Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Looks like a new album is to drop 25th Oct :D

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/str...tel/1761865594

https://store.underworldlive.com/col...rawberry-hotel

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Not on Spotify yet.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Fantastic news! My only question is what happened to Strawberry Hotel the song? working title? shame if it was left off cos it was great

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Finally!

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

16 tracks. So... very long album, lots of short tracks, or deluxe extended edition. Interesting to see the a capella of 'Denver Luna' on there, I do enjoy reprises and linked pieces throughout an album.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I think this is a deluxe itunes version. Very unlikely to have a 15 track UW album and I don't think that the acapella version would be on a main album. I think the main album would ending with track 10.


Anyway I disappointed in the cover art. I hoped that album cover will be the same style as Denver and Red, only some blurry colors with that gorgeous UW lettering. Sadly that logo is too small on the cover and too many thing happening on the cover.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

https://a5.mzstatic.com/us/r1000/0/M...M14419.rgb.jpg

Strawberry Hotel
1 Black Poppies 2:52
2 denver luna 8:01
3 Techno Shinkansen 3:23
4 and the colour red 5:42
5 Sweet Lands Experience 4:44
6 Lewis In Pomona 5:38
7 Hilo Sky 5:04
8 Burst of Laughter 3:27
9 King of Haarlem 3:46
10 Ottavia 5:00
11 denver luna (acappella) 2:27
12 Gene Pool 9:07
13 Oh Thorn! 1:59
14 Iron Bones 4:39
15 Stick Man Test 2:35

Japan-only Bonus Track
16 Velvet Does

Total length: 01:08:24
c 2024 Underworld t/a Smith Hyde Productions

Apple Music
US: https://music.apple.com/us/album/str...tel/1761865594
UK: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/str...tel/1761865594

Qobuz
US: https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/st.../wbjl275992f9a
UK: https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/st.../wbjl275992f9a

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I think Dino is probably right. though "Gene Pool" is def strong enough for the album.

do we know if that's the cover art? if so, very unusual for UW...but then again, so was Drift. and Barking for that matter.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

All track runtimes here:
https://www.qobuz.com/nz-en/album/st.../wbjl275992f9a

Total album runtime: 68:24

That is the (digital) cover art. They could have different ones for the physical products though. High res artwork here:
https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/t...000x3000bb.png

Black Poppies is being released as a single tomorrow, and has its own cover art too:
https://www.qobuz.com/nz-en/album/bl.../puorsofzmdylc

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Still don't understand what's going on with UW. What is this silence from them? All the album infos out there but they still haven't announced nothing, WTF is gonig on??

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

There’s a lot going on in the artwork. Like the subtle picture of Rick and Karl.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

well, good to finally get news about the album.

the first single is very short though.....hmmmm.

well, time to update the discography listings again.

later
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Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Thinking digital sites may have jumped the gun? Odd for that to happen in more than one site though....

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

So...... yeah. A lot to unpack here, including no Strawberry Hotel track itself, and Denver Luna and Gene Pool being the only long tracks. And no continuing with the recent cover style, and no reason really to even have the same logo font it's so small. And a really odd choice of photos/design overall, including the Black Poppies one. And some really odd song titles, even for them. And no actual news to fans or general public announcement. And I gotta stop. Careful what you wish for.....

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Why assume that they don't have a coordinated roll-out plan for tomorrow (Friday), when the new single is actually available in the UK and US? The links that were shared were from NZ/AU where it was already Friday.

Seems to me like they get one good shot at press in the online outlets (Pitchfork, Stereogum, NME, etc.) and want to advertise the new album and new single when they can actually be purchased/pre-ordered in the biggest markets.

I imagine they also released information to retail a few weeks ago with an embargo on sharing publicly, and we saw a few minor online retailers screw that up. There's probably also a press embargo at play.

