Underworld - Second Toughest in the Infants

Many of my readers have asked me to write some reviews for different albums I love, so today I will start. For my first album I've chosen Second Toughest in the Infants by Underworld. The title is a bit strange, and is apparently something one of the band members children said, so that makes sense. For anyone not familiar with Underworld and what they do, they're a "dance" music group. I use quotations because dance only describes one part of their music, and if you're like me you do most of your listening to their music while sitting with headphones on. Anyway, on to the album.

I have a long history with this album, and it was one of my first introductions to electronic music. I remember a friend of mine sent me an MP3 by Underworld which was actually the song Cups from Beacoup Fish, but for whatever reason the mp3 was titled Pearls Girl. I enjoyed the song a lot and so the next time I was in the record store I saw this album there, noticed it contained Pearls Girl, and decided to get it. I quickly learned that the song was completely different, and to be honest I hated this album on my first listen through. It took me ages to finally start appreciating it which is something I often find interesting, the idea that I could hate an album on a first listen and then consider it one of my favorites of all time a few years later. But anyway since I was often short on money at the time and often used what little money I had to buy cds, I figured I should give it some time and almost force myself to enjoy it.

I often think about what it is about this album that can cause such divergent attitudes at different points in time, and I think it has to do with the length first of all, but also the "subtle" nature of the music. Now dance music is usually not refered to as subtle, but I'm really refering to the progression of the music. A song will start and will often take a long time to get where it's going. The first song is an excellent example of this, clocking in at over 16 minutes it really takes some patience to get into. It starts off with an interesting drum pattern which quickly turns into a traditional 4-4 beat and a bit of bass comes in. Then the singing starts, which is composed of a monotone progression of seemingly random subject matter. I know I know, doesn't really sound too promising but as it goes on you start to see more and more added to the percussion, guitars come in, and subtle synth lines enter to provide a warm bed to the whole progression. It really is epic and takes some getting used to really appreciate. It's almost like a classical piece of music in the way it ebbs and flows, going from loud bombbast to quiet. At different points the melodic parts drop out and we see the fantastic drum beat in all it's glory and the groove really starts to hit its stride. Towards the end all parts are slowly added into the mix as we reach the climax, and then it concludes with a quiet section showcasing the lush synths used. Underworld really are masters of restraint because they never seem to go over the top with their beautiful synth lines and leave you wanting more. This is maybe the greatest piece of "dance" music ever created.

The second song called Banstyle/Sappys Curry continues where the first left off, but is a little more laid back. The synth lines are more front and center here, but again we see the slow progression of the music. The synth line starts off repeating a couple notes in quick succession with a drum and bass style beat underneath. Singing comes in late which actually carries a bit of a tune this time and we slowly drift away through the song along this wave. Towards the end the song begins to slow down and an acoustic guitar comes in. This begins my favorite part of the song, and it really is hard to keep from bobbing your head to the trippy beat. Again this trippy beat slowly builds and adds different synth parts to it as it gradually builds to its climax. The end features some fast moving synth lines bouncing around the beat bringing the song to its close. Another fantastic song. At this point we've passed the 30 minute mark and have only listened to two songs.

The third song called Confusion the Waitress is another perfect example of how subtle Underworld can be. The melody consists of a few notes played over and over with a 4-4 beat pounding away underneath. The lyrics are spoken throughout the song and it gradually builds over it's duration. To be honest I'm not really sure why I like this song so much but it's one of my favorites from the album, all the parts just come together to create something very appealing to me.

One other song I will talk about is Pearls Girl. As stated in the first paragraph I had another song in mind when I bought this album, but I've since grown to love this song. It is one of the more hard hitting songs on the album with a pounding beat throughout and distorted vocals. It sounds like something you'd hear at a rave or club, just the ultimate dance song. It also features some very nice synth lines which as usuall are placed farther underneath the beats so it hangs a little bit out of range. These synth lines are brought in at different points to create a nice progression.

The album as a whole is very solid with all songs being strong on their own, and as a part of the whole. I have become a huge Underworld fan after listening to this album, but this one is fairly unique compared to the rest of their world. For me it just has a certain stylist theme to it which runs the whole length and ties everything together. It can be a difficult listen but is definitely worth the time and effort. I give it 5 stars!