Spiritualized
Arista
Spiritualized is one of the finest and most innovative bands ever to come out of England. No question about it. The only question is whether it's fair to call Spiritualized a band. Indeed, many musicians have played in Spiritualized over the years (including several who have gone on to form the similarly minded Lupine Howl), but the music is truly the product of one man's complex genius: guitarist, singer, writer, arranger, producer, and overlord Jason Pierce.
During the '80s, Pierce played in the seminal English space rock group Spacemen 3. After the acrimonious breakup of that group (which was really a breakup between Pierce and co-founder Pete Kember, aka Sonic Boom, who later went on to found Spectrum and play in Experimental Audio Research), Pierce recruited some of the musicians who had been playing in Spacemen 3 and started recording as Spiritualized. The first singles were in the vein of Spaceman 3's Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To style of narcotic and hypnotic minimalist slow burns. The first proper Spiritualized album, Lazer Guided Melodies (1992), was a seminal collection of shimmering, droning, space rock tunes. But it was just the beginning.
With 1995's Pure Phase, Pierce's immense talent as an arranger, always apparent in his Spacemen 3 contributions, really began to emerge, as the album was filled with pieces of symphonic, sophisticated majesty and grandeur. But 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space was the breakthrough. On it, Pierce dispensed with the droning minimalism that had always seemed so central to his music, and indeed to pretty much everything labeled "space rock" or "dream pop." On this album, Pierce took Spiritualized to a place beyond genres, creating an epic hour-long fever dream of dense, heady rock symphonies heavily influenced by gospel and R&B. The reason Spiritualized and Spacemen 3's albums have so often been referred to as "drug music" is not only because of their many overt drug references, but also because of their ability to narcotize and transport the listener. What's so amazing about Ladies and Gentlemen, with its throbbing guitars, its heavy brass and strings presence, and its gospel undertones, is that in some hideously sacrilegious but beautiful way, it creates "drug music" that feels like it wouldn't be out of place in a church.
Ladies and Gentlemen seemed like the apotheosis of Pierce's talents, but four years later, Spiritualized has returned with an album that, amazingly enough, surpasses it. Let It Come Down, which features more than a hundred musicians, is a monument to Pierce's abilities in the studio, which can only be likened to people like Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. These eleven amazing songs have an incredibly warm, kaledescopic, wall-of-sound glow, again deeply indebted to gospel (the last two songs are called "Won't Get to Heaven" and "Lord Can You Hear Me"), which makes listening to them truly a transporting experience. This music makes the drug taking unnecessary, because it takes you there all on its own.
Jesse Ashlock
last updated:
09/28/01
Similar Artists:
Spacemen 3, Spectrum, Flying Saucer Attack, Lupine Howl, My Bloody Valentine, Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips, King Black Acid And The Womb Star Orchestra, Slipstream, Frontier, Six By Seven, Aspera Ad Astra, The High Fidelity, Polara, Low Flying Owls, Citizen Bird
Other Suggestions:
Pink Floyd,
Yume Bitsu,
Windy & Carl,
Aix Em Klemm,
The Falcon Project,
Stone Roses,
Ride,
Bowery Electric,
The Stratford 4,
Radiohead,
Swervedriver,
Primal Scream,
Blur,
Grandaddy,
Gorky's Zygotic Mynci,
Lenola,
Girls Against Boys,
The Soup Dragons,
Superdrag,
The Jesus and Mary Chain,
Suicide,
Sonic Youth,
Loop,
Slowdive,
The Warlocks,
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club,
The Verve,
Clinic,
Brian Jonestown Massacre,
AM/FM,
The Olive Group,
Tracer,
American Analog Set,
Singapore Sling,
Poison Arrows,
Fascia,
Dogon,
February,
All Natural Lemon and Lime Flavors,
Minmae,
Splendorbin,
Lilys,
Brian and Chris,
Stars As Eyes,
Jucifer,
Morsel,
Dykehouse,
Mogwai,
Joy Zipper,
Wheat,
Mr. Mixel Pixel,
Nourallah Brothers,
The Delgados,
The Olivia Tremor Control,
Ooberman,
Aspera,
Roman Evening,
Interpol,
The Silent League,
The Glands,
for Stars,
Centro-Matic,
Starlight Mints,
Domestic4,
Richard Davies,
The Nectarine No. 9,
Rovo,
Alphastone,
Magnetophone,
Phonem,
Crescent,
Double Nelson,
Fibreforms,
Windsor for the Derby,
yellow6,
Hood,
Mirza,
Sigur Ros,
The Third Eye Foundation,
Surface Of Eceon,
Cul de Sac,
Matt Elliott
