Underworld
Oblivion with Bells
Side One Recordings

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Just as the addition of Darren Emerson helped propel Underworld to the head of the electronica pack, his 2000 departure could have totally scuttled the group's game plan. Yet 2002's A Hundred Days Off showed original principals Karl Hyde and Rick Smith more than capable of carrying on as a duo. Now that the novel luster of "electronica" (the genre) has worn off, Underworld is back to doing what it does best on the new Oblivion with Bells: dance music. The likes of "Beautiful Burnout," "Holding the Moth" and "Boy, Boy, Boy" (which features U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr.) may be safer and more conventional than constantly mutating Underworld tracks of the past, and "Ring Road" never quite lives up to its anthemic potential. But overall, the album demonstrates that the group is still uncannily savvy at crafting deceptively well-sculpted dance tracks that feel like stadium-filling rock tracks. Toss in a few Eno-indebted film score-like instrumentals such as "To Heal" and "Cuddly Bunny Vs. The Celtic Village," and the result is the audio equivalent of comfort food, easy listening in the best sense.

-- Joshua Klein