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

xp yeah tbh the intros of those two are awesome played at the same time.

woo Team Nuxx!

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u014-248926.png

14. .NUXX
1068 points, 18 votes, 1 #1
1995 12" b-side, later A-side and remixed into infinity

1996 video by Graham Wood
2015 video by Creative Commission

live audio 1994
audience audio 1996

(inc 1 austerity vote for the Radio Edit, a 3:53 US-only edit, vs eg the Short version (4:23) or the Short Edit (3:45) on UK singles)

Choon

(xp to the covers) ugh there's something about anyone other than karl singing that song that just makes people sound like they're boringly mumbling in the worst way

exception: whoever uverworld is, that cover is great

lol @ that glass of lager lager lager lager

I guess this one is alright

shouting

Love this comment from the band's official Youtube channel:

Born Slippy is british slang. It means quick and alert. The band got the name from a greyhound they won money on at a romford racing track. The term mentally applies to someone who is on pills (specifically esctasy because it was the buzz drug of the 90's) or someone with anxiety because in both situations you'd have racing thoughts and would not be able to calm down and keep still. A stoned person who is zonked out and relaxing is not born slippy. The pacing of this track along with the way it is edited from euphoric keyboard choir and synth stabs visually expressed with long single frame shots to frantic drum pounding shown with lighted quick snippets of film is meant to represent the intake and come down of the effects of a drug. People on drugs like ectasy have heightened sensors and move and react quickly and twitching fashion this is visually expressed in the video with it's onslaught on flashing text and lights as well as Karl rapidly bobbing his head as if he was possessed. Born Slippy is structured like a trance song because it has a epic build up and break down but it really is more of a techno song. I would classify this song as tech trance

listening to born slippy nuxx right now and it sounds so familiar, yet so fresh

― dyao, Tuesday, May 18, 2010 1:14 AM

what other british electronic music making duos am I missing out on (besides psb & I guess electronic)

― dyao, Tuesday, May 18, 2010 1:16 AM

live on The Apocalypse Tube 1999, Darren Emerson's last involvement with the group
Born Slippy Nuxx 2003 video by Danny Boyle

NUXX hit hard, everyone in the place went nuts, amazing. Every segue brilliantly played. This show honestly ranks among the greatest experiences of my life. Like being in church (when I liked church)! /hagiography

― roxymuzak, Sunday, March 30, 2008 5:28 AM

live video Australia 2003
would place at 12 combining votes with Long Slow Slippy restretch / Slow Slippy T2 promo

can anybody give me an explanation over the song born slippy? Tell me what is behind the lyrics... thnx

― bart, Sunday, January 19, 2003 3:23 AM

Born Slippy is about placentas.

― TOMBOT, Sunday, January 19, 2003 4:50 AM

https://i.imgur.com/OGq1IiH.jpg

would place at 10 combining Deep Pan remix / b-side and Slow Slippy

Ronan so completely otm in first post re: vocals as essential rhythmic backbone of song. "NUXX" -- I've never seen people dance to what amounts to a ringing chord and a vocal til I saw them play this live.

― roxymuzak, Sunday, March 30, 2008 8:46 AM

"We live in a field! We come from Essex! I wasn't always like this, you know" live on The Culture Show, 2007 (facebook link, public video)
live video 2010

A new 'ed on a waitress's pay? You're avin' a bubble. xpost

OK, NUXX time. Are people generally aware of a German trance tune from 1992 that has some very similar sounding pad chords? I've posted it before actually.

the "we live in a field" link is a fuller version of the one maffew posted up there btw. if you're only going to watch one of these videos, I recommend that one!

I rather like the Creaking Planks cover, but they aren't doing anything intersting with the vocal arrangement, yeah

here's another weird one! A headphone concert on a rooftop in Shibuya. Fan clip of 'If Rah' from that show.

Actually more euro techno than trance. I mean...?

