eMusic

Start Your Trial

Ultramarine

Ultramarine

Rate it!

Avg: 4.0 (3 ratings)

  • Formed: 1989 in Canterbury, England
  • Years Active: 1990s

Biography

The music of Canterbury duo Ultramarine resists easy classification, drawing as it does from ambient, techno, folk, and eclectic '70s Canterbury art rock artists like the Soft Machine, Caravan, and Robert Wyatt, who occasionally performed live with the group and appeared on their United Kingdoms album. The group, which is made up of Paul Hammond and Ian Cooper, has a distinctively British sound and employs a wide range of instruments and sounds. Hammond and Cooper first collaborated in the avant-garde band A Primary Industry during the mid-'80s. When that band split, the duo named themselves Ultramarine and recorded Folk in 1990. Their second album, Every Man and Woman Is a Star, appeared in 1992 and earned praise for the duo as one of the first home-listening electronic groups. Sire signed Ultramarine in 1992 and issued their first U.S. release, United Kingdoms, the following year. Despite a high-profile collaboration with Robert Wyatt (and with Kevin Ayers for the accompanying Hymn EP), the album practically disappeared both home and abroad. Nevertheless, Hammond and Cooper continued to record in a quirky electronic folk-pop vein for 1995's Bel Air. Three years later, A User's Manual saw Ultramarine's sound approaching the trip-hop/electronica mainstream.
— Steve Huey , All Music Guide

Related Artists Ancestors, Peers and Acolytes

Similar Artists:

The Orb, Orbital, System 7, Pressure Of Speech, System 7 / Derrick May

Roots and Influences:

Caravan, The Soft Machine,

Formal Connections:

Robert Wyatt

Playlists If you like Ultramarine, check out these member playlists

“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”


Rolling Stone
Start Your Trial

Recently Viewed

Back
Forward

© 1998-2009 eMusic.com Inc. eMusic and the eMusic logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks in the USA or other countries. All rights reserved.

All Music Guide © 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC

Facebook®, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia® are registered trademarks of their respective owners, Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Neither Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. nor Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. are partners or sponsors of eMusic. eMusic uses the Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia API but is not endorsed or certified by Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia. eMusic does not pre-screen, monitor, endorse nor assume any liability for websites, contents, products, services or claims made by Facebook, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia®.

Legal or copyright question regarding Facebook, YouTube, Flickr or Wikipedia content on eMusic? Please email us.