Underworld: Barking

A long inner dialog: An irresistible slice of futurepop.

What a hilarious mess, oldschool ravers moaning their disappointment over this irresistible slice of wonderfully coherent 80s-inflected futurepop.

Ultimately I’d call it latter-day Wire meets Above & Beyond, since I’m not an oldschool raver and can hence be upbeat about the (not at all total) lack of repetitive, go-nowhere loopage – Underworld sound like Simple Minds re-doing "Another Brick In The Wall Part II" on “Always Loved a Film,” for instance, traditional stuffy-but-warm Brit classiness oozing out of it, and yeah, I can live with that, even if its lead-in, a 2-note robotic “the rhythm… the rhythm…” only gets repeated 30-whatever times instead of 10,000. With me yet? Barking has a lot in common with Pet Shop Boys’ last album – it’s more so that than it is some sort of gauntlet thrown in the general direction of… I dunno, is any crew still thinking it’s 1995?

It’s a departure, yes, but if melody-centered (even the one dubstep joint, “Hamburg Hotel”), top-drawer electronic music gets you depressed over the loss of the “good old days,” you need to buy yourself a decent cup of coffee and a sandwich and have a long inner dialog.

Homepage: Underworld
Homepage: Om Records