[dubman]

i kinda agree with -1 on moodier days... when i dont feel that we should be grateful that underworld are still making good albums when we should be wondering why theyre not making great albums. their experimentation with riverrun and jam books doesnt carry over on proper album releases, and i wonder if it's that old veteran professionalism that has rigid beliefs about what an album means or if it's just plain cowardice. they've shown that they still have a wide range of modes and abilities with the internet albums that no one but us would pay attention to, so why pull out and get cinematic (and rather irrelevant to the rest of electronic music) and hyper-polished when it's supposed to be the world listening? their print output is also the richest and most accomplished of their career (even if i miss that rawness and deceptive disconnect that's actually inextricable from their music), it seems odd that its translation into the music seems diluted, or at least strained in relationship.

you might think i'd hate OWB but i dont. it's a beautiful album with wonderfully weird flaws that i keep coming back to, but i'm starting to learn finally that my favorite artists from 10 years ago arent beating the odds. their approach doesnt get better with time just by changing things up. the more advanced in years they get the more of a struggle it is for them to produce the down-to-the-marrow-excitement that made me shake and explode. granted, their longevity is unparralled compared to others, and maybe after 10 straight years it's not fair to expect more dimensions and surprises that i've already been given by them, but i'm feeling a big disconnect that doesnt make sense between the effort they put in their work and the overall quality of the output.