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808 State

Manchester electronic group whose acid house records, led by Graham Massey, reached the UK charts from 1989.

Origin
Manchester, England
Years active
1987-present
Genres
acid house, techno, house
Labels
Creed, ZTT, Tommy Boy

Origins in Manchester

808 State formed in 1987 in Manchester around Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. The name came from the Roland TR-808 drum machine and from a state of mind the three of them shared. Price owned the Eastern Bloc record shop and ran the label Creed. Massey, who also played with the Factory Records act Biting Tongues, and Simpson were customers, and the three began as a hip-hop group called Hit Squad Manchester before moving to acid house.

Their first album, Newbuild, was recorded over a weekend in January 1988 at Spirit Studios in Manchester and came out on Creed that September. The group made it on tape found discarded outside the BBC's Manchester studios, using a TR-808, TR-909, TB-303, a Juno 106 and four SH-101s. Aphex Twin later reissued it on his Rephlex label, and he and Autechre have both named it as an influence. In 2004 Rephlex also released Prebuild, a collection of recordings from 1986 to 1988 that Massey dug out after Autechre's Sean Booth asked whether any early material survived. It includes a raw acid workout recorded at the group's first live gig, at the Boardwalk Club.

Pacific State and 90

Simpson left in 1989 to start his solo project A Guy Called Gerald. Darren Partington and Andy Barker joined that year. The band's breakthrough was Pacific State, which Radio 1 DJ Gary Davies picked up after hearing it in Ibiza. It spent 11 weeks on the UK chart and peaked at number 10. Writing in The Quietus, John Doran said the song grew out of an attempt to apply the feel of 1950s exotica and tiki music to acid house. Massey told Pitchfork in 2014 that Price brought the loon sample to the sessions, and Pitchfork's Philip Sherburne noted that the same bird call runs through Sueño Latino's single from the same year. As the track climbed, Simpson disputed the writing credit, while the band said the remixes under other titles were separate songs.

The album 90 appeared on ZTT on 4 December 1989 and carried the track as Pacific 202. Partington and Barker also presented the 808 State Radio Show on Sunset 102 from 1989 to 1993, and in 1990 the group wrote the theme tune for the Channel 4 programme The Word.

ex:el and Gorgeous

ex:el followed on 4 March 1991. Bernard Sumner sang on Spanish Heart, and Bjork sang on Qmart and Ooops and was credited as co-writer of both, which began a long working relationship with Massey. The album produced three UK singles: In Yer Face at number 9, Cubik at number 10 and Lift at number 38. The Quietus called it one of the best dance albums recorded, and the Guardian's 1000 albums to hear before you die list described it as the group's electronic dance masterpiece. It was the last album with Price, who left in October 1991 to do solo production work and later formed the label Sun Text.

The remaining members made Gorgeous, released on 1 February 1993 by ZTT in the UK and Tommy Boy in the US. It reached number 17 on the UK albums chart. Doran's Quietus reissue review said the group nearly split after Price left, until a tour of the Far East revived them, and that they made the album as a trio. Ian McCulloch sang on Moses, and the track Contrique sampled the bassline of Joy Division's She's Lost Control.

Later years

The group did remix work for David Bowie, Soundgarden and others before returning with Don Solaris in 1996. It featured James Dean Bradfield on Lopez, a UK number 20 that Brian Eno remixed, as well as Mike Doughty on Bond and Louise Rhodes on Azura. Doran found the album less satisfying than ex:el but praised Bradfield's contribution to Lopez. A compilation, 808:88:98, followed in 1998.

Partington left the band in 2015. Andy Barker died on 6 November 2021, which left Massey as the only remaining member.

Members

Records

Songs

A Guy Called Gerald, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Bjork, New Order

Where to go next

Reference

  • 808 State Encyclopedia article on the group, its members and its discography.
  • 90 Article on the 1989 album with tracklist and deluxe edition.
  • Newbuild Article on the 1988 debut, its equipment and personnel.
  • ex:el Article on the 1991 album and its guest vocalists.
  • Gorgeous Article on the 1993 album with full tracklist and reception.
  • Don Solaris Article on the 1996 album with standard and deluxe tracklists.
  • Pacific State Article on the 1989 single, its mixes and the credits dispute.
  • In Yer Face Article on the 1991 single and its release formats.

More

Sources

  1. 808 State, Wikipedia
  2. 808 State album reissues, The Quietus
  3. Anaconda, Pacific State, Sueno Latino, and the Story of a Sample That Keeps Coming Back, Pitchfork
  4. Saved from the vaults, back on the decks, BBC Manchester
  5. 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die: Artists beginning with E, The Guardian
  6. 808 State album reviews: 90, 808state.com press archive