Discordant, elusive, and utterly hypnotic, Loop conjured a dark, trance-like spell that contrasted sharply with the prevailing British pop music trends of their time. Touching upon the likes of the Stooges and Can in their sonic template, they resurrected the concept of space rock for a new era in tandem with fellow travelers Spacemen 3, creating droning soundscapes of bleak beauty and harsh dissonance. Their initial run lasted only a few years during the late '80s and the start of the '90s, but the three albums Loop created in that brief window drew fascination and excitement from listeners for years to come. Shortly after a 2013 reunion of the original lineup, a reconfigured version of the band began playing live, and in 2022 they released Sonancy, the first Loop album in 32 years.
Loop were formed in London in 1986 by vocalist/guitarist Robert Hampson, who at the time of the group's inception claimed to know only four chords. With wife Bex (Becky Stewart) on drums and Glen Ray on bass, they debuted with the single "16 Dreams," its raw, feedback-powered sound offering clear evidence of a serious garage fixation. New drummer John Wills was signed on a short time later, with his arrival heralding a more primal rhythmic foundation. The reconfigured Loop then issued their 1987 full-length debut, Heaven's End, winning acclaim for its densely distorted sound.
The World in Your Eyes, a collection of singles and B-sides, appeared in 1987. After signing to the Chapter 22 label and welcoming new bassist Neil MacKay to the lineup, Loop resurfaced in 1988 with the 12" Collision. In November of that same year, they also released their second full-length, the excellent Fade Out. Over a year passed before they returned to action with the Arc-Lite single, now sporting not only another new label, Situation 2, but also a second guitarist, Scott Dawson. After issuing their third and finest studio LP, 1990's A Gilded Eternity, Loop disbanded. A series of posthumous releases, among them the live Dual and the BBC sessions collection Wolf Flow, soon followed. In the wake of the band's demise, its four members split into two camps -- while MacKay and Wills reunited in the Hair & Skin Trading Company, Hampson and Dawson went on to form the highly experimental Main.
Loop's catalog slid out of print during the '90s, but it was comprehensively reissued on the band's Reactor label in 2008. Five years later, the group -- Hampson, Wills, MacKay, and Dawson -- reconvened for touring and co-curated the lineup for the "End of an Era, Pt. 2" portion of the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival at Camber Sands in East Sussex, England. Dates followed throughout May 2014, when the band performed in Barcelona at another festival, Primavera Sound. Later that year, Hampson assembled a new lineup that featured guitarist Dan Boyd, bassist Hugo Morgan, and drummer Wayne Maskel. Through ATP, the label offshoot of All Tomorrow's Parties, the band issued new recordings, beginning with Array 1 in June 2015. The release coincided with a handful of live dates, including several in the U.K. and one in Iceland. In 2018, Loop played London's Meltdown Festival as part of a lineup curated by the Cure's Robert Smith; that year's lineup also included Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails, and many, many others. In 2022, Loop released their fourth full-length album and first in over three decades, Sonancy. The album expanded on Loop's heavy minimalism with Hampson and company exploring their sound, at times from a post-punk angle.
Biography by Jason Ankeny
There are other artists with the same name:
2) loOp is a trio from Marseille, France composed of a drummer/pianist, a bassist, and a DJ. They perform beat-driven electronica with international influences. Their first full-length album, Superflux, was released in 2005.
http://www.loopsound.org/ - lo0p's band website
3) Loop is an Iligan-based band comprising of 4 sexy ladies namely Kim, Micmic, Jc and Jp. The band started in early June when their vocalist (Kim) came back home from a 5-month stay in a far-away place, long enough to realize she needed to be back in the music scene. When she decided to form a band, the three other sexy girls were who she had in mind to be working with.
The frontlady
Kim has diverse influences in music. From quiet to loud, her list of favorites cling on, balancing both types. However, Kim has managed to create more on the softer side of it.
The Riffs
Loop's guitarman, Micmic. Sometimes labeled as the sound technician, the ear, the master. In times when he doesn't pick up the guitar, he tinkers a lot with computers and audio editing software or God knows what else he can do. As Kim creates a softy, Micmic is the mastermind for the crunch of songs to balance it all. After all, he is a Libra.
The Bass
Machoman Jp is slapper in his former band, Drunkenstein. He usually revolves around the feel of funkrock and the likes. What others don't know is he's a fan of Jack Johnson and he writes songs of both genre. He has a pizzaplace in his home and everyone who gets to see him around asks for pizza from him.
The Sidestick
Jc has been doing solid hits ever since the Defnet era (2006?). But really, aside from finding it easy to play with the metronome and speed, he contributes a lot of guitar riffs too for the band!
https://www.facebook.com/loop.iligan
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…shrink me down again