‘Psyence Fiction’ by Unkle was one of the first “electronic/dance/trip-hop” albums I got into. To this day it remains as one of my all time favorite ever albums, subsequent Unkle releases have continued to impress me. I put this down to method by which Unkle (these days James Lavelle and Richard File at core) continue to merge rock/pop tunes and sounds into the breakbeat style. The Unkle Sounds Tour perfectly demonstrated this marrying of styles.

After enduring an insanely hot Melbourne day, the prospect of stepping into the vast coolness of the Forum to hear some innovative sounds from the Unkle crew was tantalizing to say the least. I caught most of Paz and Khalil’s funk/soul breaks set which washed over the growing crowd nicely. Top marks for Grace Jones’ “Pull up to my Bumper’ and the concluding track of the set, Herbie Hancock’s “Rock it.” It was also interesting to hear some tunes of the original tunes from which other big name artists had sampled, such as Cassius.

Opening with the grab from the prelude to ‘Never, Never Land’, with a hint of Ozzy and Kelly’s Osbourne’s “Changes” it was quickly into a Lavelle favorite, Rare Earth’s “Get Ready.” From then on it was a full on Unkle remix of a Metallica tune, following on with the Unkle remix of Queens of the Stone Age’s “No-One Knows.” In 2002 James Lavelle included the original Queens of the Stone Age tune, and has since released this remix and also worked closely with lead singer Josh Homme on “Never, Never Land.”

With James Lavelle’s charismatic mixing (including frequent yells of “Come on!”) its hard not to get immersed in the sounds. Following on from the energetic start of the set, it was somewhat surprising to hear a more downbeat tune from ‘Never, Never Land’ featuring vocals from Lavelle’s partner on the decks, Richard File. This tune, “In a State,” has recently been released as a single and was re-introduced a number of times during the set.

“Seven Nation Army”(White Stripes) was also included in the set, possibly the Adam Freeland remix of this tune. Another indication of the way these artists are breaking down barriers between rock and dance. “Reign,” another album track, featuring long time Unkle contributor Ian Brown was received rapturously. The following track, the Unkle remix of Ian Brown’s ‘F.E.A.R” was even more so enjoyed by the fans. A recent reworking of the Donna Summer classic “I feel Love” was also thrown in the mix, maybe because it was Valentines Day, probably more so because its a great tune!

Throughout out the set, a number of Unkle sounds were dropped in, including the main “U-N-K-L-E” vocal sample, and the “keep on rocking” sample from ‘Psyence Fiction.” It seemed that Richard File was more responsible for these added sounds, with James Lavelle doing the majority of the mixing.

The last tune was “In a State,” (possibly in the Sasha remix) before the duo came out for a rock n roll style encore. The finishing tune of the night was the Royskopp reworking of the uplifting Coldplay tune, “Clocks.” This left the baying fans, including myself, wanting more, but the subtly of the houselights coming on ruled out further encores.

Once again, Unkle sounds failed to let down, living up to and beyond expectations. This Unkle style hybridization of music styles opened my ears to another musical world, and I’m sure they won more converts during this set, like they say, “Keep on rocking.”