When Mark Brydon met Roisin Murphy, Sunderland-born Brydon had already worked with artists as diverse as Sly and Robbie, Cabaret Voltaire, Karen Wheeler, Psychic TV, Yazz, Eric B & Rakim, Ten City and The Art of Noise. He was also a founding member of the influential FON Studios in Sheffield: the birthplace of many early records by the like of 808 State, Pop Will Eat Itself, Nightmares On Wax, Warp records and on the day that they met, the as yet unnamed Moloko.
Roisin Murphy, hailed from Ireland via Manchester and had never written a song before meeting Mark, but had done some screaming in an experimental Manchester band glorying in the not-very-sensible name "And Turquoise Car Crash The". Originally inspired by the flinty charisma of Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and the Pixies' Kim Deal, Roisin was neither a mopey chanteuse nor a pouting diva. She purred and growled, romped and stomped, roared and soared. She was to become the kind of pop star we could do with more of.
With the critically acclaimed release of their 1995 debut album "Do You Like My Tight Sweater?" Moloko became worthy newcomers to Sheffield's long tradition of bands which take pop back to the drawing board. It is a treasure trove of uncategorisable, oddball electronic pop. To Moloko's annoyance, it was swiftly bracketed with the trip hop scene, but the Eartha Kitt-meets-Dr Dre funk strut of "Fun For Me" made it clear that Moloko were following nobody's rules but their own.
Their 1998 album "I Am Not A Doctor" was stranger still. The fold out sleeve featured an amour-suited Roisin milking a cow in the Alps whilst a hooded Mark runs to the edge of the picture. Why? Why not? "We had to get the cow from the other side of Switzerland and then put it in a ski-lift," explained Roisin. "To keep the cow from bolting, the farmer was touching it up." The album ventured into fresh drum'n'bass pastures, notably on first single "The Flipside" but met, in Roisin's words, with "almost total damnation" from critics, despite becoming a firm favorite amongst fans, Moloko had become the Marmite of pop, either you got their surreal sense of humour and unbridled sonic adventure, in which case you thought they were maverick geniuses, or you didn't and you steered clear.
Then, in one fell swoop, it seemed that simply everybody liked Moloko. One of the highlights of "I Am Not A Doctor" was an eerie, minimal torch song called "Sing It Back". When an inspired remix by German DJ Boris Dlugosch arrived at the record companies' offices, the band immediately recognized the mix for what it truly was, a modern dance floor classic. "Sing It Back" (1999) cast it's glitter ball spell over every right-thinking dance floor and ended up on no less than 110 different compilations. It also achieved a Brit Award nomination for Best Single.
Newspapers and magazines, meanwhile, anointed Roisin a fashion icon and a few months later Moloko followed up with "The Time Is Now", a euphoric, genius pop anthem that charted even higher than "Sing It Back" reaching number 2 in the UK charts and stacking up an incredible four Brit Awards nominations, two Novello Award nominations and one at that year's MTV European Music Awards.
"Things To Make And Do" (2000) demonstrated that Mark and Roisin hadn't lost their thirst for the unpredictable. Lest anyone think they had calmed down, the album's third single, Indigo, was a Dadaist funk rampage whose inscrutable chorus consisted of the words "Rameses! Colossus!" which set the blueprint for many subsequent electroclashing camp followers. The following year, they released "All Back To The Mine", a collection of remixes from 1995 - 2000 by the likes of Matthew Herbert, Ashley Beedle, DJ Krust, Francois K and Mousse T.
Prior to the recording of Statues (released 2003) Mark and Roisin ended their relationship. It proved to be the making of Statues, but also ensured that it would be the last record for some considerable time. While Roisin sang of heartbreak and moving on, Mark created the richest, warmest music of his career: nocturnal deep house on "Cannot Contain This", bubbling acoustic, mutant disco on "Familiar Feeling" and epic, orchestrated soul on the album finale, "Over And Over". The first single from Statues, "Familiar Feeling" entered the UK top 10 and attracted another Novello Award nomination for the band.
With every album Moloko have toured extensively and with Statues the band made no exception, touring for a mammoth 18 months and taking up to 24 people on the road at any one time. The show reached new heights of performance and musical genius, selling out arenas, headlining festivals and playing shows around the globe in 26 countries from Helsinki to Sydney. Over the tour Moloko played to around 750,000 people and won Best International Live Act at the Nokia TMF awards for their shows. Thankfully their sold out Brixton Academy show was captured on the 2004 DVD: 11,000 Clicks. Part of that soundtrack is included on the bonus disc in the Value Pack.
Catalogue represents the cream of Moloko's achievements over their 10 years together: singularly imaginative pop music for the head, heart and hips.
