Underworld Articles 2010

[TheBang]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/music/news...0646551&pnum=0

Karl talks about "being best mates with Rick" (aww), and "'We've recorded hours and hours of material together,' says Hyde of their collaborations with Eno."

[Bargo]

Part two of the inthemix interview from earlier. "Not since Second Toughest in the Infants have I felt this buzzed about taking a record out." says Karl on playing Barking live.

[TheBang]

Karl Hyde tour diary from Italy:

http://www.spin.com/gallery/tour-gal...gn=spintwitter

Also, interesting bit from the last page:

Hyde says American shows will happen "before the end of the year," but can't reveal exact dates just yet. In the meantime, before Barking hits Sept. 14, Underworld will play throughout Europe, and a new exhibition of Hyde's paintings will go on exhibit in Japan in late August.

[Troy McClure]

Real nice read with Karl, and great bit of news about the US. Hopefully somewhere that I can make.

Can you feel it....
Jason

[Dirty0900]

Lovely article, must be thousands of photos stashed away in the vaults.

[TheBang]

[unwound floors]

And the next question: why is there no MDMA in Australia right now? PLAYER-HATERS!

[ndrwrld]

because Toronto has it all !

[unwound floors]

Originally Posted by ndrwrld

because Toronto has it all !

RUDE. Didn't your parents ever teach you to share?

[razorpilot]

There is an article in today's Times newspaper, titled 'The Veterans of Techno return'. It is subscriber only content, so I have copy and pasted:

THE VETERANS OF TECHNO RETURN

With Underworld and Leftfield deep into middle age, can they still cut it for young, hedonistic clubbers? Plus, download our Nineties Dance iMix
How old is too old? According to Karl Hyde, frontman of the techno pioneers Underworld, “Too old equals dead. When there’s no more hope is when you’re not alive any more.” The subject of age in rock music is no longer taboo, so familiar are the images of Mick Jagger and co strutting their stuff at a pensionable age. But when it comes to dance music, we are entering uncharted waters. Hyde, 53, and his musical partner in Underworld, Rick Smith, 52, are part of the first generation of dance music producers who were active when the scene exploded in the early Nineties to enter middle-age. Many of their distinguished contemporaries are also still going strong — the Hartnoll brothers of Orbital (Paul is 42, Phil, 45) re-formed in 2009 and played a triumphant set at Glastonbury this year, and at 49, Neil Barnes is taking Leftfield back on the road again for the first time in a decade. And that’s without getting started on the extensive list of superstar DJs — Paul Oakenfold, Fatboy Slim and Andrew Weatherall are all 47 — who are still making a mint from playing records, despite being at an age usually associated with M&S jumpers and embarrassing dad dancing. However, not everybody is happy: the team that compiles the Radio 1 playlist (the coveted list that guarantees daytime plays) recently denied a slot to Underworld’s new single Always Loved a Film. The reason: they were “too old”.
Not that Hyde looks it; the impish twinkle and boundless onstage energy make him a walking advert for prolonged involvement in dance music as a way to stay young. Underworld are about to release their eighth studio album, the stunning Barking, which should result in a return to the limelight for the band who became etched in the collective consciousness when Born Slippy NUXX was featured on the soundtrack to Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting in 1996. Prior to that, it was with their 1994 album, Dubnobasswithmyheadman, that they found favour with the ravers; a collection of after-hours epics that juxtaposed the alienation of urban life with the hedonistic rush of late-night excess — a state of euphoric melancholy revisited on Barking.
Hyde and Smith’s musical relationship dates back to 1979, so with Barking it was important for the duo to maintain the creative spark and they achieved this by working with younger artists. “Collaborations throw up really interesting possibilities,” Hyde explains. “It’s a great way to take on board fresh ideas and move forwards.” The producers the duo chose to work with included the drum’n’bass DJ High Contrast, the dubstep producer Appleblim and house stalwarts Mark Knight and D. Ramirez. All the collaborators have enhanced the distinctive Underworld sound with a flavour of their respective genres, resulting in Hyde and Smith’s most accessible (and commercial) album.
The recording process was the continuation of a long-held Underworld philosophy. “We come from that Miles Davis school of reinvention. Listen to what’s going on around you and grow,” Hyde explains. “As one gets older you become more refined in your thinking and there’s a disconnection with your youthful exuberance, devil-may-care excitement about everything — and that becomes tedious. It’s the kiss of death. Miles wasn’t afraid to bring in younger people and learn from them.”
This willingness to innovate is bringing in a host of new admirers. “Our audiences are getting younger,” Hyde chuckles. “We played the iTunes festival at the Roundhouse in June, and there was almost a brand new audience at the front who were having it, singing along to the new stuff like Scribble and Always Loved a Film.”
Leftfield’s Neil Barnes, fresh from a tour that took in European festivals, agrees. “We’re playing to mixed crowds, from old Leftfield fans to really young audiences who also seem to know about our music. Maybe people are more broad-minded now ... when we started making music we were so opinionated. If it was old you weren’t into it. Young people now don’t seem to be closed off.”
A wide age range is the norm for a rock gig, but the older clubber can look like a sad case. So what do the latest generation of clubbers make of dancing to music being played by people perhaps older than their dads? “It doesn’t bother me,” says 19-year-old Luke Roberts. “I’ve been listening to their mixes since I was a kid. I’m just glad they’re still playing. Sasha, Weatherall — they’re legendary figures to my generation.”
Even the current crop of dance producers are hankering for the past. The dubstep producer Skream is moist of eye for the pre-internet era when DJ mixtapes were passed around by hand. His underground smash Burning Up was an inspired homage to his older brother’s collection of old-school hardcore records.
All of which reinforces Hyde’s theory that the pertinent issue is simply: “Is it any good? Is the music turning people on?” He adds: “When we first came into dance music at the end of the Eighties, what surprised me was that there was no age discrimination — it was about the music. We’d go to Soundshaft, Heaven and the Drum Club and there’d be young people dancing to music played by DJs who were considerably older than them. Nobody gave a damn how old you were. The beauty of dance music is that it’s about dancing — why should anyone discriminate?”
Why indeed? Radio 1’s decision not to playlist Underworld is curious, given that they weren’t deemed too old to headline the Radio 1 Essential Mix (the slot overseen by Pete Tong, who turned 50 this year) in Ibiza in August. And not too old for plays from the übercool specialist DJs. “Zane Lowe, Annie Mac and Huw Stephens are playing our tunes,” Hyde says. “They wouldn’t be playing them if it was going to make them look bad.” For Underworld’s manager Mike Gillespie a bigger concern is where the electronic/dance acts can go once deemed “too old” for Radio 1? “There’s no Radio 2 for us rave fellows,” he says, ruefully.
But Hyde and Smith aren’t reaching for the pipe and slippers just yet. Underworld are off on another gruelling world trek, taking in Australia, the US, Japan and Europe. How will they cope with the demands of a world tour? “I stopped drinking 12 years ago,” Hyde explains, the result of a period of alcoholic oblivion in the mid-Nineties when he wasn’t just shouting “lager lager lager”. “That really helps. I felt a lot worse 12 years ago I can assure you! I’m just tired now.” Tired maybe, but definitely not past it.
Barking is out on September 13. Underworld play the Forum, London NW5 (020-7428 4080) on Sept 16