Revisit: Loop - Black Sun

The local postman has been worryingly untroubled by vinyl deliveries to Luminous Towers for a few days so I have had a chance to revisit some old faves.

In 1989 I was in my third year at Uni; drinking too much beer, smoking too many 'jazz cigarettes' and squiring too many young ladies and my musical taste was pretty mainstream - Pop Will Eat Itself, New Model Army, various other bands dressed in black sounding miserable. And then Fade Out happened and my (musical) life would never be the same. It was bought on a whim - the NME review sounded good and I found myself in a fine little record shop we had in Chelmsford at the time (Parrot Records...sigh)with a little extra cash, so.....

Listening to it again with wiser ears is a revelation - the musical references to the dirty Detroit scuzz of The Stooges, the wall of sound of The Velvet Underground and the hazy psychedelia of countless artists from, and after, the sixties. But the psychedelia of Fade Out is a LOT different from the others; it is a dark, swirling psychedelia that brings visions of darkness and foreboding, not light and optimism. This is not to say that it is a difficult or unpleasant listen, far from it....from the first angular notes of Black Sun to the end notes of Got To Get It Over it is a journey - a dark, twisted, fuzzy journey, laden with feedback, wah wah and heavily treated guitar,but one that always lifts the heart. At the time Loop were lumped in with countless shoegaze bands around at the time. I get that and I love a lot of shoegaze (Slowdive are an ace band!), but to class Loop as such is doing their vision and intents a bit of a disservice.They mined a different seam.

I personally always found it a shame that Loop were oft overlooked, especially when MBV released Loveless in 1991 and history will show Spacemen 3 as being the 'in' purveyors of psychedelia of the era. Needless to say, as fine as these bands were, it will be Loop that will ever have a little piece of my heart; for the noise and as a major factor in shaping my musical taste.

Robert Hampson, guitarist, went on to work with Justin Broadrick (Napalm Death and Godflesh) in a band called Loopflesh (obv.)and formed Main producing more experimental electronic/field recording material - well worth checking out.

Long live Loop!



For Lovers Of: The Stooges, Velvet Underground, Can, Spacemen 3