23 Aug 1998

23 Aug 1998
	DJ Set tour by DJ Shadow and James Lavelle
Venue	HMV Oxford St
Associated album	Psyence Fiction
Date(s)	23/08/1998

"The marketing campaign in the lead-up to the release of the UNKLE album enters its final phase tomorrow night at HMV's 150 Oxford Street, London store. There will be an album playback at 10pm, then James Lavelle and DJ Shadow, the pair behind the project, will hit the decks before the product goes on sale at midnight. During the evening, New York graffiti artist Futura 2000, who designed the figures used for the UNKLE sleeve plus associated toys and merchandise, will be making his mark on a canvas."^[1]

Reviews

"U.N.K.L.E.'s James Lavelle and DJ Shadow launched sales of their 'Psyence Fiction' LP with a special live appearance at the Oxford Street branch of HMV last Sunday. Tickets for the event were allocated within hours of becoming available and a crowd of 700 heard Lavelle and Shadow DJ, while legendary graffiti artist Futura 2000 (who designed the LP's sleeve) spray-painted a special canvas. At midnight the record went on sale with more than 400 copies sold at the store and the U.N.K.L.E. duo stayed until 3am signing copies of the LP and talking to the crowd. "It was absolutely fantastic," says HMV spokesman Simon Winter. "U.N.K.L.E. are only scheduled to make three appearances this year and we're really pleased that they wanted to launch the album with us." The album was HMV's biggest seller of the week and was at number one in the mid-week chart. A release date of October 12 has been set for the release of the first single from the LP, 'Rabbit In The Headlights', which features Radiohead's Thom Yorke. The single will be a limited-edition release on CD and vinyl with mixes from Massive Attack, David Axlerod and The Underdog."^[2]