Zoë Blade's notebook

Underworld

Dubnobasswithmyheadman
Dubnobasswithmyheadman

Underworld are a progressive house group. They evolved out of synthpop group Freur. They're probably best known for "Born Slippy .NUXX", used prominently in the film Trainspotting.

Their style typically involves a combination of four-to-the-floor house beat, Giorgio Moroder esque bassline, and stream-of-consciousness vocals, often based on snippets of overheard conversation. The result is often pretty hypnotic and dreamlike, but usually far too upbeat and prominent to be ambient.

They're clearly proponents of the composting method of remixing one track into another quite different work, and are happy to chop up a vocal into short, meaningless snippets to be transplanted elsewhere. Several of their songs evolved into quite different other songs, with the source and target both being good in their own right. For example, "Dirty" and "Dirty Guitar" led to "Dirty Epic", while "Can You Feel Me?" got repurposed into "M.E."'s intro.

Appropriately, vocalist Karl Hyde enjoys hearing people's interpretations and mishearings of his lyrics.[1] As with much art, ambiguity is a feature.

Equipment list

Selected discography

References

  1. "Karl Hyde Talks 'Cowgirl'" Underworld, Feb 2021
  2. "Underworld: The Making of Everything, Everything" Paul Tingen, Sound On Sound, Dec 2000
  3. "Rick Talks 'Rez'" Underworld, Nov 2020
  4. "Underworld Interview" Roland
  5. "Can you hold me in your dreams? Can you feel me like I feel you? Goodbye, Mother Earth." "M.E." Underworld, Dubnobasswithmyheadman, 1993
  6. "4,120 Words About Underworld" Push, Electronic Sound, May 2018, p. 41

Interviews

Artists: Aphex Twin | Autechre | Derrick May | Fatboy Slim | Juan Atkins | Kevin Saunderson | LFO (artist) | Man Machine | Moby | Nine Inch Nails | Orbital | Richie Hawtin | The Future Sound of London | The Prodigy | Underworld | Vladimir Ussachevsky | Wendy Carlos | William Orbit