Moloko () were an Irish-English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

duo formed in Sheffield, England, consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and producer

Mark Brydon Mark Errington Brydon is an English bassist, guitarist, composer, arranger, recording engineer, remix artist and producer best known as a member of the group Moloko. Previous work He comes from Sunderland, England, but established himself in ...

. Blending elements of electronica and

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

, they are best known for their UK top 10 singles " The Time Is Now" (2000) and "

Familiar Feeling "Familiar Feeling" is a song by English-Irish electronica duo Moloko. It was released on 17 February 2003 as the lead single from their fourth and final studio album '' Statues''. The song peaked at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart The UK ...

" (2003), as well as the 1999

Boris Dlugosch Boris Dlugosch (; born 2 August 1968) is a German house music producer from Hamburg. Boris is usually known for funky/deep house tracks, mostly produced in conjunction with Mousse T. and Michi Lange, his partners in the Peppermint Jam Records ...

remix of " Sing It Back" which became an international hit.

History

Murphy had no prior professional singing experience when Moloko was formed, while Brydon had previously worked on music as a producer with musicians such as

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singer ...

and Cabaret Voltaire on releases from the 1990s. In 1994, the two met at a party in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, where Murphy approached Brydon with the

chat-up line A pick-up line or chat-up line is a conversation opener with the intent of engaging a person for romance or dating. As overt and sometimes humorous displays of romantic interest, pick-up lines advertise the wit of their speakers to their target li ...

, "Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body!" Its first sentence became their début album's title, recorded while the pair had begun dating. The name Moloko comes from the narcotic-filled milk drink, Moloko Plus, in the

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his dystopian satire ''A Clockwork ...

novel ''

A Clockwork Orange ''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to: * ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess ** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel *** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...

'', based on the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

for milk, " молоко" ("moloko"). The group signed to

Echo Records The Echo Label was a British record label started by Chrysalis Group in 1994, and linked with Pony Canyon in Japan. The Chrysalis Group were the original owners of Chrysalis Records, which they sold to EMI. In 2005, The Echo Label recorded a ...

and released their single "Where Is the What If the What Is in Why?" The group's debut album ''

Do You Like My Tight Sweater? ''Do You Like My Tight Sweater?'' is the first album by the electronic/dance duo Moloko, released in October 1995 in the UK and Australia, while being released in March 1997 in the US. The title of the album is derived from the singer Róisín ...

'' was released in 1995. The group toured with

Pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

following the release. The single "Fun for Me" was featured prominently on the '' Batman & Robin''

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

and received radio airplay and strong MTV rotation. It reached number four in the

US Dance Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart. In 1997, their cover of "

Are 'Friends' Electric? Are commonly refers to: * Are (unit), a unit of area equal to 100 m2 Are, ARE or Åre may also refer to: Places * Åre, a locality in Sweden * Åre Municipality, a municipality in Sweden **Åre ski resort in Sweden * Are Parish, a municipa ...

" featured on the Gary Numan tribute album ''

Random In common usage, randomness is the apparent or actual lack of pattern or predictability in events. A random sequence of events, symbols or steps often has no order and does not follow an intelligible pattern or combination. Individual ra ...

''. After Moloko finished the tour, they built a home studio and recorded their second album, titled ''

I Am Not a Doctor ''I Am Not a Doctor'' is the second album by the English/Irish electronic dance music duo Moloko, released in 1998. The album received critical praise, although it was not a big seller. ''I Am Not a Doctor'' was issued in the UK by Echo Records ...

'', which was released in 1998 in the United Kingdom. Though the album was unsuccessful, reaching only number 64 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

, a

remix of " Sing It Back", the third single from the album that originally failed to reach the Top 40 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, was a huge hit, reaching number four in the UK chart and number one in the US Dance Chart. Their third album ''

Things to Make and Do ''Things to Make and Do'' is the third album by the electronic/ dance duo Moloko, released in the UK by Echo Records in 2000. It was a sonic departure for Moloko, with tracks less reliant on electronics and more on live musicians. In addition to ...

'' was released in the year 2000 and reached number three in the UK Albums Chart. The first single, " The Time Is Now" was their biggest hit, charting at number two in the charts. They started touring as a full band along with percussionist Paul Slowly, keyboardist

Eddie Stevens Eddie Stevens is a British keyboardist, record producer, composer and arranger, best known for co-writing, arranging and touring with the UK groups Freakpower (with Norman Cook aka Fat Boy Slim); Moloko (as of 2000); and Zero 7. He continued to w ...

, and guitarist Dave Cooke. Their 2003 album ''

Statues A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

'' produced two hit singles, "

", which reached number ten in the UK, and " Forever More", which reached number 17. Brydon and Murphy ended their romantic relationship just before they began work on the album and, following a tour, disbanded the group.

Style

Moloko's music has been described as alternative dance, dance-pop,

experimental pop Experimental pop is pop music that cannot be categorized within traditional musical boundaries or which attempts to push elements of existing popular forms into new areas. It may incorporate experimental techniques such as musique concrète, a ...

, dance-punk and electropop. Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

described the sound of their debut album similar to that of Portishead and

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was releas ...

with elements of dance, funk, and

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with " downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tem ...

, while noting the group had "a sense of humour and sass unique to Moloko."

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

''All Back to the Mine'' (2001) is a collection of 21 remixes (23 in Japan). ''Vol. I'' and ''Vol. II'' (2016) each contain 34 remixes, for a total of 68. Not all of the remixes on the 2001 version are included on the 2016 versions.

Singles

*A: "Pure Pleasure Seeker" did not chart on the Flemish Ultratop 50, but peaked at number 15 on the

Ultratip Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium. Ultratop is a non-profit organization, created on the initiative of the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA), the Belgian member organization of ...

chart. *B: "Indigo" did not chart on the Flemish Ultratop 50, but peaked at number 16 on the Ultratip chart. *C: "Cannot Contain This" did not chart on the Flemish Ultratop 50, but peaked at number 3 on the Ultratip chart.

Video

Video albums

Awards and honours

"Best International Live Act" - Belgian

TMF Awards The TMF Awards were an annual television awards show broadcast live on TMF (The Music Factory). The first Dutch TMF Awards were held in 1995, as a brand extension to the recently launched local Dutch music channel TMF. The show was very small an ...

2004

References

External links

*
Moloko
at

WhoSampled WhoSampled is a website and app database of information about sampled music or sample-based music, cover songs and remixes. History Nadav Poraz founded the site in London, England in 2008, as a way to track musical samples and cover songs. ...

{{Authority control English electronic music duos English dance music groups Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 2003 Musical groups from Sheffield Trip hop groups Irish electronic music groups Irish dance musicians Irish musical duos