At a time when Manchester was MADchester and all you heard in the city was of bands such as the Happy Mondays, The Smiths & The Stone Roses; AAAK stood out like a very sore thumb ! . Rejecting all things Mancunian they made an industrial and electronic sound, taking their influences from Jim Thirwell's Foetus incarnations and Euro Beat artists such as Nitzer Ebb and Front 242. Early AAAK work still included the use of guitars, but as the band evolved their use became less and less prevelent
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AAAK's initial press reception was very favourable and after a very short space of time the band signed their first deal. Their gigs were receiving more and more attention and gaining a notoriorty for 'loud and different'. Two records were released.
Firstly the six track debut on Scam Records - "Buildingscape Beat", in 1989. The six tracks on here [Sharpshooter,Time,Cruise Control,What Are We Here For?,Brain Drain & Outland] were songs that had been played at gigs for over a year and were considered to be the strongest. However, the band decided to record in an expensive studio and consequently the end result suffers somewhat from being mixed in a rush and some of the power in the tracks was lost. Still, the release was well recived by the critics and managed to gain several airingson the John Peel show.
BS Beat was followed by "Big Fist" in 1990 on Belgian label KK Records. This album caught the band mid-way through a stage of development, which is indicated in the unusual mix of styles within it. Ding was now in charge of the band's production and they had their own studio set up for writing in. During the writing of Big Fist, Brendan quit the band amicably and he and Max [Buildingscape Beat's co-producer] started their own project. Despite this Paul and Ding still did the final recordings and mixing for the album in Max's studio. Some of the live favourites like Crash and Concrete are on here along with the more intricate tracks like Big Fist & I Will Return. The LP was released on vinyl and CD, with the CD having 3 extra tracks - You! , The Advance and The German Factor.
Sadly, during the recording of a 3rd album, the band's studio was broken into and cleared out !! . Totally disheartened by the whole affair AAAK split; reformed briefly, then split again.
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2009 UPDATE !! - Electric Tremor are to release a Collected Works LP covering the years 1987-1990. The album will be a double CD, with CD1 containing re-recorded versions of songs from Buildingscape Beat and Big Fist from 2009 and CD2 will be made up from previously unreleased demo recordings from 1987 and 1988..... WATCH THIS SPACE !!
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FROM THE ARCHIVES ........ LIVE IN 1989
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AAAK - NEW LP samples in player's Friend Space (Top 24)
Geez, now I´m flattered. I should be the one adding you, just didn´t know you had a My Space. Thanks, that´ll be a conversation piece among my friends... Genebra - H.A.R.R.Y. and The addict
Everything fine with you? Thank you so much for the friendship! I really appreciated it. I want also let you know there is a new release "DJ Solano - Bring It Back To Me [Original Mix]".
I hope you come back often, because there is more to come...and don't forget spread the word!
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