Latest Release
- OCT 25, 2024
- 15 Songs
- 1992 - 2012 · 2003
- Born Slippy (Nuxx) [Radio Edit] - Single · 1995
- Dubnobasswithmyheadman (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) · 1994
- Beaucoup Fish (Remastered / Super Deluxe) · 1999
- Dubnobasswithmyheadman (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) · 1994
- Strawberry Hotel · 2024
- denver luna - Single · 2024
- A Hundred Days Off · 2002
- Strawberry Hotel · 2024
- and the colour red - Single · 2024
Essential Albums
- Rock-electronic fusionists Underworld’s 1996 album is a keystone of home-listening techno that helped introduce UK rave sounds to American ears: a high-BPM opus in which quarter-hour songs flit by in the blink of an eye, guitars cascade over rippling drum machines, and Karl Hyde unspools stream-of-consciousness rants like a Beat poet perched atop the subwoofer. Whether plunging into hypnotic house (“Rowla”) or the multi-part epics that open the album, it’s progressive in the truest sense of the term—a record that bridged divides, blazed new trails, and still sounds fresh, decades later.
- This ambitious 1994 album will leave you in a sweating, swirling, ecstatic trance. Bringing on DJ Darren Emerson was a brilliant move by Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, whose rock inclinations get completely submerged in endless textures of ambient echoes, throbbing bass, buzzing synths, and scattered breakbeats. Hyde's dark, monotone moan—often multi-tracked—snakes its way through beats that drive relentlessly forward. Propulsive, yet fluid and melodic, this is dance music that both electronic heads and indie rockers can agree on.
- 2018
- 2018
- 2016
- 2016
- 2016
Artist Playlists
- Never showy, they've remained distinctive and inventive.
- Enveloping electronic grooves and seductive vocals.
- The UK duo dance between shadows and the light.
Live Albums
Compilations
Appears On
About Underworld
The British electronic group Underworld contributed to the mid-’90s electronic music boom with their thudding 1996 UK hit “Born Slippy (NUXX).” A quarter-century later, they continue to blend house, techno, and atmospheric sounds. • Underworld has always centered around the Welsh duo of vocalist Karl Hyde and keyboardist Rick Smith. The pair first collaborated in the band Screen Gemz, then formed the New Wave group Freur in the early ’80s. • In the late ’80s, Hyde and Smith played together in the dance-pop band Underworld, which released a pair of albums and enjoyed some success in the US. • The original incarnation of Underworld broke up during a 1990 US tour. A couple years later, Hyde and Smith reconvened, added the considerably younger DJ Darren Emerson, and began to focus on dance music. • The new version of Underworld made their full-length debut with 1994’s Dubnobasswithmyheadman. The album went Top 20 in the UK and was certified gold in 1997. • Director Danny Boyle featured their 1995 B-side “Born Slippy (Nuxx)”—a song written about alcoholism—at the close of his 1996 film Trainspotting and on its gold-selling soundtrack. • Released as a proper single following the film’s success, “Born Slippy (NUXX)” reached No. 2 on the UK singles chart. It’s considered one of the decade’s most important electronic songs. • Smith has continued working with Boyle. Smith scored Boyle’s 2013 film Trance, and the pair collaborated while Smith was music director for the 2012 London Olympics. • Underworld’s 1999 album Beaucoup Fish peaked at No. 3 in the UK and made the upper half of the Billboard 200 in the US—career peaks in both countries. • In 2000, Emerson left Underworld to pursue solo interests. • Underworld launched their “Drift” series in late 2018. The duo released new songs every week throughout the following year and compiled the tracks for a 2020 project. • By 2020, Underworld had notched 10 Top 40 singles in the UK and seven Top 40 albums.
- ORIGIN
- Cardiff, Wales
- FORMED
- 1987
- GENRE
- Electronic