Hex (Bark Psychosis album)

Last updated

Hex
Bark Psychosis - Hex.jpg
Studio album by
Released14 February 1994
RecordedMarch–November 1993
Genre Post-rock
Length51:11
Label Circa
Producer Bark Psychosis
Bark Psychosis chronology
Hex
(1994)
///Codename: Dustsucker
(2004)
Singles from Hex
  1. "A Street Scene"
    Released: 10 January 1994

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. [1]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [2]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
NME 8/10 [4]
Record Collector Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Select 4/5 [6]
Uncut 10/10 [7]

Reception to Hex was generally positive. Melody Maker described Hex as "the work of a band nourished by constant evolution and is unquestionably divine" and "a gorgeously intense 50 minutes". [8] The NME referred to the band as "nothing less than completely captivating" and called the album "a thoroughly marvelous record". [4]

Writing about Hex for its 30th anniversary, Mark Lager, on Under the Radar (magazine) , described Hex as "an aptly named album as it casts a spellbinding hypnosis on the listener. Hex could be considered ahead of its time but more accurately it still sounds lost out of time. It followed in the footsteps of Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden and The Verve’s A Storm in Heaven and is one of the most experimental records of the 1990s. Hex is a melancholy and wintry song cycle, deeply textured and cinematic, for those lonely moments in the middle of the night." [9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bark Psychosis, except where noted

No.TitleLength
1."The Loom"5:16
2."A Street Scene"5:36
3."Absent Friend"8:20
4."Big Shot" (Sutton, Ling, Simnett)5:21
5."Fingerspit"8:21
6."Eyes & Smiles"8:31
7."Pendulum Man"9:54

Personnel

Bark Psychosis

Other Musicians

Technical personnel

Charts

Chart (2017)Peak
position
UK Independent Albums (OCC) [10] 48

Notes

  1. Reynolds, Simon (March 1994). "Bark Psychosis: Hex" . Mojo . No. 4. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
  2. Ankeny, Jason. "Hex – Bark Psychosis". AllMusic . Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  3. Chick, Stevie (October 2017). "Bark Psychosis: Hex". Mojo . No. 287. p. 105.
  4. 1 2 "Bark Psychosis: Hex". NME . 19 February 1994. p. 43.
  5. Moores, JR (October 2017). "Bark Psychosis – Hex". Record Collector . No. 471. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  6. Morrison, Dave (March 1994). "Bark Psychosis: Hex". Select . No. 45. p. 74.
  7. Dale, Jon (20 September 2017). "Bark Psychosis – Hex". Uncut . Archived from the original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  8. "Bark Psychosis: Hex". Melody Maker . 12 February 1994. p. 73.
  9. Lager, Mark (23 February 2024). "Bark Psychosis - Reflecting on the 30th Anniversary of Hex". Under the Radar (magazine) .
  10. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 June 2018.

Related Research Articles

Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbres, as well as non-rock styles, with less emphasis on conventional song structures or riffs. Post-rock artists typically combine rock instrumentation with electronics. The genre emerged within the indie and underground music scene of the 1980s and early 1990s. However, due to its abandonment of rock conventions, it began to increasingly show little resemblance musically to conventional indie rock at the time, borrowing instead from diverse sources including ambient, electronica, jazz, krautrock, dub, and minimalist classical, with these influences also being pivotal for the style of ambient pop.

<i>Different Class</i> 1995 studio album by Pulp

Different Class is the fifth studio album by English rock band Pulp, released on 30 October 1995 by Island Records.

<i>Spirit of Eden</i> 1988 studio album by Talk Talk

Spirit of Eden is the fourth studio album by English band Talk Talk, released in 1988 on Parlophone Records. The songs were written by singer Mark Hollis and producer Tim Friese-Greene and the album was compiled from a lengthy recording process at London's Wessex Studios between 1987 and 1988. Often working in darkness, the band recorded many hours of improvised performances that drew on elements of jazz, ambient, blues, classical music, and dub. These long-form recordings were then heavily edited and re-arranged into an album in mostly digital format.

The Paradise Motel are an independent Australian rock band that formed in Hobart, Tasmania. In 1994, they relocated to Melbourne and issued two albums on Mushroom Records, Still Life (1996) and Flight Paths (1998). After relocating to the United Kingdom, they released a third, Reworkings (1999), before disbanding in early 2000. The group reformed in January 2008 and released the albums, Australian Ghost Story (2010), I Still Hear Your Voice at Night (2011) and Oh Boy (2013).

