When a band disappears, it can be hurtful, almost as hurtful as when you fall out of love or when a friendship you thought meant a lot, actually meant nothing. The only difference is that you have control of the latter two. Thankfully, these bands are back and thankfully THANKFULLY, I wasn’t born when they started out, so I didn’t have to deal with the trauma of them leaving the scene in the first place.
* The first one on my list is the wonderful Liquid Liquid now signed to Domino. After forming in New York in the early 80’s, they optimised uniqueness. With their post-punk/post-disco sound with a Brazilian, dance and reggae edge.
With their forward thinking sound in songs such as Optimo and Caven - which was sampled by Grand Master Flash for their epic White Lines song - Liquid Liquid are the type of band who influenced many, yet were not known for it.
I saw them play at Offset festival in Epping Forest last month and am now in love with them, with there bass driven groovy rock songs. The band consists of Scott Hartley, Richard McGuire, Salvatore Principato, Dennis Young. They have reissued their old stuff as they only released very few records back then. To get your hands on all of their songs, check out “Slip In and Out of the Phenomenon”.
* The second on my list is Pylon, a fantastic underground band who formed at art school in 70’s Georgia. The band consists of Vanessa Briscoe Hay on vocals, Randall Bewley on guitar, Michael Lachowski on bass, Curtis Crowe on drums.
From the Alt rock scene, Plyon have supported The Gang of Four, been named the best band around by R.E.M and won early support from the B52’s. I discovered them whilst at the Ritzy in Brixton and was struck by their amazing bass lines and the stunning voice of lead singer, Vanessa in the song Beep Beep. After asking the bar tender who they were, and subsequently googling them when I got home, I found out they were old and not a new cool band coming around the block now!
Now signed to DFA records which home to LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip, it’s good to know that someone has picked up on their genius. Their last album, “Chomp More” was out in 2009.
