Pneumatic Tubes: Son Of His Father

Hard as it is to fathom, the gold lamé and grand orchestral pop of Sheffield’s ABC developed out of post-punk experimentalist outfit Vice Versa. What were they putting in the water up there in South Yorkshire?

“That style of beats is something I’ve been into my entire career,” says Josh Davis, aka DJ Shadow, when I suggest to him that the output of his Liquid Amber label, including his own self-titled Nite School Klik EP, represents a quantum leap from his recorded history thus far.

“At that point, the city was a shithole, but perfect for the punk scene. The anger and frustration was palpable” – Jerry Casale

San Francisco, 1977. The punk explosion is peaking and Units are at the forefront of the vibrant and dramatic American West Coast scene. But these guys use synths not guitars. Throw in some weird and wonderful performance art concepts and you’ve got one of the most unique electronic bands ever. Units mainman Scott Ryser tells the tale

Think Altern-8, Unique 3, Forgemasters, LFO and Krush. The bleep sound of Sheffield spawned an entire genre, not to mention its own label, Warp. Now the makers of many of those original tunes have mobilised once again as The Originators…