Spectrum

          Sonic Boom (aka Peter Kember) formed Spectrum (with guitarist Richard Formby) immediately after the demise of Spacemen 3, the historic shoegaze group.

          Kember distanced himself immediately and peremptorily from rock music with Spectrum (Silvertone, 1990), on which he was accompanied by Jazz Butcher, Jason Pierce of Spiritualized, and members of  Perfect Disaster. Kember is centered on atmospheric guitar playing, able to blend serene and humble melody, pulsating picking, and mournful electronica, a style that is suited to resurrecting Roy Orbison ("Pretty Baby") as much as Lou Reed ("Angel"), and dissipating the songs into nothingness from overdose ("If I Should Die", probably the most enterprising "song" of his career). On most of the album, echos of  Suicide and The Velevet Underground resonate, but the harmonies are so volatile and minimal that very little of the song form remains.

          Kember should be admired for his consistent research on the mystical qualities of sound. Singles such as "Octaves/Tremolos", "Drone Dream", and "To the Moon" are objects without personality, shapeless, such that you cannot figure out if they want to parody shoegazers or establish a new kind of art. The album Soul Kiss (Silvertone, 1991), overstretched and redundant, is a concert for reverberations of ethereal sounds. The music is hidden behind a hallucinagenic fog that stops it from taking on a recognizable form. From the subdued prayer of "Lord I Don't Even Know My Name" and the chord lessons of "Waves Wash Over Me" (almost an exerpt of Hosianna Mantra of Popol Vuh), above all rooms of free-form music alternate with one another that are completely free, pretentious, instrumental, acoustic-electric symphonies halfway between Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music and avant-garde chamber music (for example "Neon Sigh"). The sixteen minutes of  "Phase Me Out" are the peak of both arrogance and abstraction, as if a Tibetan mantra had been produced by Stockhausen. It is likely that the true peaks of the album are rather the tender lullaby, immersed in a science fictional harmony, of  "Touch the Stars" and "The Drunk Suite", in which nebulae of  melodic fragments of various instruments flutter about lazily and intersect casually, giving origin to suggestive harmonic shapes.

          The new single "How You Satisfy Me", a psychedelic ride that blends references from The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles, is not any more original than many others of this genre.

          Most importantly, Kember has learned to use the organ and puts that sound to good use on the EP Undoo the Taboo (Silvertone, 1994) and on the album Highs, Lows, and Heavenly Blows (Silvertone, 1995), two projects that further dilate the trance of Spectrum. "Take Me Away" purrs like a sleepy lullaby by Mazzy Star, "Then I Just Drifted Away" dilates the spaces of Spacemen 3. The leader's drug chants sound somewhat anachronistic and pathetic, and many of them limit themselves to repeating the threnody of "Undo the Taboo".

          The mini-albums A Pox On You (Space Age, 1996), a half hour improvisation in collaboration with Jessamine, and Songs For Owsley (Reprise, 1996), a dedication to the "acid" guru, performed using electronic instruments, announce a sharp turn in respect to the initial project.

          Forever Alien (Reprise, 1997) is a tribute to the origins of electronic music, to the first timid experiments with oscillators, synthesizers, theremins and tapes, for the most part sponsored by radiophonic studios. "Feels Like I'm Slipping Away" and "Matrix" are accordingly endless expanses of gurglings, crackles, and bubbles, that too often have to incorporate the leader's annoying chanting, and only in one instance ("Delia Derbyshire") flow into a stunning lysergic ceremony (Pink Floyd plus Silver Apples). Likely, the new generations do not know that German rock had already done these things a quarter of a century earlier (Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream), and with much more genius. And that "The Stars Are So Far" steals the idea of a sidereal hiccup from Laurie Anderson ("O Superman"). Let's not talk about professionals like Michele Jarre and cult phenomenons such as Tonto's Expanding Head Band and Mother Mallard, who blush at listening to the sub-psychedelic banalities of their inept grandchildren.

          Sonic Boom is also protagonist with Kevin Martin (God) and Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) of E.A.R (Experimental Audio Research).

