Spacemen 3 were psychedelic in the loosest sense of the word; their guitar explorations were colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s. Instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia, relying on heavily distorted guitars to clash and produce their own harmonic overtones; frequently, they would lead... [+] Read More

Spacemen 3 were psychedelic in the loosest sense of the word; their guitar explorations were colorfully mind-altering, but not in the sense of the acid rock of the '60s. Instead, the band developed its own minimalistic psychedelia, relying on heavily distorted guitars to clash and produce their own harmonic overtones; frequently, they would lead up to walls of distortion with overamplified acoustic guitars and synths. Often the band would jam on one chord or play a series of songs, all in the same tempo and key. Though this approach was challenging, often bordering on the avant-garde, Spacemen 3 nevertheless gained a dedicated cult following. After releasing several albums in the late '80s, the band fell apart after in 1991.

In 1982, Sonic Boom (guitar, organ, vocals; born Pete Kember on November 19, 1965) and Jason Pierce (guitar, organ, vocals; also born November 19, 1965) formed Spacemen 3 in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Sonic Boom and Pierce added a rhythm section comprised of Pete Baines and Rosco, and spent the next four years rehearsing and jamming. In 1986, the group released its debut album, Sound of Confusion, on Glass Records. At first the band sounded a bit like a punked-up garage rock band, but their music quickly evolved into their signature trance-like neo-psychedelia. Spacemen 3's second album, 1987's The Perfect Prescription, was the first to capture the group's distinctive style.

Following 1989's Playing With Fire, Baines and Rosco left the group to form their own band, the Darkside. They were replaced by Will Carruthers and Jon Mattock. Despite the addition of new blood to its lineup, the band was beginning to fray because of in-fighting between Sonic Boom and Pierce, as well as the former's increasing drug dependency. The new lineup struggled through a final album, 1991's Recurring, which featured Boom's songs on side one and Pierce's on side two. By the time of the release of Recurring, Pierce was performing with Carruthers and Mattock in a new band called Spiritualized. Shortly after the release of Recurring, Spacemen 3 split, and Spiritualized became Pierce's full-time band, eventually earning a cult following of its own. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide [-] Hide

The geographically and stylistically nomadic indie rock band Lilys was the vehicle of singer/songwriter Kurt Heasley, the group's founder and sole constant member. A Philadelphia native, Heasley and Lilys bowed with the 1991 single "February 14," a nod to My Bloody Valentine; while based in Washington, D.C., they recorded their 1992 debut LP, In... [+] Read More

The geographically and stylistically nomadic indie rock band Lilys was the vehicle of singer/songwriter Kurt Heasley, the group's founder and sole constant member. A Philadelphia native, Heasley and Lilys bowed with the 1991 single "February 14," a nod to My Bloody Valentine; while based in Washington, D.C., they recorded their 1992 debut LP, In the Presence of Nothing, an even greater testament to their shoegazing fetish. A two-year silence followed as Heasley roamed the East Coast, finally resurfacing with 1994's A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns EP, on which Lilys refashioned themselves as a guitar pop band. The spare, minimalist Eccsame the Photon Band followed in 1995 before the now Boston-based Heasley delivered the next year's Better Can't Make Your Life Better, evidence of a strong British Invasion fixation.

The Services (For the Soon to Be Departed) EP arrived in 1997; two years later, Lilys resurfaced not only with the full-length The 3-Way but also Zero Population Growth, their entry in Darla Records' continuing Bliss Out series. Around this time, Heasley returned to Philadelphia to focus on raising his family. In fall 2002, he began recording his seventh album. Produced by Mike Mussmano, Precollection highlighted Lilys' brightest, anthemic pop sound yet. It was issued in spring 2003, their first release for Manifesto. Two years later, Heasley joined Mussmano a second time for Everything Wrong Is Imaginary. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Discordant, elusive and utterly hypnotic, Loop conjured a dark, trance-like spell that contrasted sharply with the prevailing British pop music trends of their time. Equal parts the Stooges, Can and Hawkwind, in tandem with fellow travellers Spacemen 3 they resurrected the concept of space-rock for a new era, creating droning soundscapes of... [+] Read More

Discordant, elusive and utterly hypnotic, Loop conjured a dark, trance-like spell that contrasted sharply with the prevailing British pop music trends of their time. Equal parts the Stooges, Can and Hawkwind, in tandem with fellow travellers Spacemen 3 they resurrected the concept of space-rock for a new era, creating droning soundscapes of bleak beauty and harsh dissonance. Loop was formed in London in 1986 by vocalist/guitarist Robert Hampson, who at the time of the group's inception claimed to know only four chords; with wife Bex on drums and Glen Ray on bass, they debuted with the single "16 Dreams," its raw, feedback-powered sound offering clear evidence of a serious garage fixation. New drummer John Wills and bassist Neil MacKay were signed on a short time later, with their arrival heralding a more primal rhythmic foundation; the reconfigured Loop then issued its 1987 full-length debut Heavens End, winning acclaim for its densely distorted sound.

