The first time I heard UNKLE was in a commercial for Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. It was my first semester at college, and I'll always be thankful that my roommate had a TV. In retrospect, this might have been the best reason I went to college. Burn My Shadow, from War Stories, introduced me to James Lavelle, and the man became a constant soundtrack to the next several years. I listened to his stuff on MySpace all the time. I fondly remember taking several naps to End Titles and waiting for my plane to board with War Stories in the background. These inconsequential memories existing are odd enough, but the fact they were formed during the most depressed period of my life shows how magical all this is. What may be more powerful is how many artists and musicians I've learned about through UNKLE. Due to the power of friendship and collaboration, I get to write about a few more musical sages over the next few whenevers. This includes my, maybe, favorite musician. But that's for another day (month/year)...
Let's start where Unkle started, Pscience Fiction. This was, at the time, the last album I had heard from them. Where Did the Night Fall wasn't on MySpace, I believe, and I don't think this was either. But it was on YouTube! The album features DJ Shadow throughout, the first of many times I'd listen to him. One of the guys from the Beastie Boys and Thom Yorke of Radiohead are also here. I had the lyrics of Nursery Rhyme/Breather in my head for years, and Lonely Soul almost made this list. But it didn't, as did nothing else from the album, so let's move on.
I hate to say this, but I think Never, Never Land is the worst album UNKLE's done. Metacritic agrees, but there are plenty of great tracks here; way better than that sixty six percent it has. The first thing you hear is a sample from a movie I've never seen, but it's chilling, nonetheless. "Somewhere, in heaven, angels are wielding savage weaponry." Elsewhere, Josh Homne has his first UNKLE collab, It's filled with a lot of relaxing pieces, but the best song on the album is pretty magical.
In A State has this strangely haunting vibe about it. It's probably from the lyrics. They're about a person who always tries to make their life better. But, no matter how hard she tries, it always blows up in her face. But it seems that facing fear is the key to happiness. Maybe it is a happy song? The music starts with a frantic piano before it comes to terms with life. This leads to a guitarist and the pianist playing the same tune in harmony while a third person plays the maracas. It drones on and on in an eerie spectacular. I think there are only five notes played for the whole six minutes, but it never gets old. It keeps the listener tuned in, on the edge of their seat, as the vibe of the piece transcends us to a higher plane.
War Stories is where I learned about UNKLE. Potentially, every song here could have made this list, including the bonus and secret tracks. It starts off with a man asking for forgiveness, which takes us to a woman singing about having no regrets. He'll show up again at the very end of the album to say, "all is fotgiven." I've never figured out what it means, but it really sticks with you. The rest of the album is a trip down melancholic nostalgia, even though there was nothing to be nostalgic for when I first heard it. It's just something that takes you to a place you never knew existed, and every song is like that!
Hold My Hand is driven by the drum beat. It's got a running military feel to it with the way the bass drum tries to overpower every other note, including the guitar and voice, for the entire run. I don't know who the singer is. Richard File, maybe? Regardless, I get the feeling this song could have been sung by two people to make (my) interpretation clearer. The lyrics are backwards from what we're used to. The chorus is sung early and often, and it has the singer asking for help. They need to be "slowed down," and they don't know what's going on. The vocalist changes their tone for the part that isn't repeated eight times to ask someone if this is really the life they want. "Are your drugs healing?" There's a bridge later on about a million pieces and secrets. And then there's this weird taunting at the end that makes me think you can't help those who don't want help.
Keys to The Kingdom is the first time Unkle works with Gavin Clark. Of all the collaborations Unkle's done, these are the scariest. Every time these two are in the studio, they create the dark arts your satanic panic believing mother warned us about. Key to the Kingdom isn't as mind altering as future songs, but it's a great setup. Once again, I think the song is about drugs. Several lines are repeated in the bridge from the verses. Namely, "Shoot it low" and "kill the flow." Several times, Clark talks about "ruining myself" and "bury my disease." He does these "with the keys from the kingdom. I'm not sure what the keys are, but I don't want them. The musical parts of the song are carried again by a drum beat, but it's not as overpowering this time. It's definitely there, though, commanding everything from the back. Fun personal fact, this was the last track I heard before I "felt the spirit" and became Mormon. It didn't last, and I don't think the lyrics have any connection to my religious experience. In hindsight, however...
The song that introduced me to UNKLE, Assassin's Creed, and The Cult is Burn my Shadows. It's yet another drum driven song, but the percussion disappears when Ian Astbury starts singing. They know who the real star is. Ian allows them to return after the first verse, though. The song is still depressing, though! "I have burned my tomorrows...and my dreams all fade away." Judging by the last line of the song, I think someone's heart has been irrevocably broken. With the like of "Fate's my destroyer. I was ambushed by a lie," it makes me think this relationship was built on coarse sand for whatever reason. The last thing we hear is a single, without any music, "How I loved you."
UNKLE and drum beats; name a more iconic duo! Lawless might be the most drony/chanty song on the album. The unknown singer repeats two lines for most of the song, and the verses are repeated once or twice as well. The lyrics give me a real rebel rouser vibe, and I can see this being the theme song of a b villain group in an action movie. A group of thugs with no ties to society rule the night with their overly tricked out, neon underglow Toyodas. Maybe it's just me? I dunno. It's not a deep, cutting track, but it paints a picture, and those drums carry me away!
Gavin Clark returns with Broken. I wonder if this is a continuation of an earlier song. Once again, "strung out" returns to the lyrics, as does that the feeling of a broken heart. The singer's been missing someone for "three long/lost years," and they've been crying to the point they're broken. Maybe they're not missing someone but themselves? Drugs'll do that. But it doesn't really matter. Once again, the final lines of the song have the music nearly stop while we hear "can't feel the blood." From a poetic viewpoint, the lyrics are filled with rhythm and rhyme, and they belie what's going on underneath. With the music in the background, they're almost peppy. Are you starting to see why I called UNKLE/Clark dark mages?
