Senser – THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

STACKED UP

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This is a post written many months ago but has continually been shelved to make space for stuff from various guest contributors or to enable the continuation of various series on the blog. It was inspired, quite a long while back, by SWC over at No Badger Required when he looked back at some of his favourite music from 1993 and made mention of Eject, a single by Senser.

There was a short period, maybe about twelve months in time, in which I really believed Senser were going to take the music industry by storm. It was Jacques the Kipper who first drew this lot to my attention. I’ve lifted the next few paras from all music.

In the early ’90s, when the cross-pollination of rock, rap, and electronica swept through the popular music industry, Senser emerged as one of the more promising groups, garnering plenty of attention and hype before the London band’s line up splintered following only one album.

Began in South West London in the late ’80s, Senser boasted a large and diverse roster of musicians: Andy Clinton (DJ), Heitham Al-Sayed (vocals), Kerstin Haigh (vocals), James Barrett (bass), Nick Michaelson (guitar), John Morgan (drums), and Haggis (producer/engineer/programmer). These artists would integrate numerous styles — hip-hop, hard rock, dance, psychedelia, electronica, and more — into their music, drawing comparisons and affiliating themselves with other bands who took a similarly eclectic approach such as Ozric Tentacles. An appearance at the 1992 Glastonbury Festival was the culmination of Senser’s early gigs. Soon, the press began championing, or at least hyping, the band, and a record deal soon followed.

Senser’s first single, “Eject,” went straight to number one in the NME independent singles chart in early 1993 and went on to become the NME independent single of the year. Two more singles followed “Eject” — “The Key” and “Switch” — along with the band’s first full-length, Stacked Up, which entered the national charts at number four.

The band toured Europe behind the album, making a sincere effort to bring such issues as racism to the fore, expressing its sentiments with both the lyrics of frontman Heitham Al-Sayed and the band’s support of such organizations as the Anti-Nazi League. The band toured through 1993 and much of 1994 as well, following its high-profile appearance at the Reading Festival with another European tour, this time in support of the Rollins Band.

After so much touring, tension began to take its toll on Senser. There was a brief sabbatical from touring before Moby invited the band to support him in the U.S. and the band accepted the offer. This stateside visit proved to be the band’s breaking point, and several members — John Morgan, Heitham Al-Sayed, and Haggis– parted ways in August 1995.”

That covers the period I was interested in the band, but for the sake of completeness, Senser’s depleted line-up would record a second album in 1998 while the original line-up would get back together in 2004, since when there have been three further studio albums, but none since 2013.

The noise, intensity and energy of Stacked Up (purchased on CD) really appealed to me back in 1994. Up until December of that year, I was commuting daily between Glasgow and Edinburgh and on many occasions I would drown out the noise of the other train passengers by playing the C90 tape that I’d used to record the Senser album, filling up the spare 25 minutes with some b-sides and different mixes from earlier singles (also bought on CD).

None of the singles ever cracked the Top 40, but the album went straight in at #4 on the week of its release, which maybe is an indication that I wasn’t alone in having a fair amount of love and hopes for the band. Here’s some tracks from it:-

mp3: Senser – States Of Mind
mp3: Senser – Age of Panic
mp3: Senser – Switch
mp3: Senser – Worth

The b-side to the singles contained the occasional cover version:-

mp3: Senser – Channel Zero
mp3: Senser – Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun

The former is their take on a Public Enemy number, while the latter is a Beastie Boys original with which Senser closed their set at the Reading Festival in 1993.

JC

Credit To The Nation, Grant Lee Buffalo, Leftfield/Lydon, One Dove, Senser, Tindersticks

NME SINGLES OF THE WEEK 1993

Back in the days when we had a number of music weeklies in the UK, it was something of an accolade for a band if their latest recording was nominated as ‘Single Of The Week’ in either Melody Maker, NME or Sounds. Indeed, it wasn’t uncommon for some of the major labels to subsequently take out adverts in the general press boasting of such an achievement.

And such was the interest in records awarded the status, that for a short while, one major record label, RCA, thought it worthwhile to take out a license and produce an end of the year compilation entitled NME Singles of the Week. And plucked from the shelf for inspection under the T(n)VV microscope is the offering from 1993.

I reckon this particular effort is a pretty fair reflection of the year, containing 18 songs across different musical genres, and not just a collection of indie-guitar bands that were and continue to be the staple fayre of the paper for many years.

Arrested Development : Tennessee
Belly : Gepetto (remix)
Senser : The Key
Madder Rose : Madder Rose
One Dove : White Love
Tindersticks : Marbles
Credit To The Nation : Call It What You Want
Utah Saints : Believe In Me
Swervedriver : Duel
Bjork : Venus As A Boy (edit)
Elastica : Stutter
Spiritualized : Good Times
Smashing Pumpkins : Cherub Rock
Apache Indian : Movin’ On Special
PJ Harvey : 50ft Queenie
Sugar : Tilted
Grant Lee Buffalo : America Snoring
Leftfield/Lydon : Open Up (vocal edit)

This is actually a compilation CD that even after all these years, I’m more than happy to put on and listen to all the way through. I remember when I bought this in early 1994. I was 30 years of age, and thinking to myself that my days of trying to keep up with the changing scenes in music were drawing to an end, and before long I would be drifting off to Radio 2 and live concerts where I would be insisting on a seat throughout. No more sweaty nights at the Barrowlands, no more mosh-pits, no more seeking out bands before they were famous….and no more vinyl records. Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong again.

