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There currently seems to be a shift away from ‘Best Of’ albums, with artists favouring collections of remixes and reworkings of their tracks – Gotye’s ARIA award winning Mixed Blood, The Hard Road Restrung by Hilltop Hoods and Mark Ronson’s Versions for example. Don’t be put off by the deceiving title of UNKLE’s latest offering More Stories – which suggests more of the same. This release explores uncharted terrain that hovers somewhere between purging mayhem and unadulterated bliss.
More Stories is a compilation that was created during the War Stories sessions (the outfit’s stunning 2007 offering) and was released to coincide with UNKLE’s Big Day Out appearances. The album comprises of remixes, previously unreleased material and tracks from the soundtrack that UNKLE recorded for the forthcoming documentary Odyssey In Rome – about the film director Able Ferrara. The way the soundtrack segments are interspersed with other material means this CD lacks cohesion and comes off sounding like you’ve set your Ipod to shuffle. It essentially seems like two separate albums in one, and may have served better in a double EP format with tracks from the film score presented separately.
From the first ominous bass strums, this is definitive UNKLE: sounds as vast and sweeping as astral travel. Euphoric, seven-minute track Heaven (the piece to accompany the film’s opening credits) is exultant but also channels desire and longing. Unquestionably beautiful. Turnstyle Blues by Autolux sneaks in next and the sense of urgency behind the satellite bleeps and hypnotic vocals distinguish this as a remix. It sounds like music to dance to at a rave on Mars. An interlude from the film score follows: Opened Dreams recalls the nostalgic sounds of a music box fleshed out by atmospheric strings. The piece that accompanies the documentary’s closing titles, Blade In The Black, features Gavin Clark on vocals and would sit nicely on the pulsating purge that categorises War Stories. This may be because Clark loaned his pipes to two tracks on that album, Broken and Keys To The Kingdom. Confused? Same here.
Percussive elements in A Wash Of Black channel LCD Soundsystem and this track gets its funk on with a feel that would complement a demented tribal dance. It’s cacophonous finish would perfectly accompany visuals of Darth Vader’s closing moments in the original 1977 Star Wars film when Vader is last seen spinning out of control into the cosmos. Layo and Bushwacker’s Life To Live catapults us onto the dancefloor with a reprise that borrows from Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive – “I’ve got all my life to live/ I’ve got all my love to give”. Nine minutes of voluntary dancefloor detention. Fluttering heartbeat monitor bleeps, sinister, unidentifiable, fuse-fizzling noises and reconciliatory vocals take your eardrums hostage.
An eleven-minute Radioslave remix of the stunning Burn My Shadow was always gonna be a welcome addition to any household. The incoming phonecall alert noise is layered and echoes around Ian Astbury’s foreboding baritone. Haunting, hollow background sounds direct from an ancient well enter the spectrum and amplify the terror. With Dubfire’s take on the second single from War Stories – Hold My Hand – we are transported directly into the seedy underbelly of afterparty-dom. This remix has legs. One of those rare offerings that prises you off that mongy couch, dispenses of concrete boots and propels you back onto the dancefloor as if by God’s giant remote control. More Stories ends up in a dark, harrowing place. The final Burn My Shadow remix was recorded during the Surrender Sounds sessions and is direct from purgatory. It begs to be used in a documentary investigating the paranormal. Only for the hardest core.
Prepare yourself for a 1.2 hour-long journey of disparate wonderment. Less care could not have gone into the ordering of thesem mostly incandescent, tracks. Alternatively, chop and change the song order to create your own customised mixed tape of More Stories, and stop recording before the last track (unless you want to have evil acid flashbacks). Intriguing and drenched in pathos, these are sounds for lovelorn wallowers. The world according to UNKLE wrenches your heart out through your throat while pumping at maximum adrenaline BPM.
Check out the tracklisting…
1. Serene
2. Heaven
3. Turnstile Blues (Surrender Sounds Sessions #4)
4. Opend Dreams *
5. Blade in the Back
6. Can’t Stop
7. Synthetic Water *
8. A Wash of Black
9. Burn My Shadow (Radio Slave Remix)
10. Hold My Hand (Buckley remix)
11. Burn My Shadow (Surrender Sounds Sessions #5)
And check out the clip for UNKLE’s Hold My Hand...
