Customer Reviews

Dubnobasswithmyheadman

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Quite simply, this is one of the all-time best "electronica" albums out there - bar none. An essential recording in the genre. It's all here, from stomping 4/4 dance-floor tracks (e.g. Cowgirl) to trippy, spaced-out ambient stuff (e.g. Tongue, Mother Earth).

Some people may find some of the songs a little too long, or too repetitive (most of the songs are at least 7-8 minutes long, and most have trancey, repetitive beats), but if you like trance, the repetition aspect will be nothing new.

Cowgirl is one of my favorite "techno" songs ever, and probably the only song that has inspired me to play air keyboards. If this song doesn't get your ass off the couch, then nothing will. Dark & Long is just that, dark, trancey, and a good, insistent groove. Skyscraper is a little harder, with a more driving beat. Surfboy and Spoonman both pick up as they go, and Spoonman especially evolves into a good, beat-driven track, which sounds much "dancier" when played at loud volume.

With a lot of bands, I skip over the slower stuff, but with Underworld, their slow songs are always imaginative and compelling. Great songs to put on an ambient mix tape and chill out by.

Always interesting and innovative, Underworld rarely disappoints, and this is where it all started (we'll forget the Undeneath the Radar era; Underworld has achieved a stunning transformation from 80's pop weenies to electronica stalwarts with alt-cred, a transformation unlike anything except for Ministry). A must.

P.S. - if you get a chance to see them live, run, don't walk. I saw them last year when they opened for the Chemical Brothers, and by most accounts (certainly mine and my freinds'), they just blew the Chemicals off the stage.

Ok, so you won't find this on Spin Magazine's top 100 list, mostly due to their absolute fear of putting anything electronic that isn't incredibly popular already, but this is an absolute masterpiece. This first electronic Underworld album is widely regarded as one of the best ever made. In my opinion it is the the best album of the 90's closely behind Radiohead's "OK Computer".

I'm not an electronica fan by any means, but this is an album whose appeal extends far beyond its genre. Let's start with the fact that it isn't all techno, exactly, at least not in the sense most people think of when they hear "techno." The guitar in "River of Bass" can't be described as anything other than "blues," and there are quite a few rock elements in use here. But the album shines even when there are none. Underworld have learned well the arts of the perfect sample in just the right spot, of the stirring wisp of synthesizer echoing from far away and ending suddenly, of the building polyrhythms, and of the brilliant keyboard hook. Their biggest achievement, however, is the addition of songwriting to all of this - songwriting, of course, being something that most electronica (and much of rock) sorely lacks. Sure, there are a few lines which deserve to go into the thesaurus under "cringe-worthy," but for every "will you be my big plaything? my ninja power, my number cruncher" there is, fortunately, an "I get my kicks on channel six" or an "I need the comfort of a stranger."

"Dark & Long" is the perfect start. It's ominous, atmospheric, and amazingly evocative. The hooks are numerous, and the way the song builds up tension with relatively low volume, just with the odd ringing clatter of the percussion in tandem with the lower, slower strings in the background, is stunning. Even the fadeout at the end adds to it. "MMM Skyscraper I Love You" works in a similar way, but adds some utterly insane imagery. Hyde's voice sounds appropriately removed from the world, and the skittish drums and jazz-on-crack synths call forth all the images in the lyrics. And then, when the song explodes into a complete frenzied mess of sight and sound, it suddenly fades out and is replaced by something much more reflective and melancholy.

No album, however, is perfect, and "Surfboy," the next "song," is a headfirst descent into mediocrity. Basically, it's an intolerably long drum solo with a couple of idiotic effects here and there, and practically no lyrics. The next song after that, "Spoonman," is marginally better, but not by much (who's responsible for that asinine "world" bit, anyway?); I suppose it might be danceable, but there's so little variety that it's just boring - and it just drones _on_ and _on_ and _on_. After it ends (not a second too soon), "Tongue" inspires a sigh of relief, for it brings us back into "very good" territory. Unlike the previous four songs, it relies completely on guitars. Like "Dark & Long," it's beautifully evocative. Of what? Of desolate evenings, of dusk, of small rooms...well, consider the song title and let your imagination run wild. It's the shortest song on the album, I think, but it's one of the best. But even so, it doesn't prepare one for what comes next.

