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Self-professed ‘purveyors of quality handcrafted bleeps and blops since the early 80s’, messrs Rick Smith and Karl Hyde – those Romford-based pioneers of all things electronica better known as Underworld – have, in recent years, given the impression of being less a ‘band’ in the traditional sense than a fluid artistic unit existing in a state of perpetual development. The ‘dance combo’ label often rather tritely attributed to the group seems no longer to fit as snugly as it would other artists of the same perceived genre. Indeed, producing albums, releasing singles and touring said album before beginning the process over again in the clinical manner of a music industry belonging increasingly to the past, has never weighed as heavily in Underworld’s artistic psyche as the need to continue producing the multifaceted and progressive music upon which their reputation has been so conscientiously built. Nor has following fashion or contenting themselves with success already earned.
Ever since their full-length debut as the Underworld we know today – 1992’s genre-melding masterpiece Dubnobasswithmyheadman – Underworld have produced a back catalogue which, on the occasions when not conspicuously ahead of the game, has at the very least arisen from a group playing their own game according to their own inimitable rules. Their latest studio album Oblivion With Bells and their recent experiments in multimedia show no signs of this reputation for innovation waning. On the contrary, Underworld’s penchant for pushing musical and technological boundaries seems in this burgeoning twenty-first century as insatiable as ever.
From their RiverRun series of download-only releases, to live webcasts and their soundtracking of both Danny Boyle’s Sunshine and Anthony Minghella’s Breaking and Entering, it is clear that Underworld are not ones for standing still too long admiring their achievements, letting the present pass them by. Their film work in particular has pointed towards the latest development of the Underworld sound from the anthemic nineties pounding of “Cowgirl”, “Born Slippy”, “King of Snake” et al, to the more contemplative slices of electronica that can be found on their latest album and 2002’s widely underrated A Hundred Days Off. Much of their web-based experimentation, meanwhile, finds its way into Underworld’s notably improvised live performances encouraging the creative process further. In every sense of the word, then, Underworld are a band whose very being relies on the freshness that an ethos of continual evolution breeds.
This latest show of a tour that has lasted intermittently for well over a year sees Underworld’s core Hyde/Smith dyad, together with live collaborator and DJ Darren Price, promising yet another serving of the live show which has contributed at least as much to the esteem in which the band are held as the recorded output which such shows complement.
Dressed in the spangly gold jacket that will shortly make him look like a demented holiday camp turn when he gets to dancing, Hyde follows Smith and Price onstage almost immediately as the lights go down. He straps himself into his white Guild Starfire electric guitar emblazoned with black text while Smith and Price take their place within the three-sided bank of laptops and mixing desks stage right, the front side open to the crowd. With little preamble the bass riff of Oblivion With Bells’ opening track, “Crocodile”, pulses out. Brighton begins to groove.
Surprisingly, it would be the only Oblivion With Bells outing of the evening, a matter not helped by a set truncated from its usual two hours to a ninety minute, encore-free affair by the constraints of being part of the 2008 Brighton City Festival. Nevertheless, a new song going by the name of “Strumpet” followed with Hyde on bass, before its driving beat morphed tantalisingly into a few blips of “Rez” until the “everything, everything, everything” of “Cowgirl” took over.
The gig continued into “Jumbo” and another of those tunes born of recent experimentation and digital dissemination, “Silver Boots”, before the unexpected treat of “Spoonman” from Dubnobasswithmyheadman marked the start a relentless, beat-heavy drive through the rest of this shortened but no less exhilarating set.
The sublime “Two Months Off” saw the stage suddenly bordered with huge inflating columns which preceded to wilt at all angles over the set and dance in colour as the song progressed; while the “Born Slippy” which followed was preluded by minute after minute of a body-shaking build-up on top of which an electronic arpeggio climbed to almost unbearable heights until that familiar three chord riff found its way into the mix and the hands reached for the light which shone divinely from above. More paper menus hanging from the bottom of the mixing desks were ripped off by Smith and Price as they extended the track beyond all recognisable proportions, as Hyde, out front, shouted his familiar refrain to the echo of the crowd, his jacket reflecting lights as he danced in a joyous world of his own.
The set was closed with the manic insanity of “Moaner”, strobe lights strobing and sirens wailing. But when all were expecting a brief interlude prior to an encore of at least a couple more songs, the house lights came up and the crowd were left muttering to themselves their surprise. But alas, the show was proof enough of the enduring originality and vitality of a band whose music always strives to touch the soul and at its best is little short of life-affirming.
Set List:
Crocodile
Strumpet
Rez/Cowgirl
Jumbo
Silver Boots
Spoonman
Two Months Off
Born Slippy
Moaner
Links:
- UnderworldLive.com
- Underworld @ My Space
- Underworld @ Wikipedia
- Underworld Fan Blog
- Gig Videos @ YouTube
- Gig Photos
