Oblivion with bells

Like many of, erm, a certain age, I have fond memories of Underworld. They made dance music it was all right for indie kids to like, and even now that I like dance music that would make indie kids cry, I still have a warm feeling when I hear Born slippy or Cowgirl. To tell the truth, this end of techno is not "dance" music at all. Sure, you could dance to it, but it's quite tangential to the dance scene. In its way, it was quite experimental--crossover often does involve treading new ground, much tougher ground sometimes than you'd traverse if you stuck to a genre. I look at experimental bands such as Autechre, and I think, it must be easier for them to make an Autechre album than it ever would be to make something that had broader appeal. (Perhaps unfair, because Autechre made a couple of fairly standard, although still leftfield, techno albums early in their career.)

But Underworld were not completely out of touch with the dance world, thanks to having among their ranks Darren Emerson, an excellent DJ with his finger very much on the pulse. I don't think I'm alone in thinking he kept them "honest", stopping them from drifting too far into rockery or musoland. When he left, that drift seemed to happen, and previous album NineMonthsOff was weak, with only a couple of tracks really hitting the mark.

So is Oblivion a return to the heights of Dubnobass... or Second toughest... or is it another NineMonthsOff? Sadly, it's the latter. It starts promisingly, with Crocodile, which is strongly reminiscent of Jumbo, which kicked arse. It doesn't kick arse, as such, but it is at least decent. But it's all downhill from there. I spent the whole album thinking to myself, why is this not banging? The band seems to have ideas still, and several of the tracks have the makings of good work, but too many are just halfbaked, or ruined by vocals that sound far too little like the excellent, seedy mutterings of Dubnobass... and far too much like your pissed uncle.

I wanted to love this. I remember actually being excited by the prospect of a new Underworld release--they really were that kind of band--and I would love to be telling you that this is their greatest work. It's not though. If I had to put my finger on where it goes amiss, I'd say that it lacks the palpable sense of danger that enlivened Dubnobass... (which sounds like it would come into your room in the middle of the night, chloroform you and take you up the butt), the cool tunes of Second toughest... and the dancefloor awareness of Beaucoup fish.

So, with the exception of a couple of truly horrible tracks (the MOR "ambient" thing for instance), it's not truly terrible. It's just not anything you'd want in your collection, or would ever actually buy. Which is a pity, but they're not the first band to go an album too far, and they won't be the last.

posted by Dr Zen @ 2:02 pm