Amp
 

Any fans of this band? Richard Walker's band is rumoured to have had something like 30 people in their ranks, including Robert Hampson (Loop/Main), Ray Dickaty (Moonshake), Matt Elliott ( Flying Saucer Attack/ Third Eye Foundation) etc etc.

Difficult to describe their music as the numerous changes in the line up reflect on the records. They are often described as post rock, but spacey elements more similar to what EAR do are also present on their music too. Anyway, if you don't know them ''Sirenes'' is a good album to start with.











http://www.ampbase.net/

Sounds interesting. I'll have to have a root around for their album. I remember R Dickaty playing a mean sax in a very early line-up of Skree.

The family tree gets even more interesting: I have an album by Skree at home called ''Fat Mouth Shouts Out'' which has vocals by Pinkie Maclure who works with John Wills, another ex-Loop.

i bought their album astralmoonbeamprojections from a mail order but got sent an MTV AMP Cd instead and when i returned the CD i never got sent the correct one in return. i was supposed to see them play live a few years ago but they cancelled on the day.

sounds pretty cool, ill check it out.


i thought you means "amps for christ" for a second, whom i love.

I was going to suggest starting with ''astralmoonbeamprojections'' intitally 'cause that's another good one of theirs. Was the gig the one that was meant to take place at Hoxton Town Hall when they were meant to support Rothko but nobody showed up and they left a group of people outside wondering what was going on?

Astralmoonbeamprojections is my favorite that I've heard, but all I have besides that are Passé/Présent and some compilation tracks. They contributed a track to a 10" compilation that I have called "Decalogue" (on Ochre) thatwas quite enjoyable. I think interest in them will experience some kind of surge (to what degree I don't know) in the next few years, as will the work of some of the other great mid/late 90s drone/space rock groups such as Magnog and the like.

heard the name before but haven't heard the band.

Since you mentioned Ochre Records, what do you make of The Land Of Nod? They're a another band that I've always liked, give or take the odd so-so track. http://www.myspace.com/thelandofnoduk

Longstone, on the same label, are another one worth checking out.
http://www.myspace.com/longstone

i have an ochre records sampler, i never gave it too much of a chance, though.

I remember them from the days when 'post-rock' was a term interchangable with (and less popular than) 'space-rock', all those early-to-mid-90s bands that followed in the wake of Spacemen 3.

I got confused between Amp, A.M.P. 30 Amp fuse and the Amps, all of whom were active in a similar field at the same time.

I've just fished out a transparent blue vinyl 12" that I like and it turns out I'm thinking of A.M.P., who I haven't listened to this century and are pretty darn good.

i dont think "space

i dont think "space rock"

wow, fuckin triple post here, but i dont think "space rock" (one of the only genre names dumber than post rock" sounds like anything of that we think of as post rock today. i mean spacemen 3 and godspeed, the only similarity i can identify is awesomeness.

Post-rock is a difficult one, and I'm certainly going to come across as a patronising cunt on this one.

So. Post-rock was a term invented by the Wire around the time of the first Tortoise album to describe them and others. It was retroactively applied to the like of Spacemen 3 and SY. It was a polite term for 'progressive' indie at a time when 'prog' still meant YES who were still (rightly) considered shit in the music press. Remember - this was a time when musical information was, for the overwhelming majority, sired from music mags.

For a while post-rock plodded along, including the more errant edges of college rock and indie. Then Fridge came along, and everyone loved them, for about ten minutes. Then Mogwai appeared, and were probably more popular than Tortoise. Thanks to Mogwai being popular, G!YBE (who hadn't yet moved their exclamation mark) also became popular, and not long after Sigur Ros appeared and were also popular. Meanwhile, the likes of Six by Seven and Doves had the 'post-rock' tag thrown at them. Then, mysteriously, the influence of G!YBE took hold, and nowadays post-rock seems to mean only that particular sort of music (i.e., shit).

Glice's potted history of insignificant half-movements in popular music is also available as an audio tape and glimmering vase.

you mean "the music press should be considered shit", surely.

aren't A.M.P. and Amp the same band?

No, it was at the Spitz and Spectrum/E.A.R./Sonic Boom (whatever he calls himself) was headlining.

Yep, back in them olden days post-rock meant anything with amplified live instruments that was unusually structured (i.e. not verse chorus verse), now it means stuff that sounds like mogwai.

I'd say that's the same band when they put records out under the ''amp studio'' moniker. Not sure if there's another one named liked that. It's not the most original name in the world.