The changes in how we all consume music over the past twenty years has quite a lot to do with it. The fact that I can sit at a PC and get tickets for gigs in demand rather than queue up in the cold, the growth of the internet, mp3s and downloading, the amount of video music channels on satellite TV and, above all else, the i-pod, means I have easy access to music more than ever before. Oh, and it helps that for whatever reason, I’ve a gene in my system that will not let me sit back and say ‘new music is crap and not as good as in my day’ . In other words, I’m refusing to turn into my dad……

Returning back to NME Singles of The Week 1993, I think there’s something for everyone in the compilation. The one thing I will be eternally grateful for is that it was my introduction to Tindersticks, a band that I have been slavishly devoted to ever since, and one of the few that I have specifically gone down to London for a gig…..twice in fact.

And there’s a few other long-term favourites in there as well.

I’m almost tempted to make the whole CD available for downloads, but I need to try and be sensible about things. So on the basis that a normal LP plays at 33 1/3 rpm, I’ll go for 6 songs as one-third of the CD:-

mp3 : Senser – The Key
mp3 : One Dove – White Love
mp3 : Tindersticks – Marbles
mp3 : Credit To The Nation – Call It What You Want
mp3 : Grant Lee Buffalo – America Snoring
mp3 : Leftfield/Lydon – Open Up

Enjoy

Blur, Carter USM, Clash, Paris Angels, Senser

AS SEEN OVER AT THE OLD PLACE : FEBRUARY 2007 (1)

Interesting that this month saw me chastise myself for spending so much time writing live reviews and featuring stuff on CD singles. The purist in me came up with a week-long series entitled going back to my roots which would be vinyl, vinyl, vinyl all the way Here’s a summary version of each post :-

Monday 5 February

From The Cost of Living EP, a re-working of the song Capital Radio along with an additional 45 seconds tagged on at the end…..a little Clash-mercial pleading with everyone to get down to their nearest Clash showroom

So here’s all 04 minutes and 05 seconds of:-

mp3 : The Clash – Capital Radio (Cost Of Living EP version)

Tuesday 6 February

Looking in the vinyl cupboard for something to show that there’s more than just twee-pop bands and the collective works of lesser-known Scottish geniuses living in there. And I found a 12″ single which, in the true spirit of TVV, put up a fantastic remix version that was available only on the reverse side:

mp3 : Senser – Eject (Over Zealous Mix)

Wednesday 7 February

Back in 1992, I bought a 12” single from a clearance/bargain bin in a record shop in Edinburgh for 99p. While it did reach No.32 in the charts, it was a record that was deleted shortly afterwards, never to appear again. It wasn’t included on the 1993 LP Modern Life Is Rubbish, nor was it included on the CD of the Greatest Hits package Blur released in 2000.

mp3 : Blur – Popscene

Thursday 8 February

So many things were going on in my life at the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s that I wasn’t able to keep up with much new music. Jacques the Kipper, aware of my fondness for what became known as Madchester, would periodically throw in my direction a rectangular box containing a cassette tape (young people – activate your google search now). Said cassette tape contained 90 minutes worth of songs, many of which I became very fond, not least today’s offering.

Fast forward to January 2007. A work colleague, on learning that I had started the blog, handed over around 15-20 records that he no longer wanted. Tucked away in the middle of the pile was this, and on the small indie label the band started out on:

mp3 : Paris Angels – All On You (Perfume)

Friday 9 February

I’m up late cos I can’t sleep. I never can when Mrs Villain is working away overnight. Right now she’s in Manchester on behalf of her company for a presentation to an important client just 24 hours after a previous presentation to a would-be client here in Glasgow who are likely to turn her down. Bastards.

So I thought I’d end my five days of postings from the original vinyl with the one song that always make me think of her.

There we were at a Carter USM gig at Barrowlands, Glasgow in the early 90s – me, Mrs Villain and Jacques the Kipper. Us blokes being experienced moshers felt it was just a bit too crazy with all those young folk being awfully lively down the front, so we were strategically placed just left-of-centre maybe halfway back.

Then the opening notes of today’s song came through the speakers.

DAH-DAH-DAH-DAH-DAAAAAAAH

And before the same notes were repeated prior to the crashing guitars, Mrs Villain had gone….right down into the melee. I was gobsmacked. But I left her to it – we hadn’t long drawn up wills leaving all our possessions to one another.

5 and a bit minutes later she came back, drenched in sweat but with the most fantastic grin on her face.

So this is her song.

mp3 : Carter USM – Bloodsport For All

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