UNKLE

Originally consisting of DJ and Mo' Wax label head James Lavelle, his childhood mate Tim Goldsworthy and Japanese producer Kudo, UNKLE really caught the attention of the music press when Lavelle teamed up with DJ Shadow to produce 1998's Psyence Fiction. Pouring hip-hop and rock through a sieve of experimentalism and breakbeat, the album featured so many cameos (Richard Ashcroft, Thom Yorke and Badly Drawn Boy, to name a few) that it felt like a compilation -- and a dark and brooding one at that. Lavelle has continued to use that format across all of UNKLE's subsequent releases, changing up his co-producers and fellow musicians and reaching out to a staggering array of guest singers. Lavelle's studio promiscuity has resulted in a deep catalog: Both 2007's War Stories and 2008's End Titles generated companion albums drawn from their respective sessions, and 2010's Where Did the Night Fall -- featuring the Black Angels and Mark Lanegan, among others -- comes with a bonus disc of instrumental versions.