Where Did The Night Fall - Another Night Out is a two disk trip. I'm not sure what type of trip it is, but it's one that I've enjoyed taking several times. It's far less dark in part compared to the other albums, as it has a number of happy songs. One is about finding the perfect woman! How wholesome! The tracks have a wider variety to them. While the all powerful drum beats are still here, they're more varied in their intensity. I've also felt like everything is more worldly than straightforward electronic. That statement is vague and can mean several things, so I trust you pick up what I'm picking down. But the second, expanded disk brings us back to the despair I know and like-like. The most striking thing about this album is the artwork is filled with naked ladies. The Mormon version of me really appreciated that...
It takes seven tracks to get to the first magical melody, but it's a doozy. Falling Stars features Gavin Clark on vocals, so you should already know the vibe you're gonna get from this. All the songs thus far on the album have been happy, at least on first glance. But the very first notes of Falling Stars bring you back down. It starts with a sad guitar that I don't think is tuned properly, but an electronic drum beat joins in after a while. This pushes the guitar to the back, but everything is overpowered by Clark's voice starts singing about "got too much love." But there's something wrong here. "This vision dies...for a glitter doll." I don't know what that means, but eventually, we're told to "run, run, run, you're the only one." The song ends with heavy distortion as the last lines, "In another world, I was on your side," almost echo out our speakers. The falling stars are a mystery, and that's what makes this song so odd. The next song is called Heavy Drug, and the tone of the rest of the album isn't as jaunty as before.
While you're still reeling from the falling stars, a quick paced beat plays over symphonic guitar chords. The drums continue to drive when the vocals kick in, quiet but powerful. They sing of a new beginning, which is clear from the start. "This is how it all begins." They continue by mentioning new speeds, which leaves behind a city that's screaming. It sounds like it could be happy if you only read the lyrics, but the entire piece gives me the chills. Keep in mind that I'm always looking for the negative, so maybe this new beginning is something that needs to happen? It's like ripping off a bandaid.
Ever Rest, featuring Joel Cadbury, is haunting. His voice has this ghostly quality to it that pierces through the drums of the song. Lyrically, this might be about someone who digs into your life. The biggest quality of this person is their toxicity, and it's destroying them. As it often does. But, because you've let them in, it's also breaking you apart too. It's just the way everything melds together to form this low-ki effect. Nothing truly drives the song, but everything is there, just under the surface, waiting to drag you down.
Mark Lanegan's first UNKLE collaboration (I think) is another song for the times. It got the album title from this one. A slightly out-of-tune piano plays as the voice of whisky sings about something I can't make sense of. A slightly out-of-tune guitar joins for the second half, but I still can't figure it out. Is this track about dying and the trek to the afterlife?
Country Tune may be the most depressing track I've ever heard. As you'd expect, Gavin Clark is back. The major instrumentation here is a slightly out-of-tune guitar strumming two or three chords while Clark sings about dreams. Rivers want to become a sea, and cities want to see the country. But the dream of love... "All day...all day in a cloud." During the second verse, a bass comes in to deceive us and make us think the tune will pick up. About halfway through, the instruments start to fade away, leaving only that guitar and a strange flute. But that bass never really goes away. In the end, it's just those three things to whisk us away from reality and into a land that isn't made of dreams or clouds. The next song is a five minute instrumental that doesn't help us. It tries to, but it's halfway in, and I'm too far down.
When the Lights Go Out is on here for two simple things. Firstly, the drums are hypnotic. They play ceaselessly throughout and never break. They put you in a trance that's broken when the final few lines are sung. There's something about the second reason, which is when the title is sung. Things slow down, including the drums, and the vocalist asks us, "let the winds take your ghosts away." I don't know what "When the lights go out, we own the night" means, but I'm here for it because the drums come back, and I have no choice.
If Country Song isn't the saddest track here, Every Single Prayer is. Gavin Clark is back to finish the double album in a way that makes the whole stick with you in a way you probably want it to. Whoever tunes UNKLE's pianos either needs a raise or to be fired because they did something again. The pianist plays a few notes that seem repetitive but adds to the hauntingly frost that echoes through. I'm almost positive this song is about suicide. "There's no more to save" is the most frequently repeated line. "The Beads around your wrist" didn't capture any prayers, so all that's left is "an image of ourselves." Like most suicides, the victim doesn't want to die. The song ends with the line "Don't let me go" replayed, sometimes without a backing track, until...well, that's up to you. UNKLE ended an album with this song, and now we have to suffer.
Arguably, the entirety of End Titles could be here, but I want to point out one song, in particular, before I end. Blade in the Back is another Clark collab, and is also another drum driven tune. I can't make out most of the lyrics, and what's online is some random jabroni's awful rap, but I can make out that someone dies. Lines such as "the needle Jesus" and "I don't feel a pulse" stick out in Clark's eccentric singing style. It's another haunting song about tragedy and drugs that echo through with the drums. I've never done drugs and don't know anyone who's died to them, but this piece puts me in a place that I think I can comprehend. And, even if I can't, I know I don't want to be here.
I may have pictured James Lavelle/UNKLE as a dark magician in my world of magical songs, but that's fine! We all need a little darkness in our lives to appreciate the light. It's also not true. Never, Never Land has moments of relaxation, and Pscience Fiction has plenty of hard rocking hits. The dude/group knows how to write songs, but I cling to ones that make me sad. It's a personality flaw I want to overcome, but that'll come at a later date. Before I delay updating this for another month, let's call UNKLE's spellbook done. Expect to see a few of the names above again down the line...
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