Difficult to have a coordinated international campaign and also cater to the trainspotters who are hunting for any internet morsel.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

This is closer to what I was expecting. We'll see if it fits, may end up using it instead. :(

https://i.postimg.cc/JGh18wwH/UW-Str...-1500x1500.png

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

The Store's been updated, and everything's been posted for sale:

https://store.underworldlive.com/col...rawberry-hotel

No limited editions that I can see. Just the double vinyl, and CD. Several shirts based on the tchotchkes in the album art photo, a couple lithos, and a keyring.

Also, you can sign up to be in fucking Underworld now:
https://www.iifu.club/

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I'm not gonna lie. This seems a bit of a let down for an album release. I think the only thing that will get me excited about this LP is if the track we all heard titled as Strawberry Hotel be on the album. I have no issue if they gave it another title, but the options are slim considering the bulk of the track times are rather short. This has to be the worse album cover in UW history. The artwork for Black Poppies is even better. aphasein - I think I'll use your album cover too! Don't get me wrong, I am excited for a new UW album for sure... I just don't know how I feel about this one - guess I will have to wait until October 25th to find out. I do hope some of these smaller tracks are blended into other tracks on the album.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

A few observations based on the credits on the back cover of the vinyl:

Art by YEAR0001 https://year0001.com/
Nina Nastasia appears on Iron Bones
Esme wrote and performs Ottavia. It's transcribed from Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, so it may be a choral piece (like "A Moth at the Door" in Drift).

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

R&K will be on Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC 6 Music sometime in the next hour to discuss the new album:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00228sr

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I like the artwork. Part of me feels there’s a it of hidden Easter eggs. It’s better than the Drift artwork.

Hoping I can buy from Bandcamp for a digital copy.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Wasn?t much. Just a mini pre recorded intro with them introducing. Interestingly , Karl said ?do not shuffle.? Which is in the press release.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

There's a key to the tableau in the gatefold artwork of the vinyl and CD.

Unfortunately, I don't think it will be on Bandcamp. You will be able to buy digital copies from the usual digital retailer places though, like iTunes or Amazon, or Qobuz for high-res lossless.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

well, i'm getting the LP and cd version..
but yeah, i'm sure they'll put out a deluxe version at some point.

they've been doing it for several versions.

but you could just also buy all the art and keyring and put that together too.

later
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Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I remember when Oblivion With Bells came out half the people here thought the tracklisting was fake :)

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

While the artwork is different from the messy aesthetic of Dubnobass or STITI or Barking, I don't think it's outside of their aesthetic at all, especially when you think of some of the (intentionally ugly, IMHO) single covers in the Hundred Days Off era. As for me, I think this direction is way more interesting and adventurous than the Drift project aesthetic.

I don't think I ever expected the album artwork to follow the single artwork of Denver Luna and And The Color Red... they were clearly placeholders while they settled on the art direction for the album.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

This is very cool. I'm excited to hear that.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Just got the email announcement this morning. Great news to wake up to!

Hoping ?Strawberry Hotel? (the song) will still show up under a different title.

I?m relieved that the pricing is more moderate this time around. As much as I love the high-end special editions, they?re usually a stretch for my budget, and very limited to boot. This release is much more egalitarian.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I don't know about you, but I haven't heard the whole album yet. Hard to say it's a letdown until then, especially when they say "don't shuffle".

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Slightly baffled by this negativity. I mean yeah, the cover's not a classic. Lots of short tracks and the phrase "Please don't shuffle" suggests to me that we're probably going to be looking at four side-long suites. Two of the tracks we've heard from the album so far are beatless, two solid techno tracks, so it looks like it'll have a good range of styles. The tracks heard live are promising. So... yeah, I'm optimistic this will be, at the very least, an interesting album.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Yeah, I also don’t get the pre-disappointment here. Coming up with your alternate reality for it already is a bit embarrassing tbh. I like the cover more than I did for drift, and the short tracks suggest (to me anyway) more of a big bouquet rather than some epic journey (though it could still be that!). I hope strawberry hotel the track is here under different name(s), but otherwise I’m hyped.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Think the album was finished in May from instagram. Glad it’s a short announcement until release.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