"Dirty Epic" is, without a doubt, pure brilliance. It starts with an odd synth line that's at once gently inviting and unreachably distant. A steady driving beat is added, and over this Karl Hyde sings the best words he ever wrote, with a world-weary melancholy in his voice, occasionally flaring up with frustrated headsick anger then settling down again into resignation. By the end, with its layers of desperate guitar lines and moaning synths, and with Hyde's agitated calls for help that is nowhere to be found in his isolated neon-lit cities, the song builds up an incredible tension which it never resolves - it goes right into the blistering "Cowgirl," the album's one full-on take-no-prisoners anthem, complete with shredded vocoded vocals and abrasive solos. (Again, the title reveals the subject quite pointedly; the only way to alleviate craving for a drug is to take more of it, after all.) Then comes a respite, the gorgeously subdued "River of Bass," with its simple and unobtrusive words and its bluesy guitar.

The last song, "M.E. (Mother Earth)," is pretty good but is a bit out of place. Though it has the sound of an album-ender to it, methinks the album would have been better if it ended with "River of Bass" (and if it didn't have "Surfboy" and "Spoonman," while I'm at it). That aside, it is a good song, and provides the necessary time for one to recover from the various emotions and images that one was battered with throughout this album - an album that, though flawed, is nonetheless highly recommended.

If your my age, (we'll just say mid-20s) then you'll remember all the hype surrounding "Nine Inch Nails" back when this album came out. It was about 1994ish and everybody was listening to NIN (including me for a little while). The first time I listened to "dubnobasswith..." I found it a little bland, so I didn't listen to it again for a little while. I was always looking for harsher, heavier music. But as time went by I started playing it more and really 'listened' to it. Each time I found it to be more listenable and addictive. I find the album to be beautifully done. With each song flowing into one another perfectly in a smooth "groovy" kind of way. I only own one other cd from Underworld, but I find this one to be far superior. This music is all I need to just chill out and calm me down. If you want intense, heavy, insane electronic music listen to Cubanate's "Antimatter" or Aghast View's "Carcinopest".Great albums, but this album has just the opposite effect, a perfectly calming cd that has grown on me more than any other over the years. My copy even has a scratch on it that sort of messes up track six, but I still play it all the time. I guess that means this is a good album. The Nine Inch Nails, boy did they get old fast. The only reason those cds aren't collecting dust right now is because they're at the bottom of a pile right now. I get my kicks on channel six, what does that mean anyway? It doesn't matter.

It wasn't just that Dubnobasswithmyheadman reintroduced vocals, lyrics, and rock guitar back into the vocabulary of techno. Other collectives like Prodigy and Moby were doing the same thing around that time. But, what makes Dubnobasswithmyheadman such a landmark and why Underworld is arguably (think Orbital) the most relevant dance act today, was that on this record, Underworld defined the pop song for the rave generation.

This new music wasn't reconstructed rock or updated synth pop. These were compositions that replaced the dynamics of rock with that of the dance floor, riffs for groove and rhythm. The stream-of-conscious lyrics and simple, but elastic melodies captured the experience of emotions associated with not only the club/rave, but urban life. And most importantly, the songs, even up to 15 minutes, remained songs.

Dubnobasswithmyheadman, like Underworld's future releases, apply a minimalistic, deceptively simple approach to dance. They rarely clutter songs with samples or intricate rhythms. Rather, each element of the song is dynamic, somewhat improvisitory like jam-rock, and reveals itself as the composition flows.

Frankly, Dubnobasswithmyheadman has its flaws, particularly in the first half being a bit too long. After all, its the first record of its type, so they were still understanding how to compose techno this way. Neverthless, Dubnobasswithmyheadman is exceptional dance. "Mmmm Skyscraper" beautifully evokes the feeling of freedom in the big city. "Cowgirl" is a slamming 4/4 classic. Finally, there has never been a better pop song about the "darker side" of the rave experience than "Dirty Epic." Throughout the record, you'll think deeply cerebral thoughts, subtle, unsure emotions, and expand your conception about what techno can do. It is that good.

For almost twenty years, the British duo of Hyde and Smith have been recording as Underworld. This was their first studio album (made with the collaboration of DJ Emerson, who has since left the group), and it is a synapse-shattering example of pure electronic genius made even more impressive when you consider that its electroclash ingenuity and acid house ambiences are as powerful as anything being made today.

