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 Primary Industry. Ultramarine's early releases were issued on the Brussels-based label Les Disques du Crépuscule and shortly afterwards by Brainiak Records, a label closely affiliated to The Brain club (an early purveyor of regular House music nights in Soho, London). Their debut album 32318 was issued by Crépuscule in 1990 but the group are better known for their classic second album 201342, initially released on Brainiak in 1991 and given a wider audience with the release of an expanded version on Rough Trade (UK) in 1992; neatly described by Simon Reynolds in his book Energy Flash as: 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. 201342 was followed by the albums 171924 (1993), featuring collaborations with Robert Wyatt; 150254 (1995) and A User's Guide (1998). LTM Publishing (Les Temps Modernes) released 172881 (2003), a collection of remixes and alternative versions from the group’s early-90s period, and reissued 511538 (2005). Ultramarine broke a 13-year silence in 2011 with two new singles, followed by their sixth album 4948040 in 2013.