Download Review: Underworld - I'm a Big Sister and I'm a Girl and I'm a Princess and this is my Horse

Since the tail end of last year Underworld have been busy putting together a series of download only projects in the form of The RiverRun Project. 'I'm a Big Sister...' marks the final project in this series, with Smith and Hyde set to record a follow up to 2003's A Hundred Days Off over the summer.

The RiverRun Project has been an interesting one, eschewing the established music industry norms of not just having hard copies of your releases for sale, but also organising music into songs and albums and running the standard release schedule of releasing an album and 3-4 supporting singles. All of the RiverRun pieces (for, at 25-30 minutes each, that is what they are) are available for purchase from UnderworldLive for at £5 each (the newest, 'I'm a Big Sister...' is due to go on sale on 10 June 2006). When placed together they are around about the length of an album but it is refreshing to see some artists who are prepared to buck the trend.

Each RiverRun project consists of entirely new music and when consumed as a whole they feel like a walk through a parallel universe's Underworld back-catalogue. Part one, 'Lovely Broken Thing' is reminiscent of Second Toughest in the Infants over its first half and Dubnobasswithmyheadman over the closing minutes as Karl's voice shines through acid and rain. Part two, 'Pizza for Eggs' is more laid back and organic.

The closing part, 'I'm a Big Sister and I'm a Girl and I'm a Princess and this is my Horse', is initially laid back and ethereal, warm yet isolated. The music builds over the course of the first ten minutes until a beat eventually enters the mix. Sounds shift, vocal snippets overlap, fading in and out. Things happen. S-L-O-W-L-Y the music changes and then QUICKLY disintegrates into its third 'movement'. The track still maintains the warmth of tracks such as the frankly flawless 'Jumbo' from 1999's Beaucoup Fish.

'I'm a Big Sister...' is full of texture and details. Good background music, but really this is music constructed for listeners to lose themselves in. Utilise some good quality headphones and explore. The forth movement sounds almost as if it emanated from a church in a far-off land; noises sound like church bells, another noise resembles chanting. The whole affair is brought to a heart-stopping close with a piano and some ambient noise.

The RiverRun Project really is a fantastic thing. Since Darren Emerson left Underworld the band have strived to escape the perceived greatness of their earlier albums. Their first album as a duo, A Hundred Days Off could only really be criticised for sounding too much like someone impersonating Underworld and not enough like the genuine article. RiverRun lays any concerns to rest. Underworld are still great, innovative, genre-defying and, what's more, beautiful.

To purchase any of The RiverRun Project visit UnderworldLive.

Album Review - Gomma Gang 3 mixed by Munk

Most label merely compilations show case the cream of their crop of artists and end up either too similar, too disparate or even worse, just plain boring. The lucky few manage to transcend these barriers in order to create something truly great. As promised, this is the review of Gomma's Gomma Gang 3, mixed by Munk.

Gomma Gang 3 does what other labels strive to do. It creates a sound that less makes Gomma sound like they are surfing the crest of the wave of musical cool, more seismically driving the waves themselves. Take the album opener, a dub of Headman's 'Rong Hands' featuring Ed Laliq, rolling live-sounding basslines mix with drums reminiscent of Run DMC's 'Walk This Way', creating a lovely, live sounding dance workout. The Midnight Mike mix of Munk's own 'Disco Clown' is simultaneously rediculous and enjoyable, cheesy vocals and filters playing off each other to make something rather enjoyable.

Elsewhere Midnight Mike provide's the similarly stupid but enjoyable techno-tinged 'Hot In The Kitchen' - never has food sounded so naughty. Summer vibes abound in Munk & Chloe's 'Ce Kul (Francisco Remix)', the perfect upbeat soundtrack to a summer time drive with the top off.

Label superstars, WhoMadeWho's ubiquitous 'Space For Rent' appears in two different forms, with The Rapture's bleep-ridden version stealing the show, drenching the Gomma Gang 3's close in static. Also present is their cover of Benny Bennasi's 'Satisfaction'.

As previously hinted on BlackPlastic, absolute star of the show is 'Kick Out The Chairs' by Munk and James Murphy, here remixed by Who Made Who. This mix compliments the original, adding a funky twist with some guitars and making the tune sound even more in tune with it's paint-by-numbers spirit. 'Kick Out The Chairs' sparkles and shines from start to finish.

Much like the compilations from the DFA and Get Physical, Gomma Gang 3 is an absolute credit to the label behind it. Essential.