If you wondering what to expect, keep wondering. You can listen to this record over and over again and be surprised every time. The reason that music like this exists is because there are no words to approximate what it means or accomplishes. You could say that some songs flow like the trickle-down perspiration on the walls of unexplored caves ("Dark & Long"), that some of them illustrate the electrochemical hopscotch of viruses invading healthy cells ("Spoonman"), that some of the tunes are the aural equivalent of lazy, Missourian sedimentary fossilization, silt and grit burying half-heard secrets ("River of Bass").

I could point to similar bands, if that would help. Here there is A3's country-wise spiritualism, Morphine's coarse-ground flophouse jazz,
Crystal Method's spirit mixed with Zero 7's laconic mentality. Again, though, this is a case where the whole is much more than the sum of the parts. How to describe the wickedness of "Cowgirl" or the sonorous luminosity of "Surfboy?" Will words do "Mmm Skyscraper I Love You" any justice at all?

Nah. It's enough, I think, to say that this album is an unnerving work of art, an example of electronica that -- like electricity itself -- defies containment, defies shape, defies limitations. It charges the slow, wilful spark of precarious profundity, it rips through the impulse to think and remember, it ignites the vicious and verdant instinct to get up and move. If Cicero was right when he said that "No sane man will dance," then this record should make lunatics of us all.

This album simply grooves, from start to finish. The tempo and drive of the album fit nicely between "dancy" and "upbeat but chill", making dubnobasswithmyheadman great to listen to no matter what mood you're in.

The CD opens with the dark, groove-heavy combo of 'Dark and Long' and 'MMM Skyscraper'. Theses two track set up an infectious throb that persists through the whole album. Melodic elements slowy grow more dominant, cluminating in the beautiful combination of 'Dirty Epic'/'Cowgirl'. The energy continues to the end, with 'm.e.' providing a fitting coda to the past hour's throb.

People who hear the name Underworld and immediately think 'Born Slippy' and Beaucoup Fish will be pleasantly suprised by this album. This is truly Underworld's best effort -- still a great listen, even 8 years after its release.

now that so much dance music that fills the charts is mindless 4/4 rubbish, how refreshing it is to listen to this album 5 years on and realise exactly how far ahead underworld were. all 3 of their albums are fantastic, but this is surely the best. swoon to the wondrous 'dirty epic', dance to the magnificent 'cowgirl' (still rippin' up dancefloors today), chill-out with the gorgeous 'M.E.' and indulge yourself in opener 'dark & long' all the time revelling in karl hyde's original lyrics.

constantly challenging, this is one album that will still be getting played come the next millenium. an absolute masterpiece.

Dubnobasswithmyheadman is an all-time classic electronica cd that I still listen to after years of having it. It came out in '94, and it's amazing that ten years later it doesn't sound dated at all.

Karl Hyde's enigmatic lyrics and laid-back vocal delivery perfectly compliment the understated, ambient sounds, driven by a pulsating, mostly mid-tempo beat.

As with most electronica, these are not quickly digested three minute pop songs. Underworld takes their time adding new layers of sound, as in the track 'Surfboy'. It begins like good techno, but towards the end I'm so lost in all the sounds going on I don't realize when they were added.

One of my favorite parts of the entire cd, is the 3 minute ending of 'mmm skyscraper i love you'. It's a dreamy, hypnotic, incredibly original ambient heaven, that I would even describe as a work of art. They could have made an entire 10 minute song out of this group of sounds, because I'm disappointed when it ends.

More originality is found in the track 'tongue', a song with mostly guitar that gives the cd variation not found in other electronica.

Even the last song 'm.e.', which at first I found odd and that it didn't fit, ended up growing on me until it was a favorite.

I'm glad I found this gem of a cd years ago, which is not easy to do because American radio stations refuse to play electronica from England. Even the club-dance-techno stations here in New York, missed the boat entirely in the 90s when all the great electronica was coming out of Britian. I'm glad I didn't, thanks to the internet.

I usually don't gush over something, but Dubnobasswithmyheadman is a true electronica classic. Highly recommended.

Underworld are the true inheritors of the blues, although it's less 'I woke up this morning, my baby left me', than 'Still awake, it's morning, my baby left me'. As the title suggests, this is not a collection of easily separated tracks; more one long night-into-morning of the soul, bleary-eyed, with odd flashes of euphoria galvanising the general numbed daze.

There are discrete highlights - the neo-Simon and Garfunkel of 'Tongue'; the in(s)exorable 'Dirty Epic'; the smiling melt of 'Cowgirl' - but it's the slow, hushed, accumulative dubrush that lingers in the imagination.