LFO (Electronica)
Biography
The Sheffield techno duo of Mark Bell and Gez Varley have a reputation that, at first glance, might seem to exceed them. Having released only two records and not many more singles while they worked together, the pair's apparently meager contribution would hardly seem to bear out the claim that they were one of British techno's most important, agenda-setting groups. Nonetheless, early singles such as "We Are Back," "Freeze," and "Love Is the Message" from their debut Frequencies, as well as "Tied Up" from their second, Advance, have indelibly marked British techno with Detroit's progressiveness, electro's funk, and an unflinching, uniquely British experimentalism.
Taking their name from the foundational component of the synthesizers -- the low frequency oscillator (kind of like calling a rock group Power Chord) -- the pair were approached by the Sheffield-based Warp label in the late '80s, after tapes the pair had put together on some junky, second-hand equipment caught the ears and dancefloors of local clubs and DJs. Both Bell and Varley admit to roots in the early- and mid-'80s hip-hop and electro invasions as well as the more obvious British acid house explosion, and their affectation for thick electronic breaks, vocoder samples, and sparse, modal melodies derive largely from that source.
Selected Discography
shove piggy shove is a fantastic track, keep up the good work, cant wait to hear more (pandora has a bad reputation of playin the same stuff constantly) ;)
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