Mediteria - Trance-Dance (Monoton Mix)

https://youtu.be/HSOLTDuNK_I

There's also an official clip of If Rah from that show, which is pretty dope but presumably edited down hugely.

nuxx greatest alcoholism banger

imagine maintaining a hardcore addiction on lager though. thank goodness Karl got sober, though maybe if he'd discovered premium tequila earlier it would never have been a problem.

i'm very belatedly going through the youtube list. y'all remember how good "doscientos" is

is "doscientos" the only underworld track with a sick sax solo

Mediteria - Trance-Dance (Monoton Mix)

wow, this is VERY nuxxy

Wow I was the only person to #1 this? It's weirdly low? This was the track that got me into Underworld, and during my first rush of college/raving/lager&etc, so maybe I can't evaluate it fairly, but for me the back half of the song beats anything in the UW catalog, and maybe any other electronic track I know, as a pure banger. It just does not stop building. Transporting.

i believe you'll find it's spelled "trainspotting" glad to help

nah but seriously i ranked this fairly low (i mean lol it was still top 30, and i ranked that weird slowed down version even higher) simply because while it is still monumental and incredible, it's definitely the one song in their catalogue i can safely say i may have heard enough times by now

Trainspotting xpost TIMING!

I was mildly surprised by only 1 #1, but not that it's merely top 15: for all its great merits, the song is exhaustingly overplayed in a way that no other Underworld tracks have ever had a chance to be.

lol xpost Will

Glad this is out of the way :)

Dark & Long the lowest thing in the list.

"Dark and Long (Dark Train)" > "Born Slippy (NUXX)"

https://youtu.be/o0J3Wyn0f5M

djp otm

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/interupt-rez.png

With 1096 points from 19 voters, the 1993 12" Rez would have placed at 14 if counted alone. We might hear its arpeggios later on, but here's a few chances just in case.

video*
live audio 1996
live video 2005
fan cover on the Buchla Music Easel

*credited here to John Warwicker, though Robert Shackleton is credited for Rez on the Footwear Repairs By Craftsmen At Competitive Prices VHS

I didn’t vote because there’s way too much I haven’t heard but I feel it’s safe to say I would have #1’d dark train

i just glanced at my ballot to get a sense of what tracks were remaining and hoo boy *cranks up the volume on the bangers*

I have listened to Rez and Cowgirl for over 25 years, including the live version on Everything Everything and have never even considered that they are versions of each other

I’m still not convinced

I didn’t vote for Nuxx because although I like it I never need to hear it again.

Not that it would've ranked high enough for my taste, but I similarly think of "Tin There" as it's own discrete song but hey, it's sic's poll.

Yeah, not a complaint, it’s kinda a unique feature to their catalogue!

the whole point of counting sibling tracks both separately and together is to represent the broadest spectrum of opinions, and to enjoy nearly as many versions as possible along the way. PLUR!

i just glanced at my ballot to get a sense of what tracks were remaining and hoo boy *cranks up the volume on the bangers*

let's. crank. those. bangers.

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u013-floofxiii.png

13. Chonky Floof
1199 points, 18 votes, 1 #1
2003 exclusive track for Raubkatze Tierheim covermount

audio

Embarrassed I had to google that in case it was some web only deep cut I’d missed

ok who #1'd this reveal yourself

Yeah, Rez and Cowgirl are definitely discrete tracks imo xps

oh, sorry, we accidentally started posting DJP's ballot

http://ghostfood.uk/public/ilx/underworld/u013-299028.png

13. Banstyle/Sappy's Curry
1215 points, 19 votes, 1 #1
1996 album track from Second Toughest In The Infants

Banstyle video by Dylan Kendle
full length audio
audience audio 2000

oh hell yeah

I often think that Banstyle/Sappys Curry is my favourite track of the '90s. Bland is the last thing I'd describe it as. The first half hour of that record I think are amongst the best half hour of music I've ever heard. Not to worry, we're obviously looking for different things in it.

― KeithW, Friday, January 28, 2005 5:07 AM

I can empathise a bit with those who found Second Toughest a bit too sleepy, I did too at first, but I think you just need to listen closer...the section where Banstyle gradually morphs into Sappy's Curry is probably the most organic sounding bit of machine music I can think of ever, anywhere.

In fact, I think I've just convinced myself - the reason underworld are better is that orbital, for all their greatness, still always sound like they're making music with computers. Underworld manage to transcend that.

― JimD, Wednesday, November 3, 2004 12:19 AM

that opening line..."if they don't know, they don't know, they're gonna find out soon enough"

it's so hot

Should've been top 10