tbh I agree but given that Gene Pool live was 10 min and here it's nine, the OG version of SH may well be Sweet Lands Experience (4:44) or more likely (Lewis In Pomona) 5:38 or Hilo Sky (5:04) given it's runtime. plus, even live it sounded basically finished and correct me if I'm wrong but they seem to very rarely bin finished tracks.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Sorry, what I meant was the radio silence on when and if an LP would drop. I had just decided to stop in on the forums to see if any news came up, but nothing solid and then I wake up to an email to pre-order the new album. It didn't leave me with much anticipation like in the past. New album excitement was missed. As far as the music goes, I'm always excited to get new UW tracks regardless of style and length. I absolutely love Denver Luna (Acapella) and I am glad to see that both versions of DL will be on the new album and the "don't shuffle" comment gives me something to look forward to. Don't read too much into my rants. I've been a huge UW fan since 96 and after all these years I never skip Born Slippy.NUXX!!!

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Interestingly, I received an email from Bandcamp that targets the UW Store for the album pre-order. Not sure if this means they will have some involvement with Bandcamp. Maybe a digital copy provided with the album... question mark.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

If you've purchased from them on Bandcamp, it basically just signs you up for their mailing list, it doesn't necessarily mean they'll have any Bandcamp releases.

I see a few people mentioning a deluxe edition. Is there a reason we're assuming this will happen, or have their been any hints on that? I thought that the Drift box set was announced at the same time as the "regular" versions.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Yeah, I don't think there will be a deluxe edition. All the past ones that have had "bigger" versions (OwB, Barking, BBWFASF, Drift) were all announced at the same time as the regular editions. If they announce a deluxe edition later (in the coming weeks and days), everyone will complain that they already ordered the "standard" edition. It's possible that there could be an "expanded" edition in 6 months or a year, like some artists put out to extended the album lifecycle. But that doesn't really seem like Underworld's style. I think the album is their statement, and that's it.

Based on preliminary information, It doesn't even look like Japan is getting a bonus track this time around.

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

Maybe disappointment is the wrong word, but I even found the email announcement a bit lacking compared to previous album announcements. They've always given some depth or context, and this one was just a date and pre-order link...a bit cold really.

I'm not sure who is handling the marketing/PR right now but it's just a bit weird. Had to poke around on the shop website to get a proper description that would add to the excitement (see below). If this was written already, why not include it in the announcement? It all just lands really flat, for a band that has never been that way. In the past, these announcements always have been about sharing R & K's excitement about what they've created...not feeling it here...yet.

From the LP description:
Welcome to Strawberry Hotel.

Here, gleaming tensile techno forms clean, straight lines while scratchy acoustic guitars scuff up edges to produce ghostly audio. Poetry is snatched from the overhead, removed from the overheard; words borrowed from the ether are spun into dizzying new shapes, sometimes reappearing in new settings, twisted back to front, side to side. Each track a very different room - some soundtracked by little more than metronomic kick drum and robotic voice, others deep in layer upon layer of melody and euphoric noise - and each room unmistakably, uniquely Underworld. The only advice from Underworld?s Rick Smith and Karl Hyde upon entering: ?Please don?t shuffle.?

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

I did find it funny to get that email saying "we wanted you to hear it from us first" when the tracklisting was posted on streaming services days prior

I agree their marketing has always been bad/weird/confusing, I've gotten the sense that they haven't really wanted to make albums for a while, but do it anyway because that's what sells, and they haven't really figured out how exactly they *do* want to release their music. fwiw I think this thought process does coorelate to the ways their music has gotten fairly adventerous from Drift on, I suspect this album will have a few surprises on it

Re: Strawberry Hotel - new album out 25th Oct
 

On the CD, there’s an image of the balloon head from A Hundred Days Off and a Cuddly Bunny.

I hope this isn’t a cryptic way of telling us that things are ending.