UKO "UKO" - Album Review

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6. UKO UKO (Album - (Klein) )

UKOs first shouts of praise came in early 2000 after the release of their explorative and inspirational debut EP Superconductive. Their style was electronic and dub and they seemed to be entering new territory, musically seeing things from a different angle.
Their debut album UKO is a slightly disappointing comeback. Flitting between chilled electronica with splashes of dub it remains strictly confined within the boundaries of down-tempo beats territory. Although there are splashes of inspiration throughout with some interesting vocal loops and tasty keyboard trickery, in the main the album is just that touch too forgettable. Loose concentration for a while and the whole album will simply pass you by without leaving much of an impression at all.
Having said that, there are occasions when the turgidity is triumphantly interrupted by well-crafted pinnacles of interest. The high points come in the form of the more inventive and experimental tracks. In the all too few instances where they deign to wander from the path of convention, they more than manage to pull it off. For example with the tastefully constructed prog rock, jazz-induced echo chamber that is Smile or the Kruder and Dorfmeister styled Channelled, or the down-tempo vocoder meanderings of Mr Rose. Three excellent offerings that are unfortunately swallowed up by the surrounding abundance of mundane beats. Perhaps they should have stuck to the formula of Superconductive and chopped it back to a few select tracks. Things then could have been a very different story.

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