Kevin Martin : Voice, Sax, Synthesizers (God, Techno Animal)
Justin Broadrick : Guitars (Godflesh, Final)
Dave Cochrane : Bass (God, Head Of David)
Lou Ciccotelli : Drums (Laika, Slab, God)
The Beginnings:
1994: Ice's debut album "Under The Skin" is released through band leader
Kevin Martin's own short-lived but highly influential Pathological Records,
one time home to, amongst others, Lydia Lunch, Caspar and Peter Brotzmann,
16-17, Zeni Geva, Oxbow, and Techno Animal. Created by the still unchanged
line-up listed above, "Under The Skin" trawls its makers' collective backgrounds,
melding post-industrial textures and 70s electric jazz freedom with deep
grooves and dub production. For all the scope of its ambitions it barely
hints at what's to come...
History
1994-1998: Ice is somewhat put on the backburner while its members concentrate
on other projects. In particular, Martin and Broadrick plough their energies
into Techno Animal, and to a lesser extent, The Sidewinder, while Ciccotelli
becomes heavily involved in Laika and his own group Ear Drum and Cochrane
with 16-17.
Techno Animal move further from their experimental roots
on their projects released through Virgin, Force Inc, DHR and City Slang.
They collaborate on wax with Tortoise, UI, and Porter Ricks and tour Europe
as part of the Force Inc Roadshow with Alec Empire.
Meanwhile Ice gets occasional airings on scattered compilations
(Macro Dub Infection - which saw them mangle the ramblings of psycho-country
singer Will Palace - Isolationism, Electric Ladyland etc.) and on an EP
released through the US's Alternative Press editor Jason Pettigrew's label.
And somewhere in there, over two years ago, work begins on the Morpheus
album...
1998 That album finally saw the light of day, as the debut
album on Morpheus, but the Ice project has changed beyond recognition.
The group's core remains the same: Martin, Broadrick, Cochrane, and Ciccotelli.
In the course of his travels and his compiling duties, Martin has made
contacts in new worlds and the lineup brought together for the new album
shows it:
Scott Harding : Drum loops (New Kingdom, Wu
Tang, Gravediggaz)
Sebastien : raps (New Kingdom)
Toastie Taylor : Raps (New Flesh For Old)
Blixa Bargeld : Vocals (Einsturzende Neubauten, Nick Cave's Bad Seeds)
DJ Vadim : Scratching
El-P : Raps (Company Flow)
A-Cyde : Raps (DJ Vadim, Attica Blues)
Priest : Raps (Anti-Pop Collective)
1998-1999 With the album in the bag, the next phase was to
hand the finished work over to a clutch of like minded producers and remixers.
Underdog, El-P (Company Flow), Scott Harding (New Kingdom), Alec Empire
(Atari Teenage Riot), and Dom and Roland. (See Morpheus discography for
details.)
In Oct ë98 Ice played two live dates supporting Atari Teenage
Riot which were a huge success. They built their own killer Dub PA system,
so that they can do club nights with live mixing, and also enhance the
PA in live venues when they play live. Ice compiled DJ sets for XFM Radioís
John Kennedy Show (these were broadast over five consecutive nights -
just before all the changes at XFM), and they compiled DJ sets for Kiss
Radioís Coldcut Show. Two raw dubbed out versions of tracks by Ice have
appeared on the fifth Electric Ladyland compilation (this series has a
hard core following of at least five thousand) released by Force INC -
German independent label. These tracks are entitled "Hypodermic" and "Viper".
A Techno Animal track, called "Excavator" also appears on this compilation.
(Other featured artists are: DJ Spooky, Panacea, Mou, Andre Gurov, Kerosene,
DJ Soul Slinger etc.)
(Official biography from the Morpheus Records website)
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