The World in Your Eyes, a collection of singles and B-sides, appeared in 1987; after signing to the Chapter 22 label, Loop resurfaced in 1988 with the 12" Collision. In November of that same year the group also released their second full-length, the excellent Fade Out. Over a year passed before Loop returned to action with the "Arc-Lite" single, now sporting not only another new label, Situation Two, but also a second guitarist, Scott Dowson. After issuing their third and finest studio LP, 1990's A Gilded Eternity, Loop disbanded; a series of posthumous releases, among them the live Dual and the BBC sessions collection Wolf Flow, soon followed. In the wake of the band's demise, its four members split into two camps -- while MacKay and Wills reunited in the Hair and Skin Trading Company, Hampson and Dowson went on to form the highly experimental Main. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Long acclaimed as among the most innovative and spellbinding bands on the contemporary British pop scene, the Verve finally broke through to a mass international audience in 1997 with the instant classic "Bittersweet Symphony." By no stretch a study in overnight success, the group's rise was instead the culmination of a long, arduous journey... [+] Read More

Long acclaimed as among the most innovative and spellbinding bands on the contemporary British pop scene, the Verve finally broke through to a mass international audience in 1997 with the instant classic "Bittersweet Symphony." By no stretch a study in overnight success, the group's rise was instead the culmination of a long, arduous journey that began at the dawn of the decade and went on to encompass a major breakup, multiple lawsuits, and an extensive diet of narcotics. Perfecting an oceanic sound fusing the exploratory vision of '60s-era psychedelia with the shimmering atmospherics of the shoegazer aesthetic, the Verve languished in relative obscurity while waiting for the rest of the music world to play catch-up, creating one of the most complex and rewarding bodies of work in modern rock & roll long before most listeners even learned of their existence -- only to again fall apart at the peak of their success.

Originally known simply as Verve, the group was formed in the small Northern English city of Wigan in 1989. Led by the magnetic Richard Ashcroft -- a swaggering, shamanic figure in the classic rock star mold -- the original lineup also included guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Sharing a collective fondness for the Beatles, Funkadelic, and Krautrock -- as well as a legendary appetite for psychedelics -- the quartet signed to the Hut label within months, debuting in March 1992 with the single "All in the Mind," the first in a series of indie chart-topping efforts featuring the eye-catching artwork of designer Brian Cannon. Subsequent efforts like the brilliant "She's a Superstar" and "Gravity Grave" captured an original musical identity growing by leaps and bounds, distinguished chiefly by Ashcroft's elemental vocals and McCabe's echoing guitar leads.

While Verve's long, liquid jams found favor on the British indie charts, pop radio looked the other way -- their majestic debut LP, 1993's A Storm in Heaven, was a critical smash, but the good reviews failed to translate into strong record sales. The following summer, Verve appeared on the second stage at Lollapalooza, a tour tempered by a string of disasters -- not only was Salisbury arrested for destroying a Kansas hotel room, but Ashcroft was also hospitalized after suffering from severe dehydration. Around that same time, the American jazz label also dubbed Verve slapped the band with a lawsuit, forcing the quartet to officially change its name to "the Verve." Sessions for the 1995 follow-up, A Northern Soul, proved to be the last straw -- admittedly recorded under the influence of a massive intake of Ecstasy, the album's harrowing intensity was met with disappointing sales and little media recognition, and just three months after its release, Ashcroft exited.

Although Ashcroft quickly reassembled the Verve a few weeks later, McCabe initially refused to return, and was replaced by guitarist/keyboardist Simon Tong. Finally, in early 1997, McCabe came back to the fold, and as a quintet they recorded Urban Hymns, their breakthrough LP. Heralded by the smash "Bittersweet Symphony" -- a single built around a looped sample of a symphonic recording of the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" -- Urban Hymns launched the Verve among the U.K.'s most popular bands; still, even at their peak, the curse of their past lingered on, as legal hassles awarded 100 percent of the song's publishing rights to ABKCO Music, which controls the Stones' back catalog. The second single from the album, the haunting "The Drugs Don't Work," became the Verve's first U.K. number one smash; the hits "Lucky Man" and "Sonnet" soon followed. However, when McCabe pulled out of the group's 1998 U.S. tour, the group suffered yet another blow and, after months of rumors, the Verve officially split the following spring. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Formed from the ashes of the trance-rockers Spacemen 3, singer/guitarist Jason Pierce's group Spiritualized did not break away from his prior band's trademark hypnotic minimalism; instead, they perfected it. Drawing on the continued influence of the Velvet Underground, La Monte Young, and Steve Reich, Spiritualized staked out a common ground... [+] Read More

