| Dubnobasswithmyheadman | ||||
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| Studio album by Underworld | ||||
| Released | January 24, 1994[1] | |||
| Genre | Techno Trance Electronic music |
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| Length | 72:53 | |||
| Label | Junior Boys Own | |||
| Producer | Underworld | |||
| Underworld chronology | ||||
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| Singles from dubnobasswithmyheadman | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
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Vinyl edition
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Dubnobasswithmyheadman is the third album by Underworld, released in 1994 after the band made the transition from synth pop to progressive house. It is also the first album to feature Darren Emerson, ushering in the "MK2" phase of the band, which continued until Emerson's departure in 2001.
Contents |
Tomato, the art design collective that includes Underworld's Rick Smith and Karl Hyde, designed the artwork for Dubnobasswithmyheadman. It features black and white type that has been "multiplied, smeared, and overlaid" so much that it is nearly unreadable, alongside a "bold symbol consisting of a fractured handprint inside a broken circle".[2] The artwork was originally intended for Tomato's book Mmm…Skyscraper I Love You: A Typographic Journal of New York, published in 1994.[3]
According to the authors of The Greatest Album Covers of All Time, the cover "set a new standard of presentation for subsequent Dance albums".[3] In Graphic Design: A New History, Stephen Eskilson cites the cover as a notable example of the "expressive, chaotic graphics" that developed in the 1990s, a design style he calls "grunge".[4] Paul Zelevansky of the journal Substance says that "the packaging … replays the visual poetry of the 1960s and '70s and fast forwards to the alchemical transformations of computer graphics packages."[5]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [6] |
| ARTISTdirect | [7] |
| Slant Magazine | [8] |
| Drowned in Sound | (10/10) [9] |
| Rate Your Music | (3.88/5.00) [10] |
| CD Universe | [11] |
| Amazon.com | [12] |
| Amazon.co.uk | [13] |
Dubnobasswithmyheadman received critical acclaim from music critics. John Bush from Allmusic gave the album 5 out of 5 stars saying "From the beginning of the first track "Dark & Long", Underworld's focus on production is clear, with songwriting coming in a distant second" also adding that "Underworld are truly a multi-genre group". [14] Adie Nunn from Drowned in Sound gave the album a perfect 10/10 score describing it as "An album indie kids and pop kids could like as well as the electronic elite, whist the band retained their credibility". [15] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine gave it 4 out of 5 stars saying that "It stands as their greatest overall contribution to electronic music" and also stating that "The album blends Acid House, Techno and Dub into a refined, epic headrush". [16]
All songs by Karl Hyde and Rick Smith unless noted.
A prototype of the album surfaced on October 3, 2008, on Underworld's official messageboard, which featured a different running order, some extended mixes and three previously unreleased songs: "Big Meat Show", "Organ" and "Can You Feel Me", an outtake from previous sessions. "Organ" has since been featured on Underworld's MySpace page, and "Big Meat Show" appears in a longer version on The Anthology 1992–2012.
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