Looper

A fantastic Scotland based band made up primarily of Stuart David from Belle and Sebastian, another Scottish group. Samples abound on their first and only album, Up a Tree. The vocals are almost all spoken word over samples both homegrown and discovered like diamonds in the rough. The whole general feel is a sort of mellow lounging, philosophizing vibe. My personal favorite song on the album is "Dave the Moon Man" which is a story about a man who saw the moon landings as the ultimate accomplishment.

"It made everything else possible. Anything you could think of, anything you were stuck with. It could be done, because that had been done. Someone had got up and gone the moon, and nothing was more impossible than that."

Looper now have three albums, Up a Tree, The Geometrid and The Snare. The second album, named after the species of moth whose larvae are known as loopers, is as full of samples as the first, but adds more keyboards and maybe a bit more guitar. It also has more singing, with four of its ten tracks definitely counting as actual songs and two more featuring bits of singing here and there. This is no bad thing; while I love his monologues, Stuart David also has a fine singing voice. The second album also starts to show some hip-hop influence, and the hip-hop beats are taking over on the third. The Snare has a darker sound, with the laid-back spoken-word monologues replaced entirely by sleazy grooves with deep basslines and heavy breakbeats.

The band had four official members for The Geometrid: Stuart David on lead vocals with his wife Karn sometimes providing backing, Ronnie Black (Stuart's brother) on guitar, and Scott Twynholm playing keyboards. On The Snare, Scott Twynholm is listed under Accomplices along with ten other people, while the listing for the band itself now includes Evil Bob on 'Baritone Sax, Beats, Bass Programming, Guiro, Backing Vocals (on Fucking Around)'. Looper left Jeepster after Up a Tree to sign for Sub Pop, released The Geometrid and then moved to Mute. After The Snare, they left Mute, declaring that record labels are obsolete and they never really liked them much anyway. They have apparently made half a million or more in royalties on their track Mondo 77 since it was adopted by Xerox, so they seem to be doing rather well as an unsigned band.

Their web site, Looperama.com, now offers several internet-only MP3 EPs for download. They're rather good.

Looper is also a slang term meaning 'crazy,' although for all I know no-one besides Stuart David actually uses it.

• BBC report on Xerox minting: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4460212.stm

Loop"er (?), n.

1.

An instrument, as a bodkin, for forming a loop in yarn, a cord, etc.

2. Zool.

The larva of any species of geometrid moths. See Geometrid.

 

© Webster 1913.