Don't normally do this kind of thing here, but here goes.
It's been a while since the last proper Underworld album, not sure why that's been, must have been something going on out there in the wilds of Essex that's been keeping them occupied. Anyways, the fifth Underworld studio album, "Oblivion With Bells" landed on the doorstep over at Socialism towers last week. We've listened to pretty much nothing since. The record is brilliantly, uniquely Underworld - one of the few records released this year that actually sounds like it's been influenced by the fact we're living in the 21st century and not a post Sham 69 1979. Lyrically as oblique as ever, musically it's like a walk through the nightclub you wish someone would tip you off about, some perfect place where the records played actually make you want to dance rather than hail the first mini-cab out of there. A couple of tracks take on a Morales bounce (the single "Crocodile" has a proper Def Mix sway to it), a couple of others nod towards Brian Eno's "Apollo" album (possibly influenced by the band's work on soundtrack to the movie "Sunshine") and a couple ("Beautiful Burnout" and "Faxed Invitation") sound like fuzzy headed 5am drives through the city, returning from said perfect club, while the sun lazily breaks through on the horizon, somehow blissed out and mellow with an ominous, foreboding sense of dread at the same time. Used to be a time when every weekend was like that round here for us.
Anyways, the record is out in the middle of October, it doesn't get much better this year. Awesome stuff.