<i>Fuzzy Logic</i> (Super Furry Animals album) 1996 studio album by Super Furry Animals

Fuzzy Logic is the debut album by the Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals. Recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and released on the Creation label in May 1996, it was positively received by critics, who felt it was an eclectic if inconsistent mix of psychedelic music and glam rock, and was included in Q Magazine's list of recordings of the year. It has retained a modest respect among some critics; it was listed in Q's "Best British Albums Ever" in July 2004, and is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It contains two top 20 hits in "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" and "Something 4 the Weekend"; it also contains the singles "God! Show Me Magic" and "Hometown Unicorn". It reached number 23 in the UK Albums Chart on release. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 245 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bark Psychosis</span> English post-rock band

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.

<i>Guerrilla</i> (album) 1999 studio album by Super Furry Animals

Guerrilla is the third studio album by Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals. The record was released on 14 June 1999 by Creation Records and peaked at number 10 in the UK Albums Chart. Guerrilla was conceived as a commercial 'pop' album and was produced by the band themselves, as regular producer Gorwel Owen felt exhausted after a busy schedule working for other bands. Recording took place at Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire in mid-1998 with the group experimenting with a sampler for the first time and writing a number of songs in the studio. The band tried to create a 45-minute long, immediate sounding record, and therefore chose the upbeat songs from the 25 tracks which were recorded during sessions for the album. Guerrilla was chosen as the album's title as a pun on the group's name.

<i>Searching for the Young Soul Rebels</i> 1980 studio album by Dexys Midnight Runners

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels is the debut studio album by English soul group Dexys Midnight Runners, released on 11 July 1980, through Parlophone and EMI Records. Led by Kevin Rowland, the group formed in 1978 in Birmingham, England, and formed a strong live reputation before recording their first material. Recorded during April 1980, the album combines the aggressiveness of punk rock with soul music, particularly influenced by the Northern soul movement.

<i>Hex Enduction Hour</i> 1982 studio album by The Fall

Hex Enduction Hour is the fourth studio album by the English post-punk group the Fall. Released on 8 March 1982, it was built on low-fidelity production values and caustic lyrical content of their earlier recordings, and features a two-drummer lineup. Frontman Mark E. Smith established an abrasive Northern aesthetic built as part of the 20th century literary traditions of kitchen sink realism and magic realism. Smith described the album as an often-satirical but deliberate reaction to the contemporary music scene, a stand against "bland bastards like Elvis Costello and Spandau Ballet ... [and] all that shit."

<i>A Kiss in the Dreamhouse</i> 1982 studio album by Siouxsie and the Banshees

A Kiss in the Dreamhouse is the fifth studio album by British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released on 5 November 1982 by Polydor Records. The record marked a change of musical direction, as the group used strings for the first time and experimented in the studio. Guitarist John McGeoch played more instruments, including recorder and piano. For Julian Marszalek of The Quietus, the release proved the Banshees to be "one of the great British psychedelic bands."

<i>Casanova</i> (The Divine Comedy album) 1996 studio album by the Divine Comedy

Casanova is the fourth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy. It was released in 1996 by Setanta Records, and it happened to be the band's commercial breakthrough. It was certified Gold in the UK in July 1997, aided by the release of the album's first single, "Something for the Weekend", which reached No. 13 on the charts. Two other singles released from the album, "Becoming More Like Alfie" and "The Frog Princess", charted at No. 27 and No. 15, respectively.

<i>Codename: Dustsucker</i> 2004 album by Bark Psychosis

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.

<i>White Light from the Mouth of Infinity</i> 1991 studio album by Swans

White Light from the Mouth of Infinity is the seventh album by the American experimental rock band Swans. It was released in 1991, through the record label Young God. The band supported the album with a North American tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Reynolds</span> English music critic (born 1963)

Simon Reynolds is an English music journalist and author who began his career at the Melody Maker in the mid-1980s. He subsequently worked as a freelancer and published a number of books on music and popular culture.

<i>Wire Waltz</i> 2006 studio album by The Last Town Chorus

Wire Waltz is the second album from band The Last Town Chorus, released in 2006, three years after their eponymous debut. It contains the band's most well known track, a cover of David Bowie's "Modern Love", also featured in a season two episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Boymerang was the drum and bass project of the English post-rock musician Graham Sutton.

<i>The Comforts of Madness</i> (album) 1990 studio album by Pale Saints

The Comforts of Madness is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band Pale Saints. It was released on 12 February 1990 by 4AD.

<i>A Celebration of Endings</i> 2020 studio album by Biffy Clyro

A Celebration of Endings is the eighth studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Biffy Clyro. It was produced by Rich Costey and was released on 14 August 2020. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, making it the band's third consecutive studio album to top the chart.

<i>Rest in Blue</i> 2021 studio album by Gerry Rafferty

Rest in Blue is a 2021 album from Scottish soft rock musician Gerry Rafferty, compiled from recordings made shortly before his death.

<i>Stumpwork</i> (album) 2022 studio album by Dry Cleaning

Stumpwork is the second studio album by English post-punk band Dry Cleaning. It was released on 21 October 2022, on 4AD Records.