After recharging their batteries, Underworld are ready to fly again. Three years after "Beaucoup fish" - and without Darren Emerson - the duo is back. "Hundred Days Off" is most varied than the previous albums. It starts with the excellent "Mo move" and since the second track - "Two tone months" - the machine gets crazy thanks to a pumpin' Brazilian rhythm... A string blows up gradually, your legs start to move and from now, your lounge turns into a dancefloor... Underworld are back !! But Karl Hyde and Rick Smith are not twenty years old anymore : other tracks take us into warmer atmospheres. "Ess Gee" & "Trim" are sweetness pearls with influences coming from blues or pop music. This album is also composed of cross-over tunes like "Luetin" & "Ballet Lane". As always, the whole work and production are simply perfect. Through the years, Underworld - who are mostly known as a "techno" band - produce music with a surprising human touch. The future of this music style is probably in this way : bringing a soul to the machines. No doubt these two guys already understood this and they should keep on dominating "dance music" during a long, very long time...
www.underworld-jbo.com     www.tomato.co.uk
Paton, 21/08/2002