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Interview conducted
in November 2002
LATEST RELEASE:
"Outpost Transmission" |
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| |  | |   | | By Christophe Labussière | | Photos all rights reserved |
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The first production of 808 State dates from 1988, this bomb was entitled "NEWBUILD". The electronic of that time had a name, it was called "acid house", and 808 State gave it its glory hours. If the sounds and the rhythmics seem rather basic nowadays, with this solid bass and this "space" sound, they squarely settled 808 State as the leader of the English house scene. The real moment happened in 1989 with a track that would become an anthem, Pacific. An aerial ambience, an obsessing sax and always electronic sounds. The Hacienda, Manchester unavoidable club, ended its set on this prestigious track for a long time. In 1989, "NINETY", right in the rise of the rave culture, gave its best hours to this genre. Donkey Doctor already suggested the beginnings of "EX:EL" which was released two years later, in 1991. With "EX:EL", 808 State forsake the all-instrumental and took on prestigious voices that would transcend its music. This album is a new step with its splendid ballads on which you could hear Bernard Sumner's or Björk's voices on unforgettable tracks. A bridge was set between dance and English pop and the mix worked well. A perfect mastery would make of this album an unavoidable reference, which still is today the band's most achieved album. This was to be the start of multiple collaborations between Graham Massey and Björk. In 1993 "GORGEOUS" was surpriseless, a kind of B-side to "Excel". A logical following where the, less "exciting" guests (Ian McCulloch, UB 40...), didn't quite managed to give relief to, the yet always sharp, compositions. A sample of She's Lost Control ostensibly appeared on Contrique, the hereditary link between these Mancunian kids and their roots. In 1996, "DON SOLARIS" made us forget the bland "Gorgeous" by offering us splendid tracks (the obsessing Bond with Doughty of Soul Coughing, or Lopez with James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers), an album of its time, sometimes dark, using current drum & bass sounds, and with always great ambiences. Six years later, "Optik Buk" offered, on a DVD, a collection of video clips and went with a 8 tracks CD of recordings done between 94 and 98, "State To State Vol 2". It was only at the end of 2002 that "OUTPOST TRANSMISSION", more appeased than in the past, cleared the air and proved that the Mancunians weren't ready yet to give their space up to new generations. | | |  | | | | | |       | |
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