Iggy Pop and
Underworld were unwittingly and unforgettably linked in 1996, when "Lust for Life" and "Born Slippy (NUXX)," songs they'd released 18 years apart, were used as the opening and closing tracks in
Danny Boyle's film adaptation of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting. Twenty years later, the musicians converged again.
Iggy's
Post Pop Depression and
Underworld's
Barbara Barbara were coincidentally released the same day, and shortly thereafter, the artists met to work on music for T2 Trainspotting. Remixes of "Lust for Life" and "Born Slippy" ultimately appeared on the sequel's soundtrack instead of new material, but the
Iggy and
Underworld sessions led to this, a diverting if inconsequential EP filled with a lot of flippant humor and a little serious reflection. Three-quarters of Rick Smith and
Karl Hyde's productions are characterized by buoyancy and propulsion, highly frictional and almost frantic on "Bells & Circles," chugging like a slickened take on
Suicide's "Ghost Riders" for "Trapped," and stomping almost glam-like on "Get Your Shirt." Smith and
Hyde leave enough room for
Iggy to be the focal point, with versatile vocalist Esme Bronwen-Smith (Rick Smith's daughter) more prominent in the background than
Hyde.
Iggy switches between spoken and sung modes, ebulliently recalling "the golden days of air travel" (in-flight smoking, Cuba-U.S. hijackings), goofing on the confinements of straight life, and cautioning against relinquishing artistic and emotional control. On "I'll See Big," elegant with a soft pulse,
Iggy gets a little deeper, detailing the sustaining and aggravating aspects of real-life relationships. The track's closing line of "Useless, expensive, maddening, pain-in-the-ass friends" looks ice cold to the eyes, but to the ears, fondness can be heard in each syllable. ~ Andy Kellman