The man from Unkle

In 1998, James Lavelle's Mo' Wax label could do no wrong. DJ Shadow's Endtroducing united critics in adoration. Yet, when the label boss and his prize signing teamed up as the lynchpins of UNKLE, the resulting Psyence Fiction album was patchy, with a handful of standout tracks combining epic hip hop beats with plaintive vocals from Thom Yorke, Richard Ashcroft and a relatively-unknown Badly Drawn Boy still not enough to make the album gel.

Then, on the first anniversary of 9/11, the first fruits of the new UNKLE project came to light, televised in the early hours as part of an anti-war animation (Eye For An Eye will be screened tonight). Lavelle was still there for the video, but DJ Shadow was replaced by Richard File, whose vocals and acoustic guitar are a constant on forthcoming album Never, Never, Land. Eschewing the raw, organic nature of the first album for a more synthetic-feel, it looks set to divide opinion and it drafts Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno and Massive Attack's Robert del Naja into the fold.

Lavelle has complained that the hype over the first UNKLE album was akin to running before walking: 'I'd like to learn how to walk again.' Yet, despite his regular appearances at Fabric, it will be hard to avoid the anticipation on The Mall tonight.