Ultramarine

London and Essex-based UK duo Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond; formed in 1989. Cooper & Hammond were both former members of the band [a=A Primary Industry].

Ultramarine's early releases were issued on the Brussels-based label [l=Les Disques du Crépuscule] and shortly afterwards by [l=Brainiak Records], a label closely affiliated to [url=http://thebrainclub.moonfruit.com/]The Brain[/url] club (an early purveyor of regular House music nights in Soho, London). Their debut album [r=32318] was issued by Crépuscule in 1990 but the group are better known for their classic second album [r=201342], initially released on Brainiak in 1991 and given a wider audience with the release of an expanded version on [l=Rough Trade (UK)] in 1992; neatly described by [url=http://blissout.blogspot.co.uk/]Simon Reynolds[/url] in his book Energy Flash as:

[i]Perhaps the first and best stab at that seeming contradiction-in-terms, pastoral techno... all sun-ripened, meandering lassitude and undulant dub-sway tempos... like acid-house suffused with the folky-jazzy ambience of the Canterbury scene.[/i]

[r=201342] was followed by the albums [r=171924] (1993), featuring collaborations with [a=Robert Wyatt]; [r=150254] (1995) and [r=66920] (1998). [l=LTM Publishing (Les Temps Modernes)] released [r=172881] (2003), a collection of remixes and alternative versions from the group’s early-90s period, and reissued [r=511538] (2005). Ultramarine broke a 13-year silence in 2011 with two new singles, followed by their sixth album [r=4948040] in 2013.