Seefeel

• Genre: Ambient Techno
• Seefeel Website

About

Beginning life as a fairly conventional Shoegazer band, Seefeel quickly developed a fresh sound that incorporated their burgeoning interest in left-field Techno. Led by Mark Clifford and aided by Locust man Mark Van Hoen, the group's early records walked a fine line between the dreamy wall-of-guitar sound of bands such as the Cocteau Twins or Moose and the parched Techno abstraction of Aphex Twin. By the time their first album Quique was released in 1993, the balance was tipping further in favor of the electronic. Being in the right place (on the Too Pure label, then in vogue as the "next 4AD" with PJ Harvey and Stereolab) at the right time (a lull period in Anglo rock), Seefeel were instrumental in exposing more adventurous members of the indie audience to the parallel world of experimental electronic music. Subsequent releases on vaunted electronic labels Warp (including Succour in 1995) and Rephlex (Ch-Vox in 1996) were even more abstract and investigative, bearing little resemblance to rock music at all.

- Mike Schulman