A Hundred Days Off
Unlike theChemical Brothers--their longstanding U.K. brothers in electronica--Underworld have been allowed to grow (relatively) old without being accused of stagnating.A Hundred Days Off, Underworld's first studio release since the departure of member Darren Emerson, demonstrates why. An ecstatic headrush of percolating beats, swirling synth, and shape-shifting melodies,A Hundred Days Offdrags everything from Delta blues to space-age pop onto the dance floor. Because the pair takes their cues in part from the real world, filtering each idea through the prism of a rave record, we get wonky faux church bells chiming in one especially frenzied passage of the nine-minute epic "Two Months Off." Elsewhere, as on the curiously named "Trim," straightforward vocal phrasings are set against (what might be) twangy, scotch-soaked guitar while a static drum beat clicks in the distance. On the towering centerpiece track, "Dinosaur Adventure 3D," a vicious cymbal guts an otherwise unassuming house track, albeit one built on an increasingly complex (and speedy) palette of sounds, before a tribal vocal goosesteps over top. Clubby, dubby, and positively smokin'.--Kim Hughes