Psyence Fiction – UNKLE ★★½

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
1998	Psyence Fiction	UNKLE	★★½	58	Electronic	Alternative Rock	Trip-Hop

It might not be as pioneering or captivating as DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing… in 1996, but Psyence Fiction is a natural progression point for the DJ and producer as he teamed up with James Lavelle to form UNKLE in 1998.  

Psyence Fiction still has similar cold, industrial production, but comes much more from the electronic and rock sides of trip-hop, leaving a lot of the instrumental hip-hop and jazz influences on Endtroducing… behind. 

The inclusion of live vocals here — by British rock vocalists like Thom Yorke of Radiohead, Richard Ashcroft of The Verve, Ian Brown of The Stone Roses and Badly Drawn Boy, as well as rap verses by Mike D of  Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap and Latyrx  — makes the album feel commercially accessible compared to the sample-dependent melodies and vocal clippings used on Endtroducing… If you could make an electronic trip-hop hit, this is what it would likely sound like.

The result is that the best of the best tracks here really do shine and end up being conventionally memorable. 

“Lonely Souls” has a cool drum beat with swelling strings and a grand chorus. Thom Yorke’s melody on “Rabbit In Your Headlights” and the haunting piano part create the darkest song on the record and something that’s up there with the best of Radiohead’s 1990s tracks. “Be There” —  the vocal remix of “Unreal” featuring Ian Brown — is technically a bonus track and single that came out after the original release of the record, but it brings the original album cut up another level and helps give the record another boost. 

Cool is a keyword here. The whole album is cool. Cool sounds, cool beats and cool feature performances. Beyond those three tracks mentioned above, some of Psyence Fiction is repetitive and tracks fall flat at times because they, for the most part, all tonally do the same things. 

But it is a cool listen that really is of its time, with the consistent vibe start to finish, even if the music isn’t always the most dynamic or energetic.