Formed from the ashes of the trance-rockers Spacemen 3, singer/guitarist Jason Pierce's group Spiritualized did not break away from his prior band's trademark hypnotic minimalism; instead, they perfected it. Drawing on the continued influence of the Velvet Underground, La Monte Young, and Steve Reich, Spiritualized staked out a common ground between minimalism and lush symphonics -- while powered by simple, repetitious motifs, their songs simultaneously blossomed into rich, shimmering sonic panoramas inspired by the majestic studio wizardry of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. Such seeming contradictions were essential to the group's alchemy: while the infamous Spacemen 3 tag of "taking drugs to make music to take drugs to" remained a cornerstone of their craft, at the same time Spiritualized's very name acknowledged the existence of other forces, further reflected in their heavy debt to gospel and soul music as well as an affinity for mantras and devotional hymns.

Although Spiritualized fully emerged after the acrimonious breakup of Spacemen 3, in truth the band's roots extended back to the band's final LP, 1990's Recurring. A Spacemen 3 album in name only, Recurring was split evenly between independently recorded work from Pierce and estranged partner Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember; as a result, while Kember's side presaged his eventual work with Spectrum, Pierce's half, recorded with most of the musicians who would later comprise Spiritualized (including guitarist Mark Refoy, bassist Willie B. Carruthers, and drummer Jon Mattock), predated the orchestral drones that became the band's hallmark. The first true Spiritualized single, a dramatic reading of the Troggs' "Anyway That You Want Me," was the final nail in the coffin -- reportedly, Kember was so incensed by the Spacemen 3 logo which appeared on the disc's jacket that he disbanded the group for good.

In 1991, Spiritualized returned with a string of EPs -- Feel So Sad, Run/I Want You, and Smile/Sway -- before their long-awaited debut, Lazer Guided Melodies, finally appeared the following year. The masterful, blissed-out result of Pierce's obsessive studio fine-tuning and endless remixing, the album was promoted by the band's slot on the high-profile Rollercoaster tour, where they appeared with the Jesus and Mary Chain and Curve. An excellent limited-edition live document, Fucked Up Inside, followed in 1993, trailed by another EP, Electric Mainline, later in the year.

In 1995, Spiritualized -- now a trio consisting of Pierce, keyboardist/guitarist Kate Radley, and bassist Sean Cook -- issued Pure Phase, a heady, dense production which boasted separate mixes from each stereo channel. With 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, Pierce deliberately jettisoned many of the band's usual points of departure, including drones, tremolos, and phase tones; recorded with new drummer Damon Reece, it featured a cameo appearance from legendary New Orleans pianist Dr. John on one track, while Memphis studio legend Jim Dickinson appeared on another. Other guests included the Balanescu Quartet (also featured on Pure Phase), the Greater London Gospel Community Choir, and Spring Heel Jack. The two-disc Royal Albert Hall October 10 1997 live album followed in late 1998.

The following year, Pierce gutted Spiritualized's lineup, firing Cook, Reece, and Mike Mooney, who formed Lupine Howl soon after their dismissal; Radley apparently left soon after she married Verve frontman and solo artist Richard Ashcroft. Only saxophonist Ray Dickaty and sometime keyboardist Thighpaulsandra (aka Tim Lewis) remained in the band. Pierce began writing and recording material for the next Spiritualized album at George Martin's Air Studios and recruited percussionist Tom Edwards, bassist Martin Shallards, Echoboy drummer Kev Bales, and guitarist Dogan, from Julian Cope's band, for the sessions. The new album, Let It Come Down, which featured an even lusher, more involved sound than Ladies and Gentlemen, was released in mid-2001. The follow-up, 2003's Amazing Grace, was more of a back-to-basics record. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Had Loop been present at Woodstock, they probably would have hatched a plan to obtain all the brown acid that Wavy Gravy warned spectators not to take. After hearing his declaration that "The brown acid's a bummer, man!," Robert Hampson and his droogs would have likely gone incognito as security staff, offering to rid the concert goers of the... [+] Read More

