Criminally out of print for over a decade, Loop/Main leader Robert Hampson has finally spearheaded the reissues of the entire Loop backcatalogue, remastered and with the now requisite bonus tracks. The most obvious things these reissues show is just how much of a force Loop were, how they stood out from the era's so-called "shoegaze" bands, and how they laid a blueprint for New York's loudest bands today—moreso than numerous other citations.
Reactor
My first exposure to Loop was actually via Hampson's more esoteric experimentations as Main and his tenure in Godflesh, neither of which is similar to his early work with Loop. However, once tracking down their Wolf Flow Peel Sessions album, I was hooked. Originally issued in 1987, Loop’s first of three full-length albums channeled the 1960s psychedelia into a more conventional (and rock oriented) framework. The opening feedback and layered wah guitar of "Soundhead" begins the album with a blast that never really relents, a constant barrage of metronomic drums and fuzzed out guitar bliss. Interestingly enough, Robert Hampson’s vocals are the clearest and most up front they will ever be, as they slowly faded into the mix during the reset of Loop’s career and became near inaudible by the time Main was active.
The title track is perhaps the perfect encapsulation of the Loop ethos of the time: a wah and tremolo drenched field of guitar noise and hypnotic thumping drums wouldn’t have been out of place on the Apocalypse Now soundtrack, while the HAL 9000 samples from 2001 drop in to add a bit of futurism to the work.
One of the strongest elements of this layered and distorted din are the underlying melodies that make the songs much more memorable than other artists who worked in similar lands: the repetitive but catchy guitar melodies that underscore "Straight To Your Heart" and "Too Real to Feel" are some of the strongest assets. Even when the pace is slowed down for the more restrained "Forever" and "Carry Me," the latter sounding like a replaying of "Soundhead" on Quaaludes, the mix is thick and dense. While their songs may have a minimalist structure to them, the band had a maximalist approach to the dynamics and guitar sound.
The bonus material disc included here is nothing revelatory to Loop fans, but the more reverb drenched mix of "Soundhead" and the rawer run-through of "Head On" are interesting, as is their apocalyptic drum machine and two chords-only take on Suicide’s "Rocket USA."
More importantly to the neophytes, the disc also includes the first Peel Session the band recorded. Considering my first exposure to the band were the Peel Sessions, I tend to favor these versions personally, but the less polished and stripped down take of "Soundhead" puts the emphasis on the guitar melody, and the echoed, less processed take on "Rocket USA" is just as good. However, the real treat is the sprawling 10 minute performance "Straight To Your Heart" which, removed from the studio effects, loses none of its hypnotic power but grows in intensity.
As a first album, Heaven’s End was a more cohesive and fully realized work than most bands manage to put out. While it lacks clear diversity from track to track, it all adds into the hypnotic, repetitive vibe the band thrived on.
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