UNKLE

With a shapeshifting mix of hip-hop, electronic, and dazed alternative rock, UK outfit UNKLE serves up tracks at the intersection of the stylish and the surreal. Conceived by Mo’ Wax label founder James Lavelle in 1992, the crew began their musical journey with a remix of United Future Organization’s “Men From U.N.K.L.E.” A few years later, they drafted U.S.-based DJ Shadow to help craft their 1998 debut album, Psyence Fiction. The result was a mosaic of sounds featuring a cast that included Kool G Rap, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, and Metallica bassist Jason Newsted. Their 2003 album, Never, Never, Land, didn’t feature the same rap influence, but it didn’t abandon their coordinated randomness, lacing tracks with members of acts like U.S. rockers Queens of the Stone Age and British trip-hop crew Massive Attack. From there, UNKLE continued their penchant for experimentation while leaning more heavily into rock sounds on efforts like War Stories (2007), Where Did the Night Fall (2010), and The Road: Part I (2017). Oscillating among genres and cultural trends, UNKLE crafted an eclectic vision that has stretched across decades.