Some American

Song Of The Day: UNKLE - Natural Selection

UNKLE, the duo of DJ legend James Lavelle and his grade-school buddy Tim Goldsworthy, has produced some of the most vital and interesting “trip hop” to ever see the light of day since the genres inception. I place them at the top of a rather illustrious list of artists (one that includes Portishead, Massive Attack, Tricky, and DJ Shadow) knowing full well that I will incur the internet’s considerable wrath by doing so. To that I say, bring it on.

“Natural Selection” is the first piece of music to be released from their latest lp entitled Where Did The Night Fall. Rather than delivering one of the tracks to feature Mark Lanegan, whose presence is said to be prominent throughout the collection, “Natural Selection” takes a distinctly different course. For one, it was made by an actual four or five piece band (The Black Angels) and for two, it actually sounds really upbeat. I’m not sure how much of this sonic shift can be accredited to The Black Angels, as their slow-burn style seems more closely aligned to the UNKLE I am familiar with from previous releases. But then again, UNKLE do seem to have an ability to change an artist’s tone, as the Josh Homme track “Restless” from War Stories demonstrated to full effect.

Where Did The Night Fall will be released on May 11th, 2010