Results for Electrelane
On this page:
 
Artist:

Electrelane

Formed:
1998 in Brighton, England

  • Genre: Rock
  • Active: '90s, 2000s
  • Major Members: Emma Gaze, Verity Susman, Rachel Dalley, Mia Clarke

Biography

Brighton, England's Electrelane formed in 1998, eventually comprising guitarist Mia Clarke, bassist Rachel Dalley, drummer Emma Gaze, and keyboardist/guitarist Verity Susman. Sharing an equal amount of fondness for Krautrock, vintage equipment like the Farfisa organ, and modern production techniques, the band made their recorded debut in January 2000 with the Film Music single on In Denial. Following another single for Fierce Panda, the group set up the Sony-supported Let's Rock! label, issuing a pair of singles (Gabriel and Blue Straggler) prior to the April 2001 release of Rock It to the Moon, the band's first full-length. Active and vocal proponents of female involvement in music, the band became part of the Ladyfest concerts that took place in Glasgow a few months later. For the band's second album, 2004's The Power Out, Electrelane moved to Too Pure and added vocals and more pop structure to their sound. Dalley left the band late in 2004 and was replaced by Ros Murray. Axes, Electrelane's denser, more experimental third full-length, arrived the following spring. After extensive touring in support of Axes, the band convened in Berlin in summer 2006 to write their fourth album, No Shouts No Calls, which they recorded that fall; the album, which fell closer to The Power Out's pop sound, was released in spring 2007. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide

Representative Albums:

The Power Out, No Shouts No Calls, Singles, B-Sides & Live

Similar Artists:

Love of Diagrams, Klang, Ikara Colt, Young People, KaitO, Broadcast, Quickspace, Komeda, Pram, Stereolab, Clinic

Influences:

Th' Faith Healers, Saint Etienne, The Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Can
 
 
Wikipedia: Electrelane
Electrelane
Electrelane. Back row: Mia Clarke & Ros Murray. Front row: Emma Gaze & Verity Susman
Electrelane. Back row: Mia Clarke & Ros Murray. Front row: Emma Gaze & Verity Susman
Background information
Origin Brighton, England
Genre(s) Rock
Post-rock
Alternative
Years active 1998-present
Label(s) Too Pure, Beggars Banquet
Website Official Site
Members
Verity Susman
Emma Gaze
Mia Clarke
Ros Murray
Former members
Tracy Houdek
Debbie Ball
Rupert Noble
Rachel Dalley
Notable instrument(s)
Farfisa, clarinet, saxophone

Electrelane is a band from Brighton, England. It was formed in 1998 by Verity Susman and Emma Gaze, and is currently comprised of Susman, Gaze, Mia Clarke, and Ros Murray. Their music draws from wide range of influences including Neu!, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, and The Velvet Underground. Although the band is an all-female group and has strong feminist and political views in their personal lives, they generally prefer to not communicate that directly to their fans or through their music [1]; one exception is their inclusion of the protest song "The Partisan," which they began playing while on tour in the United States during the months preceding the 2004 Presidential election.

History

Early years (1998–August 2000)

The band recorded their first single, "Film Music," and released it in January 2000 on the Skint Records off-shoot label In Denial. They released another single ("Le Song") with Fierce Panda before creating their own label, Let's Rock, with distribution by 3MV. The first two singles they released were "Gabriel" and "Blue Straggler" and in fall of 2000 they began work on their debut album. During this period, they had a number of personnel changes. The original bassist was Tracy Houdek, who left the band due to a pregnancy. She was briefly replaced by Rupert Noble until Rachel Dalley signed on. Original guitarist Debbie Ball was replaced by Mia Clarke.

Rock It to the Moon (September 2000–March 2003)

Their debut album, Rock It To The Moon, was released in April 2001. Although Electrelane started off as a traditional band with vocals, this album was mostly instrumental. Verity Susman explained, "Way way back, when we first started, we always had a lot of singing. But it never worked that well. When we did instrumental it was always more interesting. More completely we felt like we were doing something good, while the songs with the singing ended up quite bog-standard, boring, not very interesting." [2]

The Power Out (April 2003–November 2004)

Electrelane brought in renowned producer Steve Albini to record their second album, The Power Out, while production was still handled by the band. [3] The result was an album that added more vocals and structure to the songs, giving them almost pop-like vibes. It was released on Too Pure in February 2004. The album was widely recognized and praised as critics appreciated the added complexity and vocals on their new work.

