Underworld – 7th Level Music

Top 40 albums of 2016 – 2020: #’s 30 – 26

We reached the top 30 of my top 40 albums of the last five years. Whittling my list down to 40 records was hard enough, how about 30?

#30: Underworld – Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future (2016)

Easily one of the most optimistic and uplifting albums of the last five years, Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future was a triumphant return for Underworld and had all of us look up to a shining light ahead that could be reached if we all worked together. The themes became more important each passing year.

#29: Blanck Mass – World Eater (2017)

Speaking of records built around synths, drum machines, and analog gear – Blanck Mass’ World Eater is a powerful record that expands on Underworld’s optimism and fuels it with some trepidation and danger.

#28: Soulwax – From Deewee (2017)

The electronic music hits keep on coming. This stunning record combines vintage synths with double live drumming to produce a wicked record that was recorded in one take. One. Take. It never ceases to impress.

#27: Cookin’ Soul and MF DOOM – DOOM XMAS (2018)

Made all the more special since the untimely passing of MF DOOM, this is not only a great rap album, but it’s also a great Christmas record. Cookin’ Soul mixes samples and beats with def(t) talent and layers them over freestyles by DOOM. The result is brilliance.

#26: Ron Gallo – Stardust Birthday Party (2018)

Zen punk. It’s the best way I can describe it. Ron Gallo created this album after doing a two-week silent Zen retreat and filled it with great hooks and rip-off-the-veil lyrics about embracing presence and impermanence. It was a shot in the arm well before the COVID-19 vaccine and songs like “Always Elsewhere” will stay relevant until some sort of global consciousness is reached.

What’s coming next? A lot of shoegaze and psychedelia, that’s what. Stay tuned.

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Underworld and Iggy Pop – Teatime Dub Encounters

Recorded over a couple weeks in a clandestine hotel room in London, Underworld and Iggy Pop (who has been living in London for a while now while spinning records for BBC 6 Music) joined forces to put out a four-song EP – Teatime Dub Encounters. The EP mixes Underworld’s electro wizardry with Pop’s gravelly vocals (man of which seem to be improvised) and memories of the past while embracing an unknown future.

Beginning with the instantly danceable “Bells & Circles,” Underworld puts down some of the sharpest beats of the year and Pop sings / raves about the “golden days of air travel” when you could smoke on airplanes, flirt with stewardesses, and do cocaine in the airplane’s bathroom. By the end, he warns, “There will be no revolution, and that’s why it won’t be televised.”

“Trapped” starts off sounding like music from a 16-bit video game but quickly builds into a track that has you moving before you realize it. Pop unleashes some vicious lyrics about being stuck in a rut. “I’m trapped and I never get out no more. I really wanted to be special, I really wanted to live in heaven. I really thought that I could be free, but all of this is coming back on me,” he laments. “Let’s hear it for Johnny. He’s got a mortgage. He’s got a house. Oh no!” He sings / rants later, pleading for Joe Average to break out of his self-built prison.

“I’ll See Big” is a mellow affair with Pop telling part of the story of how the Stooges got together. He talks about how great it was to have friends that weren’t demanding, but he later had to meet people who were demanding in order to move forward in life.

Pop gets demanding on “Get Your Shirt,” in which he expresses anger over things he’s lost now and then by signing on the dotted line. The Underworld lads, meanwhile, blast you with bright synths and early rave culture beats.

It’s a sharp EP, and it’s great to see and hear legendary performers like this teaming up to make dream projects and spin new material.

Keep your mind open.

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My top 25 albums of 2016 – #’s 10-6

We’re into the top ten!

#10

If you know me well, then you shouldn’t be surprised that a new record by Deap Vally made it into my top test list of any given year. Femejism, besides having the greatest album title of the year, is solid beginning to end with the sizzling guitar, sexy / snarling vocals, and powerhouse drumming they do so well.

The debut LP from Goggs (or is it “G0ggs?”) is the loudest, wildest punk rock record I’ve heard all year. Ty Segall, who plays guitar on the record, has quickly become one of the most prolific artists in music, and everything he puts out is worth hearing.

Of course a Radiohead record was going to be in the top 10. A Moon Shaped Pool continues the band’s metamorphosis into this generation’s Pink Floyd. It’s beautifully crafted, but a heavy listen. It might be the saddest break-up (Thom Yorke from his long-time girlfriend) record of 2016.

