Every Monday, Sam tirelessly brings you the lowdown on all of those bands you really should know by now. Click the links to hear more.
Often overlooked pioneers of Math Rock, Failure are known to the general population (if that) mostly by an interesting cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy the Silence’.
Ken Andrews and Greg Edwards met through a classified ad in 1990 to become Failure, a sonically diverse group that was part of the math rock/space rock movement and one of the catalysts of the stoner rock movement.
Their first album, Comfort, was not the bona fide hit everyone expected, so the band went back to the mixing board for their second album, 1994′s Magnified. Critics and the audience duly noted the glaring difference in production and sonic landscaping by Failure, who took the producing duties in this polished effort. Sadly, it bombed commercially.
Still, Failure’s love of alternate tunings on guitar (with a half step down approach on all strings), atmospheric sound landscapes, layered instrumental tracks and droll lyrics made them the critic’s darlings, although commercial success eluded them. Their sound could be defined as using shoegaze’s ‘wall of sound’ without the excessive reverberation and a clear distinction of what exactly most of the instruments are doing. Ken Andrews did cite My Bloody Valentine as one of his musical influences and it shows in this sophomore effort.
Their swansong, 1996′s Fantastic Planet, was a fantastic farewell album nicely mixed by Andrews (tired of producers not getting their sound), who managed to layer every sound without falling into that horrible snare called ‘overproduction’, so abused in these days of the Loudness Wars. The songs were separated by little ambient pieces called ‘segues’, little instrumental pieces to change slightly the mood of the album that were introduced on their previous albums and perfected for this one. They all went their separate ways, with stints in bands as diverse as A Perfect Circle, Autolux and solo projects.
Related posts: