Today, sees the release of a limited edition UNKLE 7″ ep A Prelude to War Stories, basically a sampler for the forthcoming third album War Stories on 9th July. James Lavelle has described the album as “rawer than ‘Psyence Fiction’ and Never, Never, Land although it’s more in the vein of the traditional singer/songwriter. If the first record was UNKLE does hip hop and the second record was UNKLE does electronic, then this one is like UNKLE does rock.”
I have a soft spot for UNKLE ever since I received Psyence Fiction (I like successful genre bending albums) as a birthday present nearly 10 years ago. HOLY SHIT! On War Stories, Lavelle and File will be joined by Ian Astbury (The Cult), The Duke Spirit, Gavin Clark, Autolux and older contributors Josh Homme (QOTSA) and 3D (Massive Attack). Judging by the press shots, the album was recorded in a desert somewhere.
“Chemistry” below is from the EP and also the album and is a instrumental rocker with Josh Homme on guitar. “Blackout” is a 7 minute atmosphere-laden trip hop tune that wouldn’t sound out of place on Mezzanine and is taken from the recently released Self Defence boxset. I’ve also included the UNKLE remix of DJ Shadow’s “GDMFSOB” featuring a certain Root tee toot Manuva. Certainly looking forward to their live set at Electric Picnic in September.
One more thing, why do UNKLE receive so much vilification from music critics and fans? For example, Psyence Fiction was picked as one of the worst albums of all time in Select Magazine back in ‘98. Why in particular does James Lavelle receive so much scorn? Is he considered talentless? Narcissistic? Or did he cleverly blag his way into an enviable position on the back of an UNKLE merchadising blitzkrieg? DJ turned Musician syndrome? Whatever the reason, the aggression seems intense. Leave a comment if you have a clue why!
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MP3s
UNKLE – Chemistry
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DJ Shadow – GDMFSOB (UNKLE remix feat. Roots Manuva)
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[Pre-order War Stories: UNKLE Store ]
War Stories Tracklisting:
01. “Intro”
02. “Chemistry”
03. “Hold My Hand”
04. “Restless” (feat. Josh Homme)
05. “Keys To The Kingdom” (feat. Gavin Clark)
06. “Price You Pay”
07. “Burn My Shadow” (feat. Ian Astbury)
08. “May Day” (feat. The Duke Spirit)
09. “Persons & Machinery” (feat. Autolux)
10. “Twilight” (feat. 3D)
11. “Morning Rage”
12. “Lawless”
13. “Broken” (feat. Gavin Clark)
14. “When Things Explode” (feat. Ian Astbury)
Tagged under: Dance / Electronic, Music, Remixes
I don’t know why Unkle gets so much hassle. I think the reason maybe that Lavelle is portrayed as having no talent himself, and that he uses Unkle to masquerade as a recording artist…
I don’t know how true any of that is. Im a big Shadow fan, and I enjoy Psyence Fiction alot…im not mad on Never, Never Land although it does have its moments.
I’ve never really worked out how much input Lavelle had on “Psyence Fiction”.
He seems like a decent bloke.
Genius innovator or a musical charlatan?
People claim that all the talent on his records comes from the guests etc. He’s a bit of an over privileged and pretentious idiot, but you can’t deny the Mo Wax and UNKLE output has been.
The merchandising point is interesting.
Some folk have really got a problem with him crossing genres and the dj turned musician thing, they’ll love him after this recent release.
Unkle are fuckin quality, with both albums being as good as each other, and the fact is that none of it would have been remotely possible without lavelle. the fact that he’s first and foremost a dj/producer and not an accomplished musician seems to get on musical snob’s tits.
Just found a website devoted to this Unkle release: http://www.unkle-war-stories.info
Some information was quite interesting.
is there any chance to get BURN MY SHADOW right now? Just heared it on unkle myspace page. it’s amazing!
by the way. thank you for this blog
It’s got a real epic feel to it. As he’s said himself, this album is Unkle doing rock music as opposed to electronic or hip hop. Judging by the four tunes on the EP it’s Unkle doing a bit of all three genres. A lot of the grief that Lavelle gets is just begrudgery, something we’re all guilty of in judging much artistic work these days.
UNKLE albums generally have that epic feel to them :)
vid is up on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsMGNwYDdg
Burn My Shadow download is available on unkle-war-stories.info:
http://unkle-war-stories.info/burn_my_shadow/
Forget that site above its a dodgy Russian site
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