Nursery Rhyme/Breather
A song for the weekend.
Hope you all own U.N.K.L.E.'s brilliant Psyence Fiction. It was billed as a collaboration between DJ Shadow and Mo'Wax label head James Lavelle, though I think Lavelle's contributions were only conceptual. He and Shadow managed to pull in the hottest NME cover boys at the time to handle vocals. So while a rock/trip-hop concept album may not sound so enticing, artists like Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft, and Badly Drawn Boy keep it from getting repetitive. "Rabbit In Your Headlights" is jazzy and paranoid like Radiohead's later stuff; it had a controversial video in which Thom an old man kept getting hit by cars. Aschroft's "Lonely Soul" ends with an epic four minute orchestral section that reminds me of the cheesiest part of Moody Blues' "Nights In White Satin" but it works. BDB's track is my fave: the first half's got Damon singing over a propulsive electric guitar riff, then it abruptly shifts into a creepy sing-song chorus (i.e., a nursery rhyme). I never did pick up that second U.N.K.L.E. disc. Kept waiting for it to be released in the U.S. and it never was. It's got Ian Brown, Josh Homme, and Jarvis Cocker. Is it as good as the first?
U.N.K.L.E. - "Nursery Rhyme/Breather"
You can buy Psyence Fiction here.
Posted at 2:17 PM
It is a great album, I agree. I remember picking up right before a Chicago-Tokyo flight and listening to it 3 times in a row (keep in mind this disc came out in '98). Also don't forget Mike D. from the Beastie Boys is on it (although his contribution isn't that great). One more interesting tidbit then I'm done - on the import versions of Psyence Fiction there's an intro that was cut from the US version due to copyright clearances, lots of interesting samples in it.
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Holy '98 Batman. Remember when Mo Wax was good? Headz and all that.
This album is pretty rock solid, although it suffered from the same problem as a lot of mo wax stuff -- it can get kind of boring. The second one isn't worth owning.
Oh, and the radiohead video had an old man continually run over, not Thom. And yeah, he just got run over in increasingly brutal ways the entire time.
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man...I forgot how good that song was... Such a great album...
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the 2nd unkle album was merely ok - more notable for the minimalist Futura artwork than any of the tunes. lavelle has a couple mix great CDs that are worth tracking down though, like "do androids dream of electric beats" and "big brother is watching you"
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aahhh, but in the end the man has the last laugh.
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Oh yeah, it was an old man who kept getting run over!
What's the Getting Ahead in the Lucrative Field of Artist Management sample from:
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The Mike D contribution to "Psyence Fiction" is just embarassing.
"Now I'ma break it down in the UNKLE style!"
"Drums of death, y'all!"
One cool feature of the album: it actually contains a "secret track" that's *before* the rest of the album. You hit play, and then immediately hit reverse, and the album goes backward even past the starting point (it's almost like the Negative Worlds in Super Mario Bros.)
The track is a cool compendium of Shadow/Lavelle influences mixed together in really short samples. Extensive copyright violations, of course. Not sure if this is exclusive to the UK version of the album or not.
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the second album is eh. there is one great song on it... gotta look on my copy to find it.... repost soon.
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I was in Seattle this past weekend and my buddy had the new UNKLE "Never Never Land" import on, it was really good, so I went onto amazon and picked up a copy... you can buy it "used" for about 11 bucks...
"2003 album features collaborations with Ian Brown, Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age), Mani (Primal Scream), 3D (Massive Attack), Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), & more."
not quite the beats of PF, but more groove-oriented... I can't wait until it gets here.
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never never land sucks assmar, sorry
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im a radiohead fan so of course i bought this album. as i have come to expect from thom yorke, the music comes sraight from the soul. there are a few pretty good soungs id definetley want to hear again.
the songs seem to be connected. kinda reminds me of prodigy's "fat of the land" or rancid's "rancid" (2000)... i like all kinds of music, but i have to say rock and roll kinda stuff is my favorite. so the rap element puts me off a little.
maybe if i liked hip-hopr/rap a lil bit more, id like this record more, but i dont. not to say it isnt interesting and a pleasure to listen to...
