Dubnobasswithmyheadman [LP]

Underworld: Karl Hyde, Darren Emerson, Rick Smith.
After a spotty and rather undefined beginning in the hedonistic '80s, the older and wiser Rick Smith and Karl Hyde teamed up with wunderkind DJ Darren Emerson to produce DUBNOBASSWITHMYHEADMAN. After a successful 1993 single under the name Lemon Interrupt, the trio returned to the Underworld name that Smith and Hyde used during their UNDERNEATH THE RADAR days on Sire records.
The songs feature Hyde's lyrics over alternatively throbbing and shuffling beats and melodies, peppered with the occasional guitar line. Song structures start from almost nothing, building to towering intensity with the drop-dead breaks and crescendos that have come to define the group's sound. Highly processed vocals and meandering rhythm tracks saturated with reverb ("Mmm, Skyscraper I Love You," "Dirty Epic") coexist with the low-end throb of "River of Bass," the ecstatic "Spoonman," and "Cowgirl"--a track that found its way onto dozens of mix compilations all over England.