Underworld - Drift Series 1 - Sampler Edition

Drift Series 1 – Sampler Edition is the tenth studio album by British electronic music group Underworld, released in November 2019 via Smith Hyde Productions and Caroline International.

Underworld are a British electronic music group formed in 1980 in Cardiff, Wales with the primary members of the outfit being Karl Hyde and Rick Smith. Prominent former members include Darren Emerson, from 1991 to 2001, and Darren Price, as part of the live band from 2005 to 2016.

What is Drift?

It’s precisely one year inside the minds of Underworld.

It’s a journey that began on 1st November 2018 when Underworld released the track “Another Silent Way” and set off with no map, no fixed destination and a simple mantra (“Drift is the opposite of ‘normal’ or ‘usual’ practice; we’ll do this until we’re dust”).

Rick Smith and Karl Hyde’s aim was to create and publish music and film episodically for 52 weeks and see where the journey took them. Within a few weeks, the experiment found its own path, prompting the electronic pioneers to react to previous releases and create new works accordingly.

Over time, the duo’s innate curiosity opened up a unique space in which they could experiment, learn and explore new frontiers - together and with others (including Tomato’s Simon Taylor, Australian improv-trance band The Necks, techno producer Ø [Phase], Japanese noise band Melt-Banana, economics writer Aditya Chakrabortty and members of Black Country, New Road). During the 52 weeks, five self-contained episodes were released (respectively in November, January, March, May and August) - collectively, they formed Drift Series 1.

The now named Drift Series 1, was released exactly one year after the launch of the series, as a box set featuring 7 CDs, a Blu-ray, and an 80-page book documenting the creative process around Drift. A single-disc Drift Series 1 Sampler Edition was also released simultaneously, the Sampler Edition is a continuous mix of select songs from the series, many edited into shorter versions.

This album received critical acclaim from music critics upon release, reaching #68 on the UK albums charts, and also #10 on the UK vinyl albums charts.

This double album 2LP record set is on black vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves, pressed in Europe via Caroline International.