Just yesterday, inthemix was offered the opportunity to interview Underworld’s effervescent frontman Karl Hyde at his Sydney hotel ahead of We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System. Given the recent announcement that the group’s forthcoming album Barking will feature collaborations not only with High Contrast but also Dubfire, Mark Knight and D. Ramirez, Paul van Dyk and Appleblim, there was plenty to interrogate the dance music icon about.

Luckily, Hyde was enthused to fill us in on the album himself. “Our point of view is that we want to collaborate and have conversations with people who are making music today in 2010,” he explained. “That’s really very exciting for two people who’ve been working together for 30 years. It’s the premise in a way of Rick’s version of Underworld at the beginning of the nineties, which was to go out and find a 17-year-old who had a contemporary point of view and could bring that to the party. And we have experience and points of view, but you can’t be on it with everything all the time.”

On the morning of the interview, inthemix was also sent a five-track Barking sampler. You’ve no doubt already heard Scribble, the duo’s ecstatic team-up with High Contrast that seems poised to rule the European summer ahead. It’s going to have stiff competition though from the deep, pulsing efforts with Dubfire and big-room house workouts alongside D. Ramirez and Mark Knight. Underworld sounds well and truly in love with dance music.

“We’ve always liked celebratory music,” Hyde continued. “The notion of people coming together to celebrate in a joyous fashion has been core to Underworld since the beginning. This album is quite unique in the sense that it brings together an almost entirely euphoric vibe. We were in rehearsals a few weeks ago and it felt like a completely different group, and that’s exciting after 30 years.”

We daresay they won’t be the only ones excited this weekend…

Look out for the full interview on inthemix tomorrow. Underworld headlines We Love Sounds and Winter Sound System this weekend.