Underworld Live in your living room...

Just a quick note to let you all know that Underworld are doing a live concert / webcast thing this Saturday. Apparently they have done several un-announced before but BlackPlastic has never personally caught one.

Expect unreleased material, exclusive announcements and, depending on your neigbourhood, a few dodgy blokes snorting poppers down at the front when it kicks off at the rather unconventional time of 10:04pm (UK time). BlackPlastic recommends you turn up with plenty of time to negotiate the queue for the cloakroom... Say 10:00pm?

It's all going down at www.underworldlive.com.

Album Review: Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself

Following BlackPlastic's earlier rant about the state of music marketing with regards to Imogen Heap it looks like some things do change - Imogen's album is set to get a re-release, this time with the backing of major label, Song BMG.

Fair enough then. Doesn't explain why it wasn't picked up by a big label earlier (like, 12 months earlier...) but there we go... Nothing has changed in the structure, content or presentation of Speak For Yourself, but if you aren't one of the lucky few that picked up a copy originally that's unlikely to be a problem.

'Headlock', used in a recent Cadbury's ad, kicks things off with like and delicate music box melodies before a heavy (for Imogen Heap) bassline kicks in and lets the chorus take off. Current single 'Goodnight and Go' comes next (this time in its original form rather than the remixed radio edit available as a single), followed by 'Have You Got It In You?', which sounds, unsurprisingly, very much like Heap's other project, Frou Frou.

On a slightly different note is 'Loose Ends', featuring an almost UK garage-like bassline combined with gentle vocals, and the show-stopping 'Hide and Seek', which sounds like it was recorded with virtually nothing but Imogen's voice and some electronic manipulation. 'Clear The Area' is catchy and incessant. Things get a rocking edge to them for the heavier 'Daylight Robbery' and then return to the snappy drums and rolling bass of the first half of the album for 'The Walk' which builds to a wonderful climax.

'Just For Now' and 'I Am In Love With You' paint a picture of the work involved in relationships, a theme that seems to run through the course of much of the album, and before you know it your have arrived at the penultimate track, 'Closing In', a relatively grandiose affair incorporating a wandering piano and the use of strings. Last track 'The Moment I Said It' is heartbreakingly honest, a brutal analysis of a relationship on the verge of turning sour, and it is impossible not to feel empathy.

On Speak For Yourself Heap expresses a refreshing ready-ness to mess with her sound, over-dubbing vocals seemingly to infinity in some places whilst incorporating the sounds of trains passing by (on 'Hide and Seek') and sniffs (on 'Just For Now') not only into her music but her subject matter too. It is a little too easy to lump Imogen Heap in with the KT Tunstalls and Katie Melluas of this world but to the well-informed there is a clear difference - the song writing and do-it-yourself attitude on display here is atestamentt to Imogen's abilities.

May Song of the Month...

We're a little bit early this month, but BlackPlastic thought that would make a nice change. BlackPlastic has only recently really started getting into Pavement and, having waited so long to do so, kind of feels it has missed out. Don't let the same thing happen to you...

Years ago BlackPlastic heard the sublime 'Shady Lane', taken from Pavement's Brighten the Corners long player and pretty much instantly bought the single, but it wasn't until a few months ago that the sublime Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain found its way into the ears of yours truly. Pretty much everything on this album is great - one song in particular is even better than great, it's magical.

May's song of the month is Pavement's 'Elevate Me Later', a song drenched in an undescribable feeling. 'Elevate Me Later' is the best slacker rock song you'll ever hear, much like a lot of Pavement stuff, listening to this it's a wonder they ever managed to get out of bed, let alone record some of the best alt-rock the nineties saw.

This is a song that makes me quite content to do nothing at all, ever again. In itself, not that huge an achievement, but it sounds so fucking good doing it that you just can't wait for your next opportunity to listen to it. When Stephen Malkmus sings the following it is difficult to know what he's going on about, but all too easy to love him for it anyway -

Those who sleep with electric guitars
range rovin' with the cinema stars
and i wouldn't want to shake their hands
'cause they're in such a high-protein land
because there's 40 different shades of black
so many fortresses and ways to attack
so why you complaining?

Coming on like a crack addiction it is impossible to get too much of this song... So much so that when it climaxes at two minutes twenty the band couldn't help but through in one last refrain. Here's to one of America's greats...

To purchase Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain on Amazon click here.

To purchase 'Elevate Me Later' on iTunes click below: