

this one is great, i don't think i rated it though -- i have a hard time rating their more ambient stuff because it's not what i "expect" i guess when i am going thru a bunch of underworld music? my ballot is embarringly in the "yes but can i dance to it" camp

dance slower!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bhhf8TUnk3n/?utm_source=ig_embed

Nice 'n moody - Fenneszy guitars in the last part

― willem, Tuesday, April 10, 2018 6:56 PM

Absolutely love this. Something tells me it's not a conventional lead single though. I'm still guessing we'll get something closer to Riverrun this year rather than a standard album.

https://i.imgur.com/WRtZdI7.jpg

I've listened to electronic music long before there were synthetic drum beats attached to it. Dance music is great, but electronic music without the constants beats is also fantastic, and there is also a place for it. The mind picks up the rhythm in music and silently plays in your head, which I think allows the brain to better react in a more creative way, instead of being sledgehammered by an unrelenting beat. Don't stop. Please live forever. This is Love. Heartbreaking.

that guy otm

Also appreciated DJP's Beaucoup Fish journey!

https://media.giphy.com/media/J5ALczinm6l0GRh91A/giphy.gif

no no no too soon

“Winjer” and “Kittens” are 100% responsible for me transitioning from “I like some Underworld songs but on balance… I don’t trust them artistically” to “I fucking love this band and the rule, who cares if I dislike some of their output”

Winjer and Kittens are both amazing

"Brilliant Yes" just missed my ballot. Love the combination of sounds they use

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u055-201263.png

55. Something Like A Mama
384 points, 11 votes
1999 album track from Beaucoup Fish

VHS promo
live audio 1999

xps... funny. I got into them a little before Fish and love those first two Mk2 albums front to back. Skym, Winjer, Mama, and to a lesser extent Kittens was the first time I was like, well, they can't all be classics. This thread seriously going to make me go back and listen to the back half of Fish extra close, lol

if you're wondering who voted for Something Like A Mama, it was me.

― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, July 7, 2011 2:27 AM

"Something Like A Mama" (jungle-inflected track like "Pearl's Girl" with its tongue in its cheek) and of course "King Of Snake". It's a strong album.

― Tim, Tuesday, October 17, 2000 11:00 AM

Mama Nuxx Jam audio 2000
fan piano cover

https://i.imgur.com/msusGar.jpg

"Something Like A Mama" is one of the few completely static Underworld tracks I like, largely because of those swooping synths and the breakbeats.

― DJP, Thursday, November 11, 2004 12:15 AM

There is no mention of Darren Emerson here, but I think he contributed a lot to Underworld

I see Drift series as something else, but otherwise he was involved in the four best albums of theirs - dubnobasswithmyheadman, Second Toughest in the Infants, Beaucoup Fish and Everything, Everything

ctrl + f ;)

saw them in concert twice during that period and it felt he brought a lot to their sound, at least live

only mention in thread earlier:

Can someone explain to me what, exactly, Darren Emerson was doing in Underworld, with examples provided from the recorded music? I can one sound in "River of Bass" that seems to be emanating from a DJ and aside from that I figure him for dead weight. If I'm out of it, enlighten me quick.

― roxymuzak, Thursday, July 10, 2008 12:48 AM

Cute. At some point (after it turned out they weren't lost without Darren, as some feared at the time) I did a little Googling to see if there was any clue about their division of labour in writing or in studio, but no one seemed to really have a clue.

https://i.ibb.co/ZYTCCrZ/zepp-rickhands.gif

no no no too soon

― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, June 12, 2020 9:46 AM (two hours ago)

http://ghostable.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u054-128579.png

54. Listen To Their No
385 points, 8 votes
2019 digital single as part of Drift

video by Simon Taylor

No way!!! Come on people!!!!

this is, of course, completely fucking killer

― BradNelson, Thursday, May 23, 2019 10:29 PM

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

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

― frogbs, Thursday, May 23, 2019 11:30 PM

Sydney Opera House live promo

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

― frogbs, Saturday, May 25, 2019 1:15 AM

https://i.imgur.com/YMVNmlE.jpg

I first heard "Doot Doot" when I was 8 years old. I'm 45 now, and had no clue I'd be enjoying this music MY ENTIRE LIFE.

Jesus, I still can't get over this. Gotta admit, I was losing the love after the last 2 albums. In fact, the last time I really loved any Underworld tracks was Downpipe and Scribble. This is another level.

this put me into tears on first listen. it's a modern, reinvigorated Two Months Off. truly one of the best tracks to come out of DRIFT thus far

audience video 2019

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.

― Eric H., Saturday, May 25, 2019 2:44 AM

lol that last quote cracks me up

"Something Like a Mama" is so good, easily my favorite on the back half of BF. Love how it glides between the light and heavy beats effortlessly