Electrelane had not only added vocals to the work, but had transcended conventional expectations by employing a number of techniques. Of the nine songs with vocals, three of them were done in different languages. The album opener "Gone Under Sea" is sung completely in French. The third song, "The Valleys," featuring the vocals of the ensemble Chicago a cappella, had in part sections from Siegfried Sassoon's "A Letter Home." On "Oh Sombra!" the Spanish lyrics are a sonnet by 16th century Catalan poet Juan Boscán Almogáver. On "This Deed" the lyrics are a single line, in German, from Friedrich Nietzsche's Die fröhliche Wissenschaft followed by the inclamation "Hände hoch!" (or "Hands up!"). These touches, as one review put it, "managed to be unique without being a radical departure."[4]

Midway through 2004, Rachel Dalley left the group and was replaced by Ros Murray, an old friend of the group [5].

Axes (December 2004–May 2006)

For their follow up, the mostly instrumental Axes, Electrelane once again returned to Steve Albini's studio in Chicago. This third album was released on 9 May 2005. Although it did not receive the attention and acclaim that its predecessor had, it again employed an interesting execution, this time in how it was recorded. Emma Gaze explained the album was recorded "the way we rehearse and practise: we all stand in a circle and it is very relaxed. Our previous recording experiences have been with the bass in one room, the drums in a different room, the two guitarists in a different room and then the vocals are done afterwards. Obviously it works like that because that is how most bands do it. But we just wanted it to sound more live; there is a different kind of energy that comes from playing in the same room." [6] The album is perhaps the closest one can get to experiencing their live show.

As with The Power Out, Electrelane supported Axes with a global tour. By now they had toured in the UK, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Japan and Australia. They both headlined their own tours and supported tours for The Ex and Le Tigre among others; they had also appeared at festivals such as South by Southwest and the ATP Festival.

No Shouts, No Calls (June 2006–2007)

Mia Clarke of Electrelane on stage at La Route du Rock, August 2007.
Enlarge
Mia Clarke of Electrelane on stage at La Route du Rock, August 2007.

Electrelane began writing material for their fourth album in Berlin's Planet Roc studios in the summer of 2006, at the height of the World Cup. During that period, the band became fans of the sport, going so far as to rearrange their recording schedules around the event and including a sample of a match between Hertha BSC Berlin and FC Moskva in the song "Five" of their new album.

In September and October, they were in Benton Harbor recording and mixing their album. In November, the band announced on their official website that they had finished recording and had titled their album No Shouts, No Calls. The album was released in on 23 April 2007 in Japan, 3 May 2007 in the USA and 30 April 2007 elsewhere. The first single, titled "To the East," was released on 12 March 2007. The album received generally positive reviews, with Heather Phares of All Music Guide calling some songs "among the band's finest work"[7]; detractors included Leonie Cooper of The Guardian, who mentioned the band had a "penchant for turning every tune [into] a proggy wig-out."[8]

In May and June of 2007 the band toured the United States with Tender Forever and opened for Arcade Fire on several of their shows. For the rest of the summer, they played the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan as well as various festivals in Europe, including La Route du Rock, Summercase and the Montreux Jazz Festival. They plan to continue touring Europe in the fall.

Current lineup

  • Verity Susman: Keyboards, Farfisa, lead vocals, guitar, saxophone, clarinet.
  • Emma Gaze: Drums. (Also does most of the artwork for the albums.)
  • Mia Clarke: Guitar, backing vocals.
  • Ros Murray: Bass guitar.

Past members

  • Tracey Houdek (1998–1999): Bass guitar.
  • Rupert Noble (1999): Bass guitar.
  • Debbie Ball (1998–2000): Guitar, vocals.
  • Rachel Dalley (1999–2004): Bass guitar.

Discography

External links


 
 

Join the WikiAnswers Q&A community. Post a question or answer questions about "Electrelane" at WikiAnswers.

 

Copyrights:

Artist. Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ® , a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Electrelane" Read more

Search for answers directly from your browser with the FREE Answers.com Toolbar!  
Click here to download now. 

Get Answers your way! Check out all our free tools and products.

On this page:   E-mail   print Print  Link  

 

Keep Reading

Mentioned In: