Zhanteimi

The first time I ran across "digestive biscuits" was in Japan years ago. I was like, pfft! Stupid Japanese don't know how to use English. Then I found out that "digestive biscuit" is an actual thing from England. Stupid me.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

innerspaceboy

ATTENTION fellow MSTies! The moment I learned that this existed, I tracked down the tiny record label and snatched up a copy for myself!

Here's the cover art for the red and black swirl vinyl limited edition soundtrack to the worst film ever made - MANOS: The Hands of Fate!



Produced from the original 35mm soundtrack negative, restored to all its craptastic glory by Steve Addabbo at Shelter Island Sound in New York City; this is the definitive audio edition of MANOS!



Only $18 from a crazy tiny label called ShiptoShore PhonoCo in Brooklyn, the MANOS soundtrack LP is the ultimate cult keepsake for any vinyl collector who grew up with MST3K.

It's so wonderful to see the great care taken to restore and re-release this bizarre 1966 cult film, written, directed by, and starring a fertilizer salesman from El Paso, Texas who made the film on a bet.

The film remained largely unknown for nearly 30 years until it was featured on what became one of the most beloved episodes of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 in 1993. And after the original 16 mm work print was discovered in California in 2011, a Kickstarter project led to the production of a vastly superior Blu-Ray edition and this terrible soundtrack!

BUT WAIT -- THERE'S MORE!

The HD restored Soundtrack of Fate is available in its entirety in multiple formats on Bandcamp for any price you like via a Creative Commons license! The site accepts donations to the restoration project, and in addition to the soundtrack offers special edition posters and t-shirts as well as the restored Blu-Ray release of this bafflingly awful film!



Visit their official Bandcamp page and name your price for the score to this stinking cinematic suppository.



"The Master will approve!"

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innerspaceboy

Now Playing: Thom Yorke's Tomorrow's Modern Boxes deluxe vinyl edition.

Noteworthy as the first album released using BitTorrent's "pay-gate" feature, Yorke expressed that it was "an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to people who are creating the work." He explained in his press release:

"It's an experiment to see if the mechanics of the system are something that the general public can get its head around … If it works well it could be an effective way of handing some control of internet commerce back to people who are creating the work. Enabling those people who make either music, video or any other kind of digital content to sell it themselves. Bypassing the self-elected gatekeepers. If it works anyone can do this exactly as we have done."

A commercial and critical success, the album was downloaded over a million times within six days of release, and became the most-downloaded legal torrent of 2014; by February 2015, it had been downloaded over 4.5 million times.

I made sure to purchase the vinyl edition to serve not just as an agent for music but as a historical artifact of the war over digital media.

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Zhanteimi

Hipster everywhere approve, too!

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic

innerspaceboy

On this day of nationalistic fanfare, let us not lose sight of the battle for Independence which lies before us - to free ourselves from the plutocratic slavery of corporate capitalism. It's unsustainable lust for profit, deregulation, and institutionally-bred consumer culture is accelerating toward a brick wall of unemployment, environmental consequence, and mass poverty resulting from the ever-growing concentration of wealth. The system is rotten at its core - sacrificing the health, education, and well-being of its working citizens in favor of cheaper outsourced labor in nations with little to no environmental or safety standards.

Our consumer culture was carefully and intentionally implemented in the early 1920s through the birth of Edward Bernays' Public Relations propaganda, (such as with "Torches of Freedom"), the standardization of planned obsolescence (beginning notably with The Phoebus Cartel), and through the gang-like territorial division of geographic regions to perpetuate the monopolistic powers of the handful of corporations which control customers in the US who are left with no alternative providers to choose from.

The social conditioning of consumer culture is such a fundamental core principle of American life that it would take a complete restructuring of the national educational system to counter the billions of dollars of marketing strategies implemented by private corporations each year to keep us buying what we don't need. Sadly, as this would work against the national economic interest in the short term, and as our political process is largely controlled by corporate lobbyists, it is highly unlikely that this will ever come to pass by the United States’ own action.

Regardless of our action or inaction, the capitalist system of infinite consumption and increased corporate deregulation is a principally unsustainable model. The system will collapse, either by the majority of the workforce being displaced by outsourced labor and by continued advancements in automation, or by the system's inherent destruction of the world it occupies.
And the visibly corrupt campaign finance system, along with voter fraud at the hands of the DNC and RNC, and the media blackout of “revolutionary” candidates like Sanders work tirelessly to ensure that the plutocracy remains and that the public voice is silenced.

But the revolution has begun. Without the help of mass media or corporate donations Sanders continues to pack stadiums beyond capacity with citizens dedicated to taking an active role in the democratic process. The internet and social media affords citizens decentralized access to news and journalism outside the scripted verbiage of the status quo. And the voice of dissent grows louder every day. Our Independence Day is coming. What part will you play?

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The Batlord

Viva l'oppressión!

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Chula Vista

And porn.

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“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

innerspaceboy

And a FANTASTIC 5 minute vid explaining the findings of the Princeton study of over 40 years of Congressional activity which proves that "CONGRESS LITERALLY DOESN'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK."

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innerspaceboy

Underworld has been producing music, art, and film for nearly 40 years.With over 500 albums, EPs, and singles, newcomers to their work might find their catalog daunting. If you are just such a listener, this is for you. So you know “Born Slippy (Nuxx)” from Trainspotting, but are wondering where to venture next.



Many listeners might be inclined to snatch up one of their compilations or anthologies. In 1999 they released a 3CD Singles Box Set, but it is not an ideal entry point as it focuses too heavily on Darren Emerson's contributions and is heavily saturated with alternate mixes which do not showcase the band's true talents.

