Albums by this artist

The Iron Apple (1999)

Lifelike (1998)

Ui

Lifelike

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» JONATHAN COHEN | SENIOR EDITOR

Ui Lifelike Southern, 1998 RiYL: Liquid Liquid, Gang Of Four’s Entertainment!, Tortoise

Of all the current instrumental bands making noise in indie stores and college radio stations across the country, none are sonically finer than the New York City-based trio Ui. Lifelike is the band's second studio album, complimenting its Sidelong debut, an LP worth of singles and b-sides and an album of remixes.

On casual listens, comparisons to bottom-heavy groups such as Tortoise or Trans Am are apparent. But it's clear from note one of Lifelike that Ui's diverse style is truly like no other.

"Drive Until He Sleeps" sets the table for 12 tracks of head-spinning grooves that fuse vintage electronics to bad-ass, organic musicianship. Here is a bass line that will get even the most stoic listener up and moving, layered with funktified guitar riffs and tinkling electronics and producing a groove of staggering proportions.

"Blood In The Air" finds Ui's three multi-instrumentalists working in perfect tandem. Sasha Frere-Jones can be heard fingering an outrageous guitar line while Wilbo Wright's mammoth bass zooms over the top of Clem Waldmann's punchy drum work. More otherworldly grooves lurk in the jazzy cool of "Digame," and the sweet, double-bass melody of "Undersided," which is punctuated by a solemn trumpet interlude.

Lifelike sets the standard for which all instrumental outfits should strive: an utterly unique sound that upends the standard guitar-bass-drums format with magnificent musicianship and insatiable grooves.

JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"