Had Loop been present at Woodstock, they probably would have hatched a plan to obtain all the brown acid that Wavy Gravy warned spectators not to take. After hearing his declaration that "The brown acid's a bummer, man!," Robert Hampson and his droogs would have likely gone incognito as security staff, offering to rid the concert goers of the bad trips waiting to be had. They would have preceded to ingest what they could and record something like Heaven's End, a filler-free release of warped senses and personal demons, self-contained blues, and psychotic dementia. It sounds like a vast toxic wasteland where all negativity is dumped by the soul. Simple, tense riffs repeat until a state of hypnosis and emotional emptiness remain. "Heaven's End" itself sounds like the soundtrack to a missing hallucination scene from Easy Rider; shifting and shuffling percussion and twisted vapor trails of guitar mutate into utter mush. Samples from 2001 pop up throughout the record, if the music itself wasn't enough to carry a prevailing sense of paranoia and claustrophobia. But all the late-'60s references become stifling in conveying what Loop did. Along the way, Loop gutted all the spiritual mysticism from Can, taking their repetition. They also borrow Suicide's minimal charge and early PiL's wretched anguish, making something rather unique from their influences. Though Heaven's End demonstrates a crystal clear indebtedness to Detroit's high-energy mayhem of the late ‘60s, it's actually the gunmetal gray sound of the Stooges and MC5 filtered through decades of urban decay. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide [-] Hide

A low hum is the first thing heard. It's nearly an inaudible sound, like the opening of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Soon other instruments join and overlap: strings, guitar, and glockenspiel. For a while, the listener hovers in a mist feeling the musical waves ebb and flow, warning of impending danger. In these moments, uncertainty breeds and... [+] Read More

A low hum is the first thing heard. It's nearly an inaudible sound, like the opening of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Soon other instruments join and overlap: strings, guitar, and glockenspiel. For a while, the listener hovers in a mist feeling the musical waves ebb and flow, warning of impending danger. In these moments, uncertainty breeds and devours the weak, swallowing them whole. This is probably Mile End, the location alluded to in the liner notes of the Canadian ensemble Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada. Mile End is described in detail, and the influence of this locale on the recording of the Slow Riot must have been immense. In fact, the best way to describe this album is as a direct result of Mile End's setting: the abandoned buildings, haunting forest, burned out railroad cars, and empty train tracks. All of these physical images pervade the tone of this album: they are its sadness, beauty, and anger. The darkness is there too. Once immersed in Mile End, it's near impossible to find your way out. The darkness limits your freedom, and at the same time hides you from the rest of the world. You are alone and it is both frightening and liberating. As for the music, there's really not much to say. If this description of Mile End appeals to you or intrigues you then it will be a worthwhile listen. "Moya," the album's first piece, is a lot like weathering a torrential downpour: torn between moments of uncertainty a final deluge occurs absorbing everything in its path. The second piece, "BBF3," is a history lesson set to music, a story of dysfunctional government, militias, and human rights. This one album spans the emotions of terror and delight in 30 minutes. The same feelings of fear and triumph found in Beethoven can be found here, and there is perhaps no better endorsement for such music. ~ Marc Gilman, All Music Guide [-] Hide

Taking a step back from the vast scope and experimentalism of their brilliant, sprawling album Precious Falling, Quickspace's Matador debut, The Death of Quickspace, hones in on the group's precarious, invigorating fusion of giddy noise bursts and moody, hypnotic lock grooves. Songs like "They Shoot Horse Don't They" and "The Lobbalong Song"... [+] Read More

Taking a step back from the vast scope and experimentalism of their brilliant, sprawling album Precious Falling, Quickspace's Matador debut, The Death of Quickspace, hones in on the group's precarious, invigorating fusion of giddy noise bursts and moody, hypnotic lock grooves. Songs like "They Shoot Horse Don't They" and "The Lobbalong Song" feature their signature mix of rolling drums, bubbling keyboards, and twining, chiming melodies, but surprisingly thrashy guitars slash through "Munchers No Munchers," "Lob It," and "4," making this album the group's most raucous to date. Though the cascading,11-minute epic "Climbing a Hill" doesn't quite achieve the liftoff that most of Quickspace's extended pieces accomplish effortlessly, the band more than makes up for that with two of their finest pop confections, "Gloriana" and "A Rose." As sunny and winding as a country road in the summertime, both songs blend sweet harmonies, pastoral fiddles, slide guitars, and the otherworldy theremins that always hover around the periphery of Quickspace's songs. Though Precious Falling is a hard act to follow, much like their first album and early singles, The Death of Quickspace makes its sneaky way into the listener's affections, creeping up and offering something surprising when it's least expected. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide [-] Hide

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