Unkle

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Unkle
UNKLE.jpg
Unkle in concert at Somerset House in London in 2008
Background information
Origin London, England
Genres Trip hop, downtempo, electronica, trip rock
Years active 1994–present
Labels Mo' Wax, Global Underground, Surrender-All
Associated acts UNKLESounds, Josh Homme, Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Hollis, South, Badly Drawn Boy, Mike D, Beastie Boys, Lupe Fiasco, Richard Ashcroft, The Verve, The Duke Spirit, Ian Brown, Autolux, Oasis, Gavin Clark, Robert Del Naja, Ian Astbury, Massive Attack, The Stone Roses, Alice Temple, Kool G Rap, Thom Yorke, Radiohead, The Black Angels, Men From U.N.K.L.E.
Website unkle.com
Members James Lavelle
Pablo Clements
Past members DJ Shadow
Toshio Nakanishi
K.U.D.O
Tim Goldsworthy
Rich File

Unkle (also written as U.N.K.L.E.) are a British musical outfit founded in 1994 by school friends James Lavelle and Tim Goldsworthy. Originally categorized as trip-hop, the group once included producer DJ Shadow and have employed a variety of guest artists and producers.

Contents

History[edit]

First incarnation (1994–1996)[edit]

Lavelle and Goldsworthy were joined by Masayuki Kudo and Toshio Nakanishi of the Japanese hip hop crew Major Force (later Major Force West). They also brought on board a host of collaborating artists, including Money Mark (keyboard player for the Beastie Boys), the Scratch Perverts and Japanese clothes designer Nigo and Takagi Kan (both also of Major Force). Their first release in 1994 was the EP The Time Has Come, on Lavelle's recording label Mo' Wax.

In 1995, while working on their debut album, Lavelle and Goldsworthy disagreed over the direction the music was taking. Goldsworthy wanted to continue with the Mo' Wax house style of earlier tracks, while Lavelle wanted to bring in singers, hip hop and rock artists. Goldsworthy left the group and went on to work with Belfast DJ and producer David Holmes and also co-founded The DFA with James Murphy.

From these early sessions, Berry Meditation and several tracks with Money Mark and Beastie Boys producer Mario Caldato Jr. were subsequently released as singles, and several without Lavelle surfaced on the album Major Force West in 1997. In early 1998 three exclusive Japanese EPs were released, Last Orgy 3, marking the last of the early Unkle material to surface.

Second incarnation (1997–1999)[edit]

Lavelle drafted in DJ Shadow to work on the debut album, and essentially discarded all previously recorded material. Lavelle and Shadow released Psyence Fiction in 1998 to critical acclaim. The album included collaborations with an all-star lineup including Thom Yorke (Radiohead), Mike D (Beastie Boys), Kool G. Rap, Jason Newsted (Metallica), Badly Drawn Boy and Richard Ashcroft (The Verve). The album was mixed by Shadow's long-time collaborator, producer Jim Abbiss

Shadow left the group after touring Psyence Fiction and was replaced by turntablist group the Scratch Perverts, who deconstructed the album and performed it live on turntables in 1999. Also in 1999, former producer Rich File remixed the track "Unreal", adding vocals by Ian Brown, and the resulting track was released as the single "Be There".

On 1 February 1999, Lavelle and the Scratch Perverts appeared on the Radio 1 program The Breezeblock, utilising "5 turntables". The set was largely based around tracks from Psyence Fiction, with some of them reworked live by Lavelle for the live performance. The Scratch Perverts' contribution consisted of scratching over the top of the U.N.K.L.E. tracks, a deconstructed version of 'Be There', and some solo interludes.[1]

Third incarnation (2000–2007)[edit]

In 2001, Lavelle and File resurfaced as Unklesounds.

Fourth incarnation (2008–present)[edit]

In January 2008 Unkle released More Stories, containing a mix of B-sides, remixes, unreleased War Stories session tracks, and music composed for the film Odyssey In Rome. The same month, Rich File announced he was leaving Unkle after 10 years' collaboration to pursue work with his new band, We Fell to Earth.[2] In March the Lazarides Gallery in London showcased War Paint, an exhibition of artworks inspired by the recent Unkle album War Stories, with works from Robert Del Naja, Warren du Preez, Nick Thornton Jones, Will Bankhead and Ben Drury.[3] Unkle began touring the UK with Zoot Woman and Sebastian and Mr. Flash from the French electro record Ed Banger Records. The concert, set across four acts, featured live performances from past Unkle contributors including Badly Drawn Boy, Liela Moss from The Duke Spirit, Gavin Clark and Joel Cadbury from South.

Unkle's fourth full album titled End Titles... Stories for Film was released in July 2008.[4] It includes collaborations from Chris Goss, Black Mountain, Philip Sheppard, Dave Bateman, Joel Cadbury, and James Griffith (Lake Trout). The album is described in the sleeve notes by Lavelle as "not a new album in the usual sense, but new music that has been inspired by the moving image." As such, it can be considered a companion piece both to War Stories but also to the earlier Unklesounds mix, Edit Music for a Film.