“Holy crap” is the way I described my reaction upon first hearing A Tribe Called Quest‘s We Got It from Here…Thank You 4 Your Service to a friend. This friend, Dee Tension, is a hip-hop producer, beat maker, and MC in Boston, and he claimed he’d been listening to it daily since its release. You might, too, upon hearing it. It’s not only a loving tribute to founding member Phife Dawg, but also a sharp critique on race, politics, gentrification, and much more.

Speaking of great returns, Underworld had another one we needed in 2016. Barbara, Barbara, We Face a Shining Future is the most uplifting and optimistic record of the year. Every song is about seeing good times ahead and remembering how every moment is divine.

We’re almost there. Who makes the top 5? Tune in tomorrow!

Keep your mind open.

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My top 10 albums of 2016 so far.

It’s been a good year so far for music. I’m finding excellent stuff every month. We’re halfway through the year, so here’s a quick recap of my top 10 records of 2016 so far.

David Bowie – Blackstar: A powerful way to end one’s career, let along a legendary life.
The Besnard Lakes – A Coliseum Complex Museum: It’s still the most lush, beautiful record I’ve heard so far this year.
Night Beats – Who Sold My Generation: This band gets better with each record, and this one is a tour de force.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Nonagon Infinity: Easily the craziest record of the year so far. You can play it on an infinite loop beginning with any track and it will repeat without any noticeable pauses, stutters, or breaks.
WALL – self-titled EP: WALL are currently my favorite discovery of 2016. They’ve brought back a fierce post-punk edginess that I didn’t know I was yearning for until I heard them.
Underworld – Barbara, Barbara, We Face a Shining Future: This record is so good that it might go higher on my Best of 2016 list by the end of the year. It’s a fabulous return for the band and wonderfully optimistic.
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool: One word to describe this record – Heartbreaking. Most of the songs are about the end of Thom Yorke’s 20+ year relationship with his girlfriend.
All Them Witches – Dying Surfer Meets His Maker: This is simply a great rock record. No muss, no fuss.
The Duke Spirit – Kin: I’m so happy they’re back and even happier that they’ve put out the best shoegaze record of the year so far.
Golden Dawn Arkestra – Stargazer: Pure cosmic funk that can induce dancing in even the grumpiest of grumps.

Keep your mind open.

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Underworld – Barbara, Barbara, We Face a Shining Future

What do you do when you’re one of the biggest electronic acts in the world and you decide to return from a six-year hiatus? If you’re Underworld, you drop what could be the comeback record of the year – Barbara, Barbara, We Face a Shining Future.

It’s perfectly timed; because Underworld’s newest record is also one of the most optimistic records of the year. We need optimism right now in this bleak political atmosphere. “I Exhale,” the first track from the record, is over eight minutes of them telling us to take a deep breath and let go of all the molehills we’ve built into mountains. In the wake of the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, it’s good to hear a song that tells us that “everything is golden” and to look toward “the light…a globe on the horizon.” “If Rah,” with its thumping beats, acknowledges that everyone suffers, but “Life isn’t shit.” It encourages us to “Have a good time.”

The opening synths of “Low Burn” could be something from a John Carpenter film score, but the dance floor percussion reminds us to “be bold, be beautiful, free, totally, unlimited.” The song bounces and soars, as if the low burn in the title references a lift-off from the planet.

The Spanish-style acoustic guitar on “Santiago Cuatro” is an interesting surprise and instantly intriguing. It borders on Middle Eastern rhythms and becomes a meditative piece with minimal percussion and odd, slightly fuzzed radio transmissions.

“Motorhome,” with its “Baba O’Riley”-like synths, gives the bluntest advice on the whole record. “What don’t lift you drags you down. Keep away from the dark side.” Life would be better for all of us if we spurned negativity and embraced compassion. “Ova Nova” is light-hearted, highly danceable, and ready for your Summer of 2016 playlist. “Nylon Strung” is a bold love song with Depeche Mode-like synths and simple, giddy-love lyrics like “I wanna hold you, laughing.”

This is a tremendous return for Underworld, and for all of us, to a world of bliss that is ours for the taking whenever we want it. We just have to be bold enough to live it.

Keep your mind open.

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Underworld release “I Exhale” from first album in six years.

British house / techno gods Underworld have released “I Exhale,” the first single from their upcoming album Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future. The track is an immediate club hit and brilliant in its simplicity of booming bass and synths, stream of consciousness lyrics, and dance beats. It’s an instant cure to seasonal affective disorder.

You can pre-order Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future (the band’s first album in six years) now. They’ll also be playing Coachella this year, so don’t miss them if you’re out west.