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anyone remember the rumor about aphex doing a live dj set with an actual blender? and then throwing the blender in the audience. i bet some lucky fuck soild/bought it on ebay.
maybe, this was cochella (2-3 years ago). maybe i'm fucked up?
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IMO 'Never Never Land' is even better, at least musically. I remember 'Psyence Fiction' scaring the shit out of me the first time I heard it but honestly the atmosphere is what makes it a killer album, not necessarily the beats & production.
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aphex did actually use a blender... i've seen him do it personally @ the old limelight.
as far as the new unkle record i think its brilliant, personally.... its very different from the first since theres no more dj shadow ... but its seriously a greatgreat record nonetheless
i found two really good james lavelle mixes the other day... posted em on the top of my blog if you get bored
enjoy :)
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I was disappointed with "Never, Never, Land," but only because "Psyence Fiction" set the bar so high. I'm always surprised "Psyence Fiction" didn't receive more attention. I don't remember how I came across the album, but I didn't stop playing it for months because it holds together so well, doubly impressive when you consider the number of contributors. It reminds me in a way of the Doves "Lost Souls" album, which has the same kind of dreamy/nightmarish quality to it, like falling asleep stoned on the couch with the TV still on.
There are a couple of standout tracks on "Never, Never, Land" that are worth checking out: "Eye for an Eye," "In a State," and "What Are You to Me?" The last two are available as remixes on the U.S.-released Sasha "Involver" album, which has other great tracks like Grand National's "Talk Amonst Yourselves," Felix Da Housecat's "Watching Cars Go By," and Petter's 'These Days."
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you know, i had a chance to not only pick up the new CD when i was in warsaw, but UNKLE played a show when i was there. i passed on both.
but psyence fiction is a fantastic album, especially the richard ashcroft track. in my opinion, the best UNKLE track is 'be there' - it may have been a B-side or something, but i found it on some random electronica compilation. it's 'unreal' with vocals by ian brown. a really, really great song.
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funny coincidence you mention this album--i just rediscovered it in the crates last week and have be loving it all over again
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Didn't DJ Shadow get really pissed off at Lavelle after Psyence Fiction? Probably for taking credit for ...not much work.
I've got some RabbitInYourHeadlight remixes and instrumentals if you want a dropload?
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saw dj shadow back in '02 in nyc using a bunch of unkle acapellas with new music behind 'em. the badly drawn boy track was all miami bass. PF is simply a dj shadow album under a different name.
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Never Never Land will be released stateside with new bonus songs soon.
http://www.filter-mag.com/news/interior.1623.html
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Psyence Fiction isn't bad, but nothing compared to DJ Shadow's Entroducing. I remember being very disappointed when this came out in '98. Rabbit in Your Headlights is brilliant though. So is the Ian Brown/UNKLE single released soon after this album - Be There. Anyone heard it?
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soidog:
I've heard "Be There", and it sounds incredible. But then, I've been a fan of Ian Brown's vocals since his Stone Roses days.
"Psyence Fiction" has been a perennial favorite of mine since '98; I especially dig "Bloodstain", mostly because I am a huge fan of Everything But The Girl's Tracey Thorn. I always skip over the Mike D. "Drums of Death 2" track, though; the one craptacular miss on an otherwise excellent album.
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Just arrived in my inbox:
UNKLE’s album NEVER, NEVER, LAND--which received a soft release in England last year--will now be easily available for the first time for American fans. On the album, set for an October 26 release in North America on Global Underground, UNKLE mainstay James Lavelle teams up with Richard File for a progressive work which Mixmag (June 2003) says “…sounds like the joint album Massive Attack, The Stone Roses and Pink Floyd never made.”
There will be a North American tour this fall too.
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Hello folks nice blog youre running
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