15 December 2008, saw the release of “End Titles… Redux” (limited to 3000 CDs from official UNKLE stores and digitally from 14 December). This release features seven re-interpreted tracks from the album ‘End Titles… Stories For Film’ plus 2 never before released tracks “When Once It Was” and “A Perfect Storm”. The exclusive package is a 6 panel soft-pack with a 12 page booklet with images by Robert Del Naja.

Upon the release of the single Heavy Drug (Surrender Sounds Mix) in August 2009, Unkle disclosed they had already begun recording their next studio album, Where Did the Night Fall, which was released in May 2010. This also included an all-star cast of performers including: Mark Lanegan, Nick Cave, The Black Angels, Sleepy Sun, and Katrina Ford. As well as ELLE J and Gavin Clark. The album is also available as a digital download from UNKLE's site.

It was announced on 18 April 2011 that Unkle would headline the Dance Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.[5] They will be performing a world-exclusive audio-visual DJ set at the festivals, playing songs from their back catalogue alongside remixes of other artists' songs as well as Unkle's own material. They will be performing under the name UNKLE Sounds.[6]

Discography[edit]

Main article: Unkle discography

Appearances[edit]

 It has been suggested that this article be merged into Unkle discography. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2013.
Albums Appearances in media
  • Unkle's work has been played on BBC's Top Gear on a regular basis since Season 2.
Songs Appearances in media
Sunna - I'm Not Trading (UNKLE - In Utero)
  • Mix of Sunna track on "I'm Not Trading" Maxi-Single.
Lonely Soul
The Healing
  • Played on BBC Panorama - British Schools, Islamic Rules.
Reign
God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters (ft. Moby)
  • End titles soundtrack for the movie Heat
Glow
  • Soundtrack for film Push.
Safe in Mind (Please Take This Gun From Out My Face)
  • "Teddy Bears Picnic" advertisement for Lucozade.
Eye For An Eye
  • Soundtrack for Made Man, a computer game for PC and Sony PS2.
  • Trailer for Prison Break on Channel Five.
  • Played at the end of the BBC's coverage of the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix Qualifying 2010.
  • Advertisement for Nike, Inc.
  • Trailer for Television adaptation of Chris Ryan's Strike Back on Sky1HD.
  • Soundtrack for the game Driver: San Francisco
Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows (UNKLE Remix)
Leap of Faith
  • Soundtrack for film Goal!.
Chemistry
Keys To The Kingdom
Price You Pay
  • Played during a scene in film Deception.
Restless
Burn My Shadow
Hold My Hand
  • Soundtrack for film 21.
Mayday (featuring The Duke Spirit)
  • Soundtrack for video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
  • Soundtrack for MasterChef TV show.
  • Soundtrack for surf documentary A Fly In The Champagne.
  • Played on BBC's Top Gear Season, 15 Episode 3 - Four Door Supercars.
Broken (featuring Gavin Clark)
Awake The Unkind
  • Soundtrack for American TV show Queer As Folk season 5, episode 5.
Heaven
Trouble In Paradise (Variation on a Theme)
  • Background for the 2007 BMW 'See How It Feels' television commercial.
  • Theme for Euro 2008, football tournament.[7]
  • Played on BBC Panorama - British Schools, Islamic Rules.
  • Played on BBC's Top Gear Season, 14 Episode 3 - Lancia's Seven Great Cars Tribute.
With You in My Head (featuring The Black Angels)
Ian Brown - F.E.A.R. (UNKLE Remix)
  • Soundtrack for video game F1 2010 by Codemasters (Main Intro Theme and Developers Diary Trailers 1-5).
Heavy Drug (Surrender Sounds Mix)
  • Soundtrack for Skins series 4, episode 3 "Cook"
The Answer
Synthetic Water
Unreal
When Things Explode
Money and Run (featuring Nick Cave)
Lawless

Tours[edit]

  • 2008 Unkle Live – UK Tour Stories
  • 2008 Creamfields Buenos Aires, Argentina.

References[edit]

  1. ^ U.N.K.L.E. vs Scratch Perverts Breezeblock session tracklist
  2. ^ Noize Makes Enemies.co.uk - File leaves Unkle
  3. ^ War Paint at Lazarides Gallery
  4. ^ UNKLE Store - End Titles ...Stories for Film
  5. ^ "Leeds Festival News | News and Announcements for 2012". Leedsfestival.com. 2012-04-24. Retrieved 2012-04-28. 
  6. ^ "Leeds Festival Line Up | Official 2012 Line Up". Leedsfestival.com. Retrieved 2012-04-28. 
  7. ^ UNKLE to perform Euro 2008 theme BBC Press Office, 30 May 2008

External links[edit]

Unkle
Studio albums
Mix albums
Compilations
Remix albums
Extended plays
Singles
Related articles
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