Sputniks Down
Encyclopedia
Sputniks Down are a Scottish
band from Glasgow
. Signed to Edinburgh
's Human Condition Records
, Sputniks Down (named after a song by Lou Barlow
's Folk Implosion) were a three piece from Bishopbriggs
on the outskirts of Glasgow. They produced instrumental electronica
with 'Eno-esque gorgeousness'. 'The Young Marble Giants
stepping out with a prozac-ed up Godspeed You! Black Emperor
while the Mary Chain bite their ankles'. Influences also included such bands as Tortoise
and Mogwai
.
They were one of the first bands from the UK (along with fellow Glaswegians Mogwai) to play instrumental, post-rock
and subsequently formed an important part of the early 2000s Glasgow music scene.
. In January 2000, their debut EP
Monotone Mountain was recorded by Tony Doogan at CaVa Studios
. At the time, they were highly thought of by Keith Cameron (NME
), Roy Wilkinson (Select) and Vic Galloway
(BBC Radio 1
Evening Session). 'MM' was described as 'an electropopguitary lullaby'. The EP was released on 17 April 2000. The gig to celebrate the EP launch on 27 April 2000 in Avalanche, Edinburgh was reviewed by the NME.
In 2001 they released their debut album, Much Was Decided Before You Were Born. The songs "Atonement" and "Mie Scattering" featured artists from El Hombre Trajaedo and Long Fin Killie
(Luke Sutherland
).
The band played a six date tour later that year, including gigs in London (Dublin Castle), Norwich (FerryBoat), and the Life Without Buildings
album launch in Glasgow. They undertook a live session for BBC Scotland
, along with Brendan O'Hare
, and took part in the 2001 Planet Pop Festival, and the Burnt Out Electronica Festival.
Their presence at a David Pajo
gig in 2002 in Glasgow was reported by the NME. Live, they were described by one journalist as "almost triphop with an Aphex Twin
feel while the slower stuff broods with a smoky almost film-noir feel as guitars chime and keyboards swirl". The same year they supported Mull Historical Society
, American Analog Set and Fly Pan Am
.
In late 2002, they were listed in Martin C. Strong
's The Great Scots Discography.
After a tour of Greece in 2003, the band split up.
David Roy went on to play in Multiplies, and was a founder member of Dananananaykroyd
.
In April 2010, it was announced that the band was reforming.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
band from Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. Signed to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
's Human Condition Records
Human Condition Records
Human Condition Records is an independent record label based in Edinburgh, Scotland which was founded in 1990 by Jamie Watson, ex-guitarist of Scottish punk group The Solos....
, Sputniks Down (named after a song by Lou Barlow
Lou Barlow
Louis Knox Barlow is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion. Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
's Folk Implosion) were a three piece from Bishopbriggs
Bishopbriggs
Bishopbriggs is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. The area was once part of the historic parish of Cadder - originally lands granted by King William the Lion to the Bishop of Glasgow, Jocelin, in 1180. It was later part of the county of Lanarkshire and subsequently an independent burgh from...
on the outskirts of Glasgow. They produced instrumental electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
with 'Eno-esque gorgeousness'. 'The Young Marble Giants
Young Marble Giants
Young Marble Giants were a post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales in 1978. A trio, their music was constructed around the powerful and minimal instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham along with the vocals of Alison Statton.-History:...
stepping out with a prozac-ed up Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band which originated from Montreal, Quebec in 1994...
while the Mary Chain bite their ankles'. Influences also included such bands as Tortoise
Tortoise (band)
Tortoise is an American post-rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1990.-Music:Tortoise's almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago's fertile music scene, playing in...
and Mogwai
Mogwai
The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...
.
They were one of the first bands from the UK (along with fellow Glaswegians Mogwai) to play instrumental, post-rock
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...
and subsequently formed an important part of the early 2000s Glasgow music scene.
Career
After a handful of gigs, they were signed to Edinburgh's Human Condition record labelRecord label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. In January 2000, their debut EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
Monotone Mountain was recorded by Tony Doogan at CaVa Studios
CaVa Studios
Ca Va Studios or Ca Va Sound is a professional recording studio at 30 Bentinck Street, Kelvingrove in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland.Situated in the former Kelvingrove Church, the studios began in 1974 and since then have recorded some of the biggest names on the UK and international music scene...
. At the time, they were highly thought of by Keith Cameron (NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
), Roy Wilkinson (Select) and Vic Galloway
Vic Galloway
Michael "Vic" Galloway is a DJ on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio 1, Vic presents a self-titled show on Radio Scotland every Monday from 8:05pm-10pm and does the BBC Introducing Scotland Radio 1 programme Wednesday evenings/Thursday mornings from 12:00-2:00am...
(BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
Evening Session). 'MM' was described as 'an electropopguitary lullaby'. The EP was released on 17 April 2000. The gig to celebrate the EP launch on 27 April 2000 in Avalanche, Edinburgh was reviewed by the NME.
In 2001 they released their debut album, Much Was Decided Before You Were Born. The songs "Atonement" and "Mie Scattering" featured artists from El Hombre Trajaedo and Long Fin Killie
Long Fin Killie
Long Fin Killie was a Scottish experimental rock/post-rock band, which released three albums and several EPs on the British avant-rock label Too Pure in the 1990s.-History:...
(Luke Sutherland
Luke Sutherland
Luke Sutherland is an English-born Scottish novelist and musician.-Biography:Sutherland was brought up in Orkney and Blairgowrie, Perth and Kinross by his adoptive Scottish parents, who moved to Scotland from Lincolnshire in 1976. He was educated at Glasgow University, where he read English and...
).
The band played a six date tour later that year, including gigs in London (Dublin Castle), Norwich (FerryBoat), and the Life Without Buildings
Life Without Buildings
Life Without Buildings were a Glasgow, Scotland based indie rock band. The band, mostly ex-students of the Glasgow School of Art, formed during the summer of 1999. The band initially consisted of Will Bradley , Chris Evans and Robert Johnston . Painter Sue Tompkins joined later that year...
album launch in Glasgow. They undertook a live session for BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
, along with Brendan O'Hare
Brendan O'Hare
Brendan O'Hare is a Scottish musician, best known as drummer in the Scottish rock band Teenage Fanclub from 1990 until early 1994.-Career:...
, and took part in the 2001 Planet Pop Festival, and the Burnt Out Electronica Festival.
Their presence at a David Pajo
David Pajo
David Pajo is an American alternative rock musician. He has played a wide variety of music, loosely fitting into several other genres: hardcore, math-rock, post-rock, electronica, folk and indie-pop...
gig in 2002 in Glasgow was reported by the NME. Live, they were described by one journalist as "almost triphop with an Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
feel while the slower stuff broods with a smoky almost film-noir feel as guitars chime and keyboards swirl". The same year they supported Mull Historical Society
Mull Historical Society
Mull Historical Society is a name under which the singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Colin MacIntyre performs. After a period of recording and performing under his own name for several years, MacIntyre's 2011 album 'City Awakenings' will be a Mull Historical Society release...
, American Analog Set and Fly Pan Am
Fly Pan Am
Fly Pan Am, or Le Fly Pan Am, are a Canadian experimental rock band formed in Montreal in 1996. They release their albums through the Montreal-based Constellation Records, producing and collaborating on works with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Shalabi Effect.-About the band:The band was formed in...
.
In late 2002, they were listed in Martin C. Strong
Martin C. Strong
Martin C. Strong is a researcher and compiler of music discographies.His books include The Great Rock Discography, The Essential Rock Discography, The Great Metal Discography, The Great Psychedelic, The Great Alternative and Lights, Camera, Soundtracks...
's The Great Scots Discography.
After a tour of Greece in 2003, the band split up.
David Roy went on to play in Multiplies, and was a founder member of Dananananaykroyd
Dananananaykroyd
Dananananaykroyd was a six-piece, self-dubbed 'Fight Pop' band formed in 2006 in Glasgow, Scotland. Their name is a play on the name of Canadian actor Dan Aykroyd...
.
In April 2010, it was announced that the band was reforming.
Compilations
- Handbags At Dawn (2002) http://www.discogs.com/release/392967
- Big Issue (2002)
- Electronikshire (2001)
- Pleasures from an unknown planet (2001)
EPs
- Monotone Mountain (2000) http://www.discogs.com/release/53671 Download "Songs for the tiny radio children"
- Athens EP (2003) - Exclusively made for Athens Gig
Singles
- "Pixelated" (2002) - & El Hombre Trajeado; Sardines (UK 2 track 7" split - SGC011)
- "Much Was Decided Before You Were Born"
- "Monotone Mountain"
- "Pixelated"
- "Big Issue Compilation"
- "Pleasures from an Unknown Planet"
- "Handbags at Dawn"
- "Electronikshire.jpg"
Live
Band reviews
- JockRock
- Official Press Release
- Strong, M. (2002). The Great Scots Musicography: Mercat Press. ISBN 1-84183-041-0