The Grid Return With New Album

March 17, 2008

Electronic music innovators The Grid, return with their first studio album for over a decade…

The late 80’s through to the mid 90’s saw a revolution in music. A whole generation became defined by a love for electronic beats; outdoor raves caused moral panic and the clubs were packed with party people. DJs became superstars and the charts succumbed to the futuristic sounds. The Grid were leading the way, releasing 3 albums and 10 singles between ’88 and ’95, all of which made the UK charts, including the million selling ‘Swamp Thing’ that crashed into the UK Top 3 in 1994. The track and video encapsulated the technological, electronic and drug fuelled revolution that was taking place and both became seminal moments in dance music history.

After the success of ‘Swamp Thing’ The Grid stepped back from making music, disillusioned with the commercial pressures success had placed on them. They took a break and went in different directions to work on new projects. Dave Ball, also one half of Soft Cell, began writing, remixing and producing for a diverse range of artists from Depeche Mode to Kylie Minogue. He also reformed Soft Cell for the 2003 album ‘Cruelty Without Beauty’ and began working on a Soft Cell remix album. Richard Norris meanwhile went on to immerse himself in electronic music, forming The Droyds and Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve (with Erol Alkan), both of which enjoyed success. Amongst this he even found time to write Paul Oakenfold’s autobiography!

Rumours began to surface in 2005 that Dave Ball and Richard Norris were back together again in the studio, and that The Grid was charging up again. The rumours were true and the new album ‘Doppelganger’ began to take shape.
‘Put Your Hands Together’, the first single from the album was released to critical acclaim in November 2007 and ears began to prick up as news of the return of The Grid began to spread.
One listen to the album will tell you that The Grid are back to their creative best. With guest vocalists and guitarists such as Robert Fripp, The Grid also experiment with a range of instruments including Synthesizer, Moogerfooger, Kalima, Melodion, Jews Harp and Sitar Machine. The album takes in elements from across the electronic spectrum to create a collection of tracks ranging from dancefloor shakers like ‘8 Miles From Memphis’ and ‘Put Your Hands Together’, to the twisted sounds of ‘Pure Statik’ and ‘Three Floors Above You’, the cool grooves of ‘Saturday’ through to the blissed out soundscapes of ‘Fools Rush In’ and ‘Be Here With You’. ‘Doppelganger’ marks the welcome return of electronic music pioneers, The Grid

Bookmark this post: · Del.icio.us · YahooMyWeb · Spurl · Furl · Incoming links