Underworld - Classic or Dud?

£100 for the Beach Towel bundle 😮

https://store.underworldlive.com/collections/two-months-off-limited-drop

the Glastonbury Two Months Off is now out as a single with this unreleased early version as a b-side

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

The imposter-karl-hyde-underworld/ writing brought a tear to my eye. He *can* write. The beach towel made me think "Hmm".

i love the beach towel. tempted to order it but the price is ridiculous. i've ordered the 12" and I think that's probably all I 'need' to have.

All "art" has WTF moments. The beach towel is one of Underworld's. Clearly trying to cash in on the (attempted) re-opening of society this summer.

That said, they are on the Mt. Rushmore of modern electronic music (with - if I continue this silly concept - Autechre, Bjork, and Kraftwerk).

Their more recent work with The Necks cemented their "still relevant" status for me. I'd go so far as to call it their best-ever collaboration.

Nobody makes money from records anymore and touring has been on hold for over a year. That leaves merch, and while an expensive beach towel is not my thing, *somebody's* gonna buy one.

Two Months Off still sounds pretty good! Juanita Boxill's spoken word in the original version really grounded that song I thought

so is the AHDO super deluxe coming

nothing wrong with selling a fucking beach towel, especially one that says "two months off" in a kewl font, sheesh. i'd think about getting it if it were sold separately lol.

for real the towel is the most attractive thing here. I bought the Cowgirl single but I'm not going in on this.

xps They've got to be making a little bit from putting a couple of archival bits on a 20 quid 12" cmon.

loved a bit of underworld in the late nineties, seen them a bunch of times, came across this 'chillout' track by them last year and was surprised and taken with the sound, guess I missed a lot of their catalogue that wasn't shouty, moody percussive brit-techno

underworld - sola system

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ciKeiYbfy4

I made a playlist of the chiller side of UW, but not all chillout. Really just the stuff that's less played but still incredible. I called it Underworld Preferred and you can find it on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2e1kCLXPU4cypdYShxeLMC?si=x1qSVDcsSKaQ74cvyKFHxg

If you're interested in digging further into the various sides of Underworld, our poll results from last year might be fun. Here's the whole thread with rollout and discussion, or this post has youtube playlists with various versions of the winning tracks.

hey, great, will give these lists a listen

the band put together a bunch of playlists of various stylistic sides of the band a few years ago - here's the one for the ambient/chillout stuff like "sola sistim": https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0WoMpAYOApgQauW5uwTJON

listening to brotherslovedub spotify list, nice to reacquaint myself with some of the chiller stuff from beaucoup fish and second toughest....there a strong Alex patteson/the orb feeling to a few of these I hadn't heard, I really like the dubbed out stuff like 'river of bass', can't really think of another 'techno' outfit that manages to integrate a lyricist/vocals so successfully as a texture and on so many flavours of beats and songs

The single version of Dune into Custard Speedtalk on a loop as I one-two-three-four let it all go forever.

https://eternalbox.dev/jukebox_index.html

i'm almost mad at myself now for not 'getting' underworld after beaucoup fish until now. wtf was wrong with me? hyo is great and owb is even better.

i put the drift sampler on my phone for a sunrise run on a really lovely trail near the mountains the other day, having never heard any of it. halfway through my run, 'custard speedtalk' comes on and just dismantles me cell by cell while i'm chasing the sun down the trail. WOW.

:')

I remember telling a buddy who was big into UW as a teen about the Drift stuff and he said “cool I’ll check it out some day” then two weeks later he sent me a message like “I just randomly played Dune from that thing you told me, never would have guessed in a million years they could make music like this”

Custard is my favorite Drift song.

This is now a number of years old, but never thought that I'd ever see a cover of my favorite Underworld track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4OUm544GkY

Good tip-off re Dune, frogbs.

I think I got a bit, I dunno, overwhelmed by the box set in a way that stopped me hearing great tracks.

Born Slippy Deep Pan and Thing In a Book are great. Rest of it is prog tedium like Leftfield. Really hope this revival is replaced by the 90s french speedcore revival soon.