The next compilation issued was in 2012. A Collection’s opening track is a strange choice - a song by High Contrast featuring Tiesto and Underworld, which few fans associate with Underworld. And track 03, "Bebop Hurry" is a collaboration between Karl Hyde and Brian Eno taken from the Underworld vs the Misterons’ Athens LP.



Unfortunately neither function well as introductory material, nor are they representative of their artistic style. Still, the other tracks on this compilation are the meat and potatoes of the band. The majority of their biggest hits are here, but for the sake of constricting it to a single disc, all of the tracks have been edited down to radio-friendly durations, sacrificing the ethereal and progressive characteristics which occupy the minutes which have been trimmed away. New listeners would benefit far more if they were to take in the tracks in their original form.



That same year, a 3-disc collection was issued called, The Anthology: 1992 - 2012. Interestingly, this set does not serve as an off-the-shelf hits collection but instead is comprised of b-sides and odd tracks which act as snapshots of the band's development. This made it a rewarding purchase for fans who already owned all of their major LPs. It also presents the content in a chronological setting. Disc 1 is material from their Mk 2 phase around the recording of their massive breakthrough hit album, Dubnobasswithmyheadman. Disc 2 showcases recordings from around the Second Toughest in the Infants and Beaucoup Fish era, including their non-album mega-hit, "Born Slippy (Nuxx)". The fan-favorite concert closer, "Moaner" is here as well. Disc 3 offers more rarities like "The Hump", "Minneapolis", and "Why Why Why", and includes a few uptempo selections from the series of non-radio, meditative EPs released exclusively via Underworldlive.com during the early 2000s.

So without an easily-digestible compilation, how is a new listener to approach the band's staggeringly large discography? Underworld is best experienced in album form. They are not a singles artist. Each record adds a contextual value to the tracks which each stand well as a packaged project of their own. My advice is to begin with Dubnobasswithmyheadman. The record marked the second incarnation of the band after its synthpop beginnings in the 80s (and a one-off garage punk single in ‘79). Dubnobass was incredibly progressive given the sound of techno and house in 1994. It contains eternal hits like "Cowgirl" and "Dark and Long".



If you like what you hear on this album, explore their evolution into their next two records which complete the Darren Emerson trilogy before he parted from the group. These albums are Second Toughest in the Infants and Beaucoup Fish, best known for singles like “Pearls Girl”, “Cups”, "King of Snake”, and the aforementioned epic, “Moaner”. But it’s their more explorative tracks which reveal the most about the band. The opener to Second Toughest is “Juanita: Kiteless : To Dream of Love” - a monumental piece which engages the listener for over 16 minutes. And the mellow, downtempo rhythm and effect-laden vocals of “Winjer” from Beaucoup Fish will never see radio airplay, but is a fantastic and atmospheric tune.





This era concluded with Everything Everything Live: The Definitive Underworld Experience. Pick up the DVD - it captures the incredible energy of the band performing live at the peak of their popularity in 2000.

If you're interested in going deeper to explore their more intimate and cerebral work, it began in 2002 with A Hundred Days Off. Every track contributes something unique to the set. "Two Months Off" was the radio A-side but the deeper cuts are far more rewarding.



At this point in their career, the duo embarked on a side project of web-only albums dubbed, "The Riverrun series". These include:

• (2005) Lovely Broken Thing
• (2005) Pizza for Eggs
• (2006) I'm a Big Sister, and I'm a Girl, and I'm a Princess, and This is my Horse

Filed under ambient techno and progressive trance, these artful projects reveal a more intimate and contemplative side of the band. And a series of singles from this series offer even more experimental b-sides worthy of listening.

2007 marked their return to the commercial market with Oblivion With Bells. This album features the hit, "Beautiful Burnout" and the startlingly ambient "To Heal" which was redubbed "Capa Meets the Sun" for the film, Sunshine.



The 2010 album, Barking is their least popular record. "Always Loved a Film" and "Bird 1" saw some airplay and there was an art film of video vignettes for each track. Not their most essential work, but even Underworld's worst ain't bad.



For years thereafter there was silence. Rick released his first solo album, Bungalow with Stairs in 2010. Karl soon followed with his own solo debut, Edgeland in 2013. It was wonderful stuff. Then he surprised and delighted fans by releasing not just one but two collaborative albums with fellow genre-defining artist and producer Brian Eno in 2014. The artists had worked together a few years earlier as members of the improvisational concert project, This is Pure Scenius! "DBF" from their first collaboration titled, Someday World was energetic and complex and instantly fascinating. Their follow-up, High Life further refined the duo's sound with an album full of brilliant tracks. As a dedicated fan of both gentlemen's work, these records were a dream come true.

In 2014, the band released a special anniversary edition box set of Dubnobasswithmyheadman, newly remastered and featuring all of the odds and ends from the era, some of which were issued on The Anthology. Another remastered box set appeared the following year, this time of Second Toughest in the Infants. And further anniversary remasters are expected in the years ahead.
Then in 2016, Underworld released their first new album as a band in six years. It was an absolute triumph of a record, proving to the world that these aging ravers still had what it takes to produce rich and exciting new sounds nearly 40 years into their career. With each new listen to the album, Barbara Barbara We Face a Shining Future, it becomes more and more rewarding an experience.



So there you have it - a brief tour through the catalog of Underworld. Of course, not everything worth sampling is mentioned above. With 510 releases, as well as a library of short films, art installations, and publications for both print and web from their art collective, Tomato, it would be impossible to highlight them all. But hopefully, this guide will serve sufficiently as an introduction to their work.

Happy listening!

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Zhanteimi

Thanks for the info! I know basically nothing about Underworld, but I'm going to give them a listen. Which three albums should I start with? Please, only three recs right now.

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Zhanteimi

LetsTalkMusic