Underworld :: DRIFT Series 1 (Caroline)

Share this ::

DRIFT carries on from the Riverrun period of live experimentation and raw, unedited vibes. It feels as though a whole other side of Karl and Rick has emerged and we’re seeing them here at their artistic peak. There’s much subtle mastery on display here, and a lot of casual and seamless genre blending and bending throughout everything. From industrial soundscapes to soaring progressive trance, to sleepy love songs, and hard acid dance tracks—some of it nearly unrecognizable as Underworld, some of it sounding like a song they could have done 20 years ago—the vast expanse of 7 discs covers an incredible body of work, with a plethora of guests and collaborators from often unexpected places. Entire first series available physically and digitally November 1st, 2019. Accompanying CD and LP Sampler Editions.

I’ve been an ardent Underworld fan for decades now. I started with Dubnobasswithmyheadman, which at the time I had to have my local record shop special order because nobody anywhere around me had even heard of this band, which I’d learned of from an IRC friend and fallen in love with almost immediately.

There was something fascinating about this trio, with their dark pop stylings arranged around nasty hard techno hooks, narrated with Karl Hyde’s dadaist mental flow. Every element was familiar but somehow, nobody had ever put together a sound like this from those elements. After Darren Emerson left the group, I felt that he took with him a huge element of the dark, hard techno vibes. Karl and Rick Smith—bless their souls—were just too happy by themselves.

A long period followed with Karl and Rick essentially carrying on trying to recreate that same classic Underworld 2.0 era sound, without Darren. It didn’t work for me. They brought in other producers and remixers—it didn’t work for me. Then suddenly, the Riverrun era of Underworld appeared, and it was clear they had thrown off the chains of the 2.0 sound and come up with a genuinely new approach, more earnestly capturing what was going on in their heads, without months of post production and perfectionism to erase that initial blast of pure soul—and it was amazing.

DRIFT carries on from the Riverrun period of live experimentation and raw, unedited vibes. It feels as though a whole other side of Karl and Rick has emerged and we’re seeing them here at their artistic peak. There’s much subtle mastery on display here, and a lot of casual and seamless genre blending and bending throughout everything. From industrial soundscapes to soaring progressive trance, to sleepy love songs, and hard acid dance tracks—some of it nearly unrecognizable as Underworld, some of it sounding like a song they could have done 20 years ago—the vast expanse of 7 discs covers an incredible body of work, with a plethora of guests and collaborators from often unexpected places.

If you loved Underworld long ago and had lost interest, I personally feel this is the time to go back and check on the boys and see what they’ve been up to lately. I guarantee you will be blown away by the sheer scope of what’s in DRIFT and it may even pull you back into the… Underworld.

If you’ve never heard of Underworld, I would strongly recommend checking out the DRIFT sampler, and I envy you getting to hear this Underworld 4.0 for the first time as a new listener.