Kember va ammirato per la sua coerente ricerca delle qualita` mistiche del sound. Singoli come Octaves/ Tremelos, Drone Dream e To The Moon sono oggetti senza personalita`, amorfi, che non si capisce se vogliono parodiare gli shoegazer o fondare una nuova arte. L'album Soul Kiss (Silvertone, 1991), prolisso e ridondante, e` un concerto per riverberi di suoni eterei. La musica e` nascosta dietro una nebbia allucinogena che le impedisce di assumere una forma riconoscibile.
Fra la tenue preghiera di Lord I Don't Even Know My Name e gli accordi leziosi di Waves Wash Over Me (quasi un estratto dell'Hosianna Mantra dei Popol Vuh) si alternano soprattutto suite di musica free-form del tutto gratuite, pretenziose sonate strumentali elettro- acustiche a meta` strada fra il Metal Machine Music di Lou Reed e la musica da camera d'avanguardia (per esempio Neon Sigh).
Culmine sia di presunzione sia di astrazione sono i sedici minuti di Phase Me Out, come se un mantra tibetano fosse stato elaborato da Stockhausen. E` probabile che i veri vertici dell'album siano invece la cantilena tenerissima, immersa in un'armonia da fantascienza, di Touch The Stars e The Drunk Suite, nella quale nebulose di frammenti melodici dei vari strumenti fluttuano pigramente e si intersecano casualmente dando origine a figure armoniche suggestive.
Il nuovo singolo How You Satisfy Me, una giostra psichedelica che rimescola citazioni da Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd e Beatles, non e` molto piu` originale di tante altre del genere.

Kember ha soprattutto imparato a usare l'organo, e mette a frutto quel timbro sull'EP Undo The Taboo (Silvertone, 1994) e sull'album Highs Lows And Heavenly Blows (Silvertone, 1995), due lavori che dilatano ulteriormente la trance di Spectrum. Take Me Away fa le fusa alla cantilena sonnambula dei Mazzy Star, Then I Just Drifted Away dilata gli spazi degli Spacemen 3. I cantici alla droga del leader suonano un po' anacronistici e patetici, e molti si limitano a ripetere la trenodia di Undo The Taboo.

I mini-album A Pox On You (Space Age, 1996), mezz'ora di improvvisazione in collaborazione con i Jessamine, e Songs For Owsley (Reprise, 1996), dedica al guru dell'"acido" eseguita con strumenti elettronici, annunciano una netta virata rispetto al progetto iniziale.

Forever Alien (Reprise, 1997) e` un tributo alle origini della musica elettronica, ai primi timidi esperimenti con gli oscillatori, i sintetizzatori, i theremin e i nastri, per lo piu` sponsorizzati dagli studi radiofonici. Feels Like I'm Slipping Away e Matrix sono pertanto distese sterminate di borboglii e crepitii e bollicine. che troppo spesso devono incorporare la noiosa recitazione del leader, e che soltanto in un caso (Delia Derbyhsire) sfociano in un impressionante cerimoniale lisergico (Pink Floyd piu` Silver Apples) . Le nuove generazioni forse non sanno che queste cose il rock tedesco le aveva fatte un quarto di secolo prima (Kraftwerk e Tangerine Dream), e con ben altro genio; e che The Stars Are So Far ruba l'idea del singhiozzo siderale a Laurie Anderson (O Superman). Per non parlare di professionisti come Michele Jarre e fenomeni da culto come Tonto's Expanding Head Band e Mother Mallard, che arrissiranno ad ascoltare le banalita` sub-psichedeliche di questi loro inetti nipotini.

Sonic Boom e` anche protagonista con Kevin Martin (God) e Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) degli E.A.R. (Experimental Audio Research).

Peter Kember returned after a long hiatus with Indian Giver (2008), credited to Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis, a collaboration with Jim Dickison.

Spectrum returned with the four-song EP War Sucks (Mind Expansion, 2009), whose title track is a cover of the Red Krayola song.

Richard Formby ha successivamente fondato il progetto Triumph 2000, il cui Phazed & Confused Derailed (1999) continua la missione shoegaze degli Spacemen 3. Peter Kember ่ tornato dopo una lunga pausa con Indian Giver (2008), attribuito a Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis, una collaborazione con Jim Dickinson. Lo Spectrum degli EP di quattro canzoni ่ tornato con War Sucks (Mind Expansion, 2009), la cui title track ่ una cover della canzone dei Red Krayola.