Underworld

Barking is the title of Underworld’s first album in three years, and their first to be constructed with a brilliant cast of co-conspirators. Barking is the title of Underworld’s first album in three years, and their first to be constructed with a brilliant cast of co-conspirators. All the tracks were written by the band in their Essex studio before being given to handpicked studio heads from across the whole spectrum of dance music to add some of their style and creativity to the band’s raw material. The result is a pimped-up Underworld record and their finest collection of songs in over a decade.

From the first undulating pulses of submariner bass, the first vocals – soft like a whisper in the ear - and the first fizz of hi-hats that force along the pace, the sound is unmistakably Underworld. Electronics wrapped effortlessly around songs; streams of consciousness lyrics that form indelible images; a perfectly balanced mix of melody and rhythm. Underworld’s sixth studio album is a thundering return to form, although it’s fair to say that the band responsible have never really been below par.

Underworld are Rick Smith and Karl Hyde. They have been working together in music for thirty years since meeting in Cardiff University in the late ’70s. Following time working in various bands with luminaries like Conny Plank, Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry, Smith and Hyde (with help from DJ Darren Emerson) began experimenting with making club music in the early ’90s, first as Lemon Interupt then reactivating one of their old band names - Underworld - releasing their first single proper, Mmm… Skyscraper, I Love You, in 1993. As well as becoming the first band from the nascent ‘dance’ scene to grace the cover of a weekly music paper, they scored massive critical hits with each of their album releases (Dubnobasswithmyheadman, Second Toughest In The Infants, Beaucoup Fish, One Hundred Days Off and Oblivion With Bells).

In 2005, Underworld released the Riverrun series, a trio of downloadable mixes of new material and works-in-progress, making them one of the first acts of their scale to attempt to directly sell their own records. The band continue to release alternate versions and curios through underworldlive.com

Underworld’s continuing relationship with director Danny Boyle has seen their music used in many of his movies. In 1996 a former B-side track, Born Slippy (Nuxx), soundtracked an entire summer, selling close to a million copies when released as a single. They recently scored Boyle’s sci-fi movie Sunshine.

In the early ’90s Smith and Hyde helped co-found the design company tomato. Karl has recently worked extensively with Brian Eno on the collaborative Pure Scenius project, playing largely improvised gigs at Sydney’s Opera House and at the Brighton Festival.

Underworld remain one of the most innovative and dynamic live bands on the planet – after a series of already announced Australian dates this June, they will be touring the album extensively towards the end of the year. read more read less