First incarnation (1992–1996) The first release credited to the 'Men from U.N.K.L.E' was a remix for
United Future Organization, included on their 1992
Loud Minority single. Lavelle and Goldsworthy were joined by Masayuki Kudo and
Toshio Nakanishi of the Japanese
hip hop crew Major Force (later Major Force West).
Second incarnation (1997–1999) Lavelle drafted in
DJ Shadow to work on the debut album, and essentially discarded all previously recorded material. Lavelle and Shadow released
Psyence Fiction in 1998 to a mixed critical response. The album included collaborations with an all-star lineup including
Thom Yorke (
Radiohead),
Mark Hollis (
Talk Talk),
Mike D (
Beastie Boys),
Kool G Rap,
Jason Newsted (
Metallica),
Badly Drawn Boy and
Richard Ashcroft (
The Verve). The album was mixed by Shadow's long-time collaborator, producer
Jim Abbiss. Shadow left the group after touring
Psyence Fiction and was replaced by
turntablist group the
Scratch Perverts, who deconstructed the album and performed it live on turntables in 1999. Also in 1999, former producer
Rich File remixed the track "Unreal", adding vocals by
Ian Brown, and the resulting track was released as the single
Be There. On 1 February 1999, Lavelle and the Scratch Perverts appeared on the Radio 1 program
The Breezeblock, utilising "5 turntables". The set was largely based on tracks from
Psyence Fiction, with some of them reworked live by Lavelle for the live performance. The Scratch Perverts' contribution consisted of scratching over the top of the Unkle tracks, a deconstructed version of "Be There", and some solo interludes.
Third incarnation (2000–2007) In 2001, Lavelle and File resurfaced as Unklesounds, with a DJ mix created for Japanese radio entitled
Do Androids Dream of Electric Beats? This highlighted a new, more electronic direction the group had taken, and featured a number of tracks from
Psyence Fiction, remixed in a techy
breakbeat style. Rich File co-produced, played and sang on the second album,
Never, Never, Land, released in 2003. The album again featured a number of high-profile contributors, including
Ian Brown,
Josh Homme (
Queens of the Stone Age),
Robert Del Naja (
Massive Attack) and
Mani (
The Stone Roses,
Primal Scream) among others. Lavelle and File continued releasing mixes as Unklesounds. The mix album
Edit Music for a Film: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Reconstruction, featuring movie
samples and tracks from film soundtracks, was created for the After Dark 2004 event at the
ICA London. A single
CD version was handed out at the event, and it was released officially as an extended two disc set in 2005. The group recorded music for a short film titled
The Seed directed by
Joe Hahn alongside
John Debney and
Mike Shinoda of
Linkin Park. In September 2006, Global Underground released
Self Defence: Never, Never, Land Reconstructed and Bonus Beats, a 4-CD box set of remixes and bonus tracks from the
Never, Never, Land sessions, including tracks previously only available on the original
DVD release of the album. It also contained remixes of a track mooted for their next album, featuring
Ian Astbury of
The Cult, titled "Burn My Shadow".
War Stories, the third album from Unkle, was released in summer 2007. The album again featured a number of guests including
Josh Homme,
Gavin Clark,
Robert Del Naja,
Ian Astbury,
The Duke Spirit,
Autolux and
Neil Davidge. Following the release of the single "Hold My Hand", Pablo Clements (of The Psychonauts) became an Unkle member.
Fourth incarnation (2008–present) In January 2008 Unkle released
More Stories, containing a mix of
B-sides, remixes, unreleased
War Stories session tracks, and music composed for the film
Odyssey in Rome. The same month, Rich File announced he was leaving Unkle after 10 years' collaboration to pursue work with his new band, We Fell to Earth. In March the Lazarides Gallery in
London showcased
War Paint, an exhibition of artworks inspired by the recent Unkle album
War Stories, with works from
Robert Del Naja,
Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones, Will Bankhead and
Ben Drury. Unkle began touring the UK with
Zoot Woman and Sebastian and Mr. Flash from the French electro record label
Ed Banger Records. The concert, set across four acts, featured live performances from past Unkle contributors including
Badly Drawn Boy, Liela Moss from
The Duke Spirit,
Gavin Clark and Joel Cadbury from
South. Unkle's fourth full album titled
End Titles... Stories for Film was released in July 2008. It includes collaborations with
Chris Goss,
Black Mountain,
Philip Sheppard, Dave Bateman, Joel Cadbury, and James Griffith (
Lake Trout). The album is described in the sleeve notes by Lavelle as "not a new album in the usual sense, but new music that has been inspired by the moving image." As such, it can be considered a companion piece both to War Stories but also to the earlier Unklesounds mix,
Edit Music for a Film. 14 December 2008 saw the digital release of
End Titles... Redux, an album that was released the following day in a limited pressing of 3000 CDs available from official Unkle stores. This release features seven re-interpreted tracks from the album
End Titles... Stories for Film plus 2 never-before-released tracks, "When Once It Was" and "A Perfect Storm". The exclusive package is a 6-panel soft-pack with a 12-page booklet with images by
Robert Del Naja. Upon the release of the single "
Heavy Drug (Surrender Sounds Mix)" in August 2009, Unkle disclosed they had already begun recording their next studio album,
Where Did the Night Fall, which was released in May 2010. This also included an all-star cast of performers including:
Mark Lanegan,
Nick Cave,
The Black Angels,
Sleepy Sun, and
Katrina Ford, as well as ELLE J and Gavin Clark. The album is also available as a digital download from Unkle's site. It was announced on 18 April 2011 that Unkle would headline the Dance Stage at the
Reading and Leeds Festivals. They would be performing a world-exclusive audio-visual DJ set at the festivals, playing songs from their back catalogue alongside remixes of other artists' songs as well as Unkle's own material. They would be performing under the name Unkle Sounds. On 27 February 2014, the "God of Light (Original Game Soundtrack)" single was published on iTunes, with two songs from the
God of Light game by Playmous and EON. The in-game credits list "Music composed by: UNKLE / James Lavelle /
Charlie May." On 15 July 2016 Unkle released the single "Cowboys or Indians", which featured artists Ysée, Mink, and
Elliott Power.
Pitchfork reported Unkle would release an album that same year. In January 2017, Unkle announced the pending release of the album
The Road: Part I, which will be preceded by the single "Sick Lullaby" to be released in mid February 2017. It coincides with an exhibition at the
Lazarides gallery in London. Unkle collaborated with
Michael Kiwanuka for the track "On My Knees" for a companion album to the 2018 Netflix film
Roma and a new mix of this track later appeared on the 2021 album
Rōnin I. ==Members==