Great revival.

If Leftfield is prog tedium, what the hell should I use to insult Autechre

i just sank into 'dune' this morning, what a mood

been caning 'oblivion with bells' too. kind of a heavy record tbh, some of their best lyrics i think? the first side is immense, "ring road" is excoriating. not sure how i feel about the second side yet besides 'boy' and 'best mamgu ever' which are great.

"glam bucket" >>>>>>

i have been listening to the live sets they released after oblivion with bells... a lot

i will pay a little more attention to glam bucket next time

Leftfield sound pretty great atm actually

"Faxed Invitation" is also amazing, the part when the bass kicks in is one of my favorite UW moments

^^^ was gonna bring this up

Leftfield sound pretty great atm actually
― Tim F, Thursday, 1 July 2021 03:40 (seven hours ago)

Nah, just too close to awkward lad in bucket hat bbc radio 1 fan I want to go out with Fern Cotton. What's sounding good is the lo fi 786 approved ronseal biz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_QAiYdLZi8

But then it's aussies and Canadians who are spearheading this revival so I guess you've got to be patriotic about the worst UK products.

If Leftfield is prog tedium, what the hell should I use to insult Autechre
― Vinnie, Thursday, 1 July 2021 02:57 (eight hours ago)

Abstract Electro? I would find that a compliment personally.

They're doing Summer festivals - August 21st, Pukkelpop, Belgium - https://www.pukkelpop.be/en/bands/underworld/ ("for fans of: ... Leftfield")

which Australians and Canadians recorded and released the year of weekly Drift singles and whatnots?

I think that’s a reference to the Melbourne —> Vancouver connection thread.

Which in turn i think is probably a reference to Roza Terenzi and D. Tiffany? Though I’m reasonably sure both now life in Berlin, go figure.

I think that’s a reference to the Melbourne —> Vancouver connection thread.
Which in turn i think is probably a reference to Roza Terenzi and D. Tiffany? Though I’m reasonably sure both now life in Berlin, go figure.
― Tim F, Thursday, 1 July 2021 12:46 (seven hours ago)

Yeah. It's 2021 lads. clubbing is cloistered and boring, at least in the UK. any pretences it had to being inclusive have been elided by ever more expensive OTD prices and tighter than ever security. There's no spontaneity left in it, you have to treat a night at Printworks more like a consert. Rave utopianism was a cruel trick of history played on the good conscience of artists.

Thing In A Book was 1994, and Deep Pan was 1996. If the tens of hours of new material they've done since then (and everything between 1987 and 1996) is an annoying, tedious revival, it might be time for you to stop listening to all of it.

...and stop attending Underworld's regular fake rave utopian club nights, week after week.

I’m bemused that those two songs in particular are singled out for not being prog tedium.

I’m bemused that those two songs in particular are singled out for not being prog tedium.
― Tim F, Thursday, 1 July 2021 21:02 (yesterday)

Neither are basic channel tunes, and neither is e2-e4. The deep pan especially sounds like a very nice soulful techno track.

Deep Pan would be well served by having a lot less vocals.

Born Slippy is 25 years old now, tbh the song that made me realize techno could create actual songs (mostly because I was an indie kid fixated mainly on vocals at the time).

Tim F otm throughout the thread. Idk if he was referring to new releases from Leftfield that I haven’t picked up on, but I recently heard a pretty decent ‘ardcore tune they made in the early 90s which I could try to dig up (it was in that 1st Fabio & Grooverider show on Kiss).

If Leftfield is prog tedium, what the hell should I use to insult Autechre
― Vinnie, Thursday, 1 July 2021 02:57 (eight hours ago)

"Juanita 2022" out next Friday

listening to the Pearl's Girl 3x12" tonight and I forgot it was a 45. turns out that little sped up choppy vocal bit in the beginning is definitely Karl. idk what made me assume otherwise but it's pretty funny at normal speed..."uh uh uh ah ah ah ah"

whoa I've actually never heard the Carp Dreams - Koi mix before. wild discovering something new from a band that's been one of your favorites for like 20 years