WOMAD

Spooky

From United Kingdom

Duncan Forbes and Charlie May grew up in Dorset, listening to Roxy Music and the Cocteau Twins. Charlie went on to play with Ultramarine, another act who liked to take chances (getting out of "ambient house" before anyone else had got into it, and recording albums with Robert Wyatt and members of the sixties' Canterbury scene). Duncan drove vans at Guerrilla Records, the label which released their first album, 'Gargantuan', back in 1993. It took a fresh, sideways look at techno, steering clear of full-on thumping anthems in favour of fluid rhythms. It played with the form, flirted with disco and was big fun. The pair went out on tour with Megadog's Midi Circus, the first touring techno event. The Guerrilla label, on which 'Gargantuan' was released, shut down in 1994, and Spooky built their own studio, working on music that sampled household objects, from radiators to toilet cisterns. After three experimental singles, a complete album, 'Found Sound', was released last year. The opening track, 'Central Heating', features those radiator samples merged into a bright sound that recalls Javanese gamelan, and there is a humour and playfulness to the whole album which sets it apart. The album has a consistently exciting, innovative feel, but it's the way the sounds - everything including the kitchen sink - all slot together that makes the whole thing work.