Boymerang was the drum and bass project of the English post-rock musician Graham Sutton. [1]
Following the release of the Bark Psychosis album Hex in 1994, Sutton became interested in drum and bass. He began buying Jungle records at the Lucky Spin record shop in North London and going to Islington's Paradise Club. [2]
One of the final Bark Psychosis performances, at the 1994 Phoenix Festival was Sutton and fellow band member Daniel Gish playing drum and bass. Sutton stated that he felt invigorated by the drum and bass scene after the grueling and insular band experience of Hex. "I never thought I'd want to feel part of something," he said in 1996. "I've thrived on being outside anything that was happening. The whole scene is the most exciting thing that this country's seen since punk." [3]
Boymerang's self-titled debut EP, from early 1995, [1] was the first release on the Leaf label. Sutton has said this EP was a version of the set from the Phoenix festival. [4]
Released in 1997 on the Regal label (and on the Astralwerks label in the US), the album Balance of the Force received positive reviews. [1] Melody Maker called it "the sonic equivalent of an alert, shrewd, quick, sensitive mind". [5] Spin praised the album in an overview of the Astralwerks label, picking it as one of the label's twenty key releases, and stating it "took drum 'n' bass to evil new extremes, wrapping pulverized breakbeats in dank, industrial drones and employing bowel-stirring bass lines to unmistakably dystopian effect." [6]
By the close of the 1990s, Sutton was losing interest in drum and bass. "It had become this bad techno," he said in 2017, "and I just couldn't feel enthusiastic about it anymore." [4] Contracted to Parlophone for a new Boymerang album, Sutton instead made the second Bark Psychosis record, Codename: Dustsucker .
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth by Robin Guthrie and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981 and replacing Heggie with multi-instrumentalist Simon Raymonde in 1983. The group earned critical praise for their ethereal, effects-laden sound and the soprano vocals of Fraser, whose lyrics often eschew any recognisable language. They pioneered the 1980s alternative subgenre of dream pop and helped define what would become shoegaze.
Michael Robert Paradinas, better known by his stage name μ-Ziq, is an English electronic musician from Wimbledon, London. He was associated with the electronic style intelligent dance music (IDM) during the 1990s, and recorded on Rephlex Records and Reflective Records. His critically acclaimed 1997 album, Lunatic Harness, helped define the drill 'n' bass subgenre and was also his most successful release, selling over 100,000 copies. Paradinas founded the record label Planet Mu, begun in 1995, where he has championed genres such as juke, IDM and footwork.
Cornershop are an English indie rock band best known for their single "Brimful of Asha", originally released in 1997 and, in a remixed version, topping the UK chart in 1998. The band was formed in 1991 by Wolverhampton-born Tjinder Singh, his brother Avtar Singh, David Chambers (drums) and Ben Ayres, the first three having previously been members of Preston-based band General Havoc, who released one single in 1991. The band name originated from a stereotype referring to British Asians often owning corner shops. Their music is a fusion of Indian music, indie rock, alternative and electronic dance music.
Bark Psychosis are an English post-rock band/musical project from east London formed in 1986. They were one of the bands that Simon Reynolds cited when coining "post-rock" as a musical style in 1994, and are thus considered one of the key bands defining the genre.
Kenickie were an English four-piece pop punk band from Sunderland. The band was formed in 1994 and consisted of lead vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Lauren Laverne, drummer Johnny X, lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist Marie du Santiago and bass guitarist Emmy-Kate Montrose. The band's name comes from their favourite character in the film Grease.
Mary Bozana Timony is an American independent singer-songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and violist. She has been a member of the bands Helium, Autoclave and Wild Flag, and currently fronts Ex Hex.
Smash are an English punk rock trio, who enjoyed brief notoriety in the early 1990s in the UK. S*M*A*S*H was formed by Ed Borrie, Salvatore Alessi (bass), and Rob Hague (drums) in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England.
Hex is the debut studio album by English post-rock band Bark Psychosis. It was released on 14 February 1994 by Circa Records in the United Kingdom and on 11 March 1994 by Caroline Records in the United States. The term "post-rock" was coined by music journalist Simon Reynolds in his review of the album for Mojo magazine.
Source Direct is an English drum and bass act from St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. Source Direct have released an EP, Controlled Developments (1997), an album, Exorcise the Demons (1999), as well as numerous singles, under both the Source Direct name and a number of aliases.
Miss America is the debut album by Canadian singer-songwriter Mary Margaret O'Hara, released in 1988 by Virgin Records.
Codename: Dustsucker, stylised as ///CODENAME: dustsucker, is the second studio album by English post-rock band Bark Psychosis. It was released on 28 July 2004 on Fire Records. The album was recorded at DustSuckerSound, a private studio run by Bark Psychosis member Graham Sutton in east London, between 1999 and 2004. It notably features the contributions of Lee Harris, the drummer and percussionist of early post-rock purveyors Talk Talk.
Seefeel are a British electronic and post-rock band formed in the early 1990s by Mark Clifford, Daren Seymour (bass), Justin Fletcher, and Sarah Peacock. Their work became known for fusing guitar-based shoegaze with the production techniques of ambient techno and electronica.
The Freeze is an American punk rock band from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, United States, formed by a group of teenagers in 1978. They released the first single, "I Hate Tourists" in 1980 and contributed eight songs, including the title track to the 1982 hardcore punk compilation This Is Boston, Not L.A.
Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers were a Jamaican-American reggae family group whose line-up consisted of the children of musicians, Bob Marley and Rita Marley, which includes lead singer Ziggy Marley with Sharon Marley, Cedella Marley, and Stephen Marley. Formed in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers members began their musical endeavours in their pre-teens under the name the Melody Makers.
Graham Sutton is an English musician and record producer based in Hackney, UK. He is best known as the leader and key figure of seminal post-rock band Bark Psychosis, as well as being a producer for alternative rock bands since the late 1990s.
The Brotherhood were a pioneering UK hip-hop group with a solid following across the UK from the early 1990s. Releases with seminal UK Hip Hop label Bite It! Recordings were followed by a later move to Virgin. The 1996 album Elementalz has been described as one of the best UK hip hop albums ever made and "a staggering achievement in British music". The band finally split in 1998 and have since been credited as one of the most influential bands on the 90s UK hip-hop scene.
Linus was an indie band from London, England, formed in 1992. They were integral to the early UK riot grrrl scene and considered an essential early riot grrl band.
Hip Priest and Kamerads is a 1985 compilation album by British rock band The Fall, containing tracks taken from their releases on the Kamera label together with a previously unreleased live track from the same era. It was subsequently reissued with a further four live tracks added.
Matt Quinn, known by his stage name Optical, is a British musician, producer and DJ. He is co-founder and owner of Virus Recordings, a widely regarded drum and bass record label. He is best known as one half of drum and bass duo Ed Rush and Optical, whose debut album Wormhole has been described as one of the most significant LPs of the drum and bass genre. He is also the brother of Jamie Quinn also known as Matrix.
Emit Ecaps is the third album by English techno producer Jonah Sharp under his pseudonym Spacetime Continuum. It was released in February 1996 on Reflective Records in the United Kingdom and on Astralwerks in the United States. After establishing himself as a techno producer but then moving to an ambient style on his previous album Sea Biscuits (1994), Sharp's music on Emit Ecaps balances his techno and ambient styles with influences of drum and bass and jungle music. The name of the album reverses the term 'space time'. Emit Ecaps was a radio success and received acclaim from music journalists who praised Sharp's change in direction. The album was followed in November 1996 by Remit Recaps, a remix album of material from Emit Ecaps, created with the involvement of several producers.