Music: Archive

Another job done. The last two weekends I have been recording a band called Archive. They have been playing to sold out crowds at Ancienne Belgique (3000ish capacity) in Brussels and Le Zenith (6050 capacity) in Paris. The strange thing about this band is that barely anyone would have heard of them in the UK. This is despite the fact the all of the constituent members are from London, more specifically Brixton.

They are signed to Warner France, which is a big label with a number of global artists, yet in the 11 years that they've been about they've never been able to break onto the UK scene. To say what is holding them back from a more widespread appeal would be speculation. The music speaks for itself and I can't honestly see why they wouldn't be well received. The live sound especially explosive. A lot of vast soundscapes, with a wall of noise not entirely dissimilar from the type deployed by The Cooper Temple Clause or the more noise oriented works of Kasabian.

Archive are, in total, a nine piece band. But quite often they won't all be involved in every song. Core parts (drums, bass, guitar, keys) remain across most tracks but vocals switch between four main players, which will guide the sound of the song.

Their Myspace site has a few songs on it which they used in the live set. However the two sounds are incomparable. The studio sound is very processed, where the live sound is allowed to build and explode with the true energy of the performance. What I'd do is get yourself a copy of the live album. Any will do. I can vouch for the quality of the Concert Live productions from Ancienne Belgique and Le Zenith (not just because I worked on them but because we got heaps of praise from the band themselves). Their own live album is also available through the usual channels; Amazon etc