U.N.K.L.E. - WAR STORIES

You know what this record sounds like? Like the soundtrack to the greatest Michael Mann film of all time. This is music for well-dressed professionals to load their weapons anxiously in the early blue light of dawn as the job of a lifetime slowly unravels before their eyes at the hands of sloppy amateurs that panic and, I dunno, wear red. The anxiousness and dread from PSYENCE FICTION infects this disc; its shot through with moody atmospherics and weight but, at the same time, it goddamn cooks. It’s a ROCK RECORD. U.N.K.L.E.-style, but still. Lavelle's never been afraid of drums (Is Tim Goldsworthy still a going concern in the band? I for some reason had it in my head it was all Lavelle, all the time) and here he shoots every track through with a jagged, fidgety pulse. Even the slower tracks are flooded with an inevitable sense of dread and pressure. Gone is the techtronica of NEVER, NEVER LAND. U.N.K.L.E. is back. Hooray!

The spooky "Intro" opens with a desperate man pleading "Please... forgive me..." and WAR STORIES begins. U.N.K.L.E. has grown into a real live band with this record; no longer a project born of ProTools, Lavelle has assembled a coterie of live musicians and, as ever, guest stars to fill out his ranks. With more than just vocalists joining him, the record has a warmth to it that’s unexpected and really surprising.

What is it with the U.N.K.L.E. drum sound? You know that sound I mean? An U.N.K.L.E. drumbash starts off "Chemistry" and we're off like a light. A driving rock track with fat, big beats, on first blush it strikes one as going on a little long until you realize... wait, this is LIVE GODDAMN BAND. And clearly they're playing for the joy of playing here. So let ‘em play, jesus christ.

"Hold My Hand" has such a great grind-riff that every time I've listened to it, my instinct has been to turn the goddamn thing up. So far WAR STORIES is a record that likes being listened to loudly; being masterminded by a producer gives whatever configuration the band takes on from track to track a big big sound. And it's somewhat of a novel concept for the releases of this summer so far-- a record that's fun to listen to. As heavy and nervous as it is, if that makes sense. It’s not a midtempo bummerfest. U.N.K.L.E. is converting dread into adrenaline.

Also? That's apparently Lavelle singing. Who knew?

Josh Homme sings on "Restless" and sounds like a cross between Taco and Thom Yorke. I mean that in a good way. Say what you will about the guy, but he's clearly unafraid to try on new skins and wear 'em around for a bit. I wasn't fond of ERA VULGARIS but he's so much fun to listen to here I might go back and re-listen. Lyrically this one's a ball, too. A kind of funk jam imagined for the U.N.K.L.E.-scored apocalypse.

"Keys to the Kingdom," as sung by Gavin Clark, manages to sound like it belongs here and back on PSYENCE FICTION which, really, is one of my favorite Millennial Dread-Alien Contact-Late Nineties Holy Shit We’re All Gonna Die albums. This is like the bastard brother to "Lonely Soul," maybe.

"Price You Pay" comes next and I was sort of down on it some until it gets to about 1:50, when the track transmutes into something pretty great. Also? No samples here. Or not many? Maybe I'm not recognizing them. This isn't the collage-garage-house of PSYENCE FICTION or even NEVER, NEVER LAND.

"Burn My Shadow" drifts in as "Price" goes away. Holy shit, that's Ian Astbury singing! He never busts out the double-barrel FIIIIIIRRRRRE wail but rather sounds like he's on the verge of a breakdown. It's a great, heavy sound. He could start crying on your shoulder at any minute; now is an excellent time to leave the bar.

"May Day" features The Duke Spirit. I know nothing about The Duke Spirit, but I think I love it. This is like the stadium rock track. The Jagger jam.

"Persons & Machinery" comes next, featuring, um, an entire guest band, Autolux. I really loved Autolux's debut last year, or whenever the hell it came out, so more Autolux is a good thing; working out in Lavelle's headspace gives them a depth, a spatial spread their fuzzjam sound otherwise lacked-- not a bad thing their on either front.

"Twilight" has 3D from Massive Attack. Oh, Trip-Hop! Sometimes I miss you. This track reminds me of that. Remember when Tricky showed up in THE FIFTH ELEMENT? What the hell was that?

"Morning Rage" starts out like a coil twisting. Tension inevitably rises and it tears along with ferociousness that, really, you just don't expect from the 11th track of a 14 track record. That it's then followed up with "Lawless" which is somehow even more hard-driving is a little startling-- Lavelle clearly has SOMETHING TO GET OUT with this record that maybe got lost on NEVER, NEVER LAND. He's fighting against that inertial drift that made DJ Shadow kind of a bummer to listen to, maybe; he's fighting back against slowly-approaching middle age, fuck, I dunno. But this much is clear: he's fighting.

"Broken" brings in Gavin Clark again. It starts with a kind of...what was that Green Day song, their first big hit? With that crazy punk-boogie bass line? Like that, then the crashing, and the fuzz, and the anxiousness and everything. Clark's a bit out of place here, I thought at first, until the distortion on his voice, a subtle breaking apart, like he's singing through a mistuned radio, starts to grow on me.

If you have an un-special, un-Australian or un-Japanese release of WAR STORIES, it ends with a track called "When Things Explode" and brings Astbury back. You know who he reminds me of? The fragility and hostility in his voice? It sounds like Neil Hannon, the The Divine Comedy guy. The strings here offer a great contrast against the wall of U.N.K.L.E. drums. And then, as promised, things explode.

“All is forgiven,” the track ends with, and leaves a big emptiness in its wake.

(Keep listening; something comes along to fill it.)

MAN. I went into WAR STORIES with a big and unfair chip of expectations on my shoulder, and even gave it a half-listen that did less than impress. So when I sat down again to listen to it, I wasn’t really expecting to like it, let alone actually love it. PSYENCE FICTION had sort of become my soundtrack for the millennial roll-over (fuck Kula Shaker) and when NEVER, NEVER LAND failed to connect with me I thought, much like DJ Shadow after ENDTRODUCING... as Shadow himself says, some people are fans of the album and others are fans of the artist. I thought I was a fan of an U.N.K.L.E. album. I’m delighted to find out that’s not the case at all.