'Beaucoup Fish'
At approximately 2:26 minutes into "Jumbo", I was reminded exactly of why I do what I do. "Higher Than the Sun", "Halcyon", and "Song Of life" are songs that today remain as amazing as the first time I heard them, and "Jumbo" will almost certainly be no exception...a beautiful, seven-minute masterpiece. That's not the end of it, of course, and it's not that far reaching to say that, after listening to the album for about three weeks, the opening thirty minutes of this album is the finest sequence of dance music since Orbital's techno-suite on Brown. Yes, that kind of good.
Let me run down the tracks for you:
1. "Cups"
This is a slow and groovy opener, spending the first eight minutes or so in a laid-back house vibe before closing itself out with some nice techno bits. Subtle elements gradually come into the mix...Karl's voice vocoded throughout, a little guitar here, a ride there, but nothing ever overdoing it and spoiling the vibe until changing course and gradually building you up for what's to come. A perfect opening track.
2. "Push Upstairs"
The closing techno of the previous track disappears for the harder house groove of what is the closest thing Underworld have ever come to a "single". Actually quite dark & heavy sounding, with a very recognizable chorus. It's almost a little too short and it'll be very nice to get remixes of this. By this point, it is VERY clear that this an incredibly different beast than 'Second Toughest...'
3. "Jumbo"
Absolutely incredible. It begins with a sample from down south before bringing in a FAT analogue bass line like no other. It's pace is somewhere between the first two tracks, sort of funky and quirky at the same time, before dropping in one of the most beautiful sections of warm-synth-pad-chords ever put down on a dance track. I can't do this one justice.
4. "Shudder / King of Snake"
"Shudder" provides about thirty seconds of guitar abstract before fading into the track that many of you are already VERY familiar with. The first sign of perfection, much like "Jumbo", is the bassline, and this is the much-compared "I Feel Love"-like one. However, it's isolated for a bit, many times causing you to lose where you're at until the beat drops in...this is a fantastic trick. Like I've said before, probably Underworld's best all-out dance track since the original version of "Born Slippy". It's pretty simple, but in most cases it's what you don't do that works best.
5. "Winjer"
This is the first of three very different tracks than the previous sequence of music. "Winjer" is punctuated with a strange bass/tom rhythm that provides for a very unusual listening experience. Dark chords, slightly affected voice, lyrics about "Taking your top off", and that unsettling rhythm all the way through. Not necessarily like "Stagger" but not exactly for the floors either.
6. "Skym"
A moody ballad-like track with subtle synth, Fender Rhodes-esque piano chords, and no rhythm. A little like "Tongue", but this time around instead of heavy vocoded words, we have a very vocal-driven track from Karl. The vibe is very similar to the previous track, only this time around much more subdued. We're in very different territory than the opening thirty minutes...
7. "Bruce Lee"
What's this?? If you've read interviews where you've seen album comments like "There will be sections of this album where you will ask, 'Is this Underworld?'", they're most certainly talking about "Bruce Lee". It's very hip-hop in nature, with rhythm and guitar providing the basic elements rather than synth. The vocals stagger throughout the mix before ending up each time with something like "Yeaaah...Bruce Lee." Easily Underworld's largest departure from their usual material.
8. "Kittens"
Back into more familiar territory here, with an aggressive techno driver that keeps warping out the sound out before kicking back in with an obnoxious CRAAANKK of a sound. In comparison to many of the tracks on this record, this one is probably the most like the Underworld you've come to expect from the last couple of years with "Rowla" and "Tin There", although perhaps not as abrasive as those two.
9. "Push Downstairs"
As somebody previously pointed out, this a mellow trip-hop version of the "Push" tracks, sounding a bit like a funkier version of "Stagger" with nice warehouse sounding effects on the vocals and the rhythm.
10. "Something Like a Mama"
A fantastic closer for all the new material on 'Beaucoup Fish'. A mellow bassline punctuates some dark pads while an aggressive breakbeat rhythm keeps coming in and out of the mix. Just like many of tracks on the record, it has a VERY different feel that what we're used to from the previous two albums. This one has elements that don't sound like they should work well together, but ultimately DO so well, that it's probably my second favorite to "Jumbo".
11. "Moaner"
Well, you know...it's like aural crack.
So that's that, my spotted attempt to give you an idea of how good this album really is. Much more eclectic than 'Second Toughest', but yet at the same time in such a different vibe than 'Dubnobass' that it's hard to draw comparisons to either. Underworld have managed to mix up their sound a bit, introducing us to a slew of new approaches to their work without taking away from the things that make you love them in the first place.
It's how 1999 was supposed to sound.
Scott Warner
scott@dirty.org