LFO was a British

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

act formed in 1988 consisting of Mark Bell and Gez Varley. They released their acclaimed debut LP ''

Frequencies Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as mechanical vibrations, audio ...

'' in 1991 on Sheffield label Warp. After Varley left the group in 1996, Bell continued solo to release '' Advance'' (1996) and '' Sheath'' (2003). Bell died in October 2014, ending the project. LFO are considered to be pioneers of the bass-heavy "

bleep techno Bleep techno (or simply bleep) is a regional subgenre of techno which developed in the late 1980s in Northern England, particularly Yorkshire. Named after its minimalistic synthesizer sounds, bleep techno combined influences from American ...

" style.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

called them "one of British

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

's most important, agenda-setting groups."

History

Early years

Varley and Bell met while studying at

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

and named their group after the initialism for the common synthesizer function

low-frequency oscillation Low-frequency oscillation (LFO) is an electronic frequency that is usually below 20 Hz and creates a rhythmic pulse or sweep. This is used to modulate musical equipment such as synthesizers to create audio effects such as vibrato, tremolo ...

. They gave their first track, the "LFO", to

Nightmares on Wax George Herbert Evelyn (born 15 January 1970), better known by his stage name Nightmares on Wax or DJ E.A.S.E., is an English DJ and record producer from Leeds. His music has been released by Warp Records. He is based in Ibiza. Nightmares on Wax ...

. The popularity of the demo in clubs led to the track being released by the Sheffield-based Warp label in 1990, and it was a Top 20 hit in the U.K., reaching number 12 in the singles charts in July. DJ Martin (Martin Williams) is credited as a cowriter and co-producer "LFO" but was not a member of the group. Mark Bell explains:

We gave a tape of our recordings to DJ Martin who helped loads with arranging our tracks so it'd work on the dancefloor. We'd just been messing around with drum machines since we were like thirteen, tapping away at them like they were arcade games, making tapes to play our mates at school. Anyway, DJ Martin would play our cassettes in his sets and people would go mental - in a good way - cos they were totally raw.

The duo of Bell and Varley were both 19 years old when they recorded their debut album, ''

'' (1991). According to Bell, most of the album was made by him alone because Varley felt "trapped by the confines of Warp" and wanted to make more direct dance music; the credits were nonetheless split 50/50. The duo later signed to

Tommy Boy Records Tommy Boy Records is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Amber, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digita ...

in the U.S. and remixed

Afrika Bambaataa Lance Taylor (born April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is a retired American DJ, rapper, and record producer. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of ...

's "Planet Rock", as well as songs from

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

Laurent Garnier Laurent Garnier (born 1 February 1966), also known as Choice, is a French electronic music producer and DJ. Garnier began DJing in Manchester during the late 1980s. He became a producer in the early 1990s and recorded several albums. Early influe ...

, and

The Sabres of Paradise The Sabres of Paradise are a British electronic music group from London. They consisted of Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner, and Gary Burns. History The Sabres of Paradise were formed in London, England in 1992. Andrew Weatherall formed the g ...

Later years

In 1996, LFO released their second album, '' Advance''. Varley left the group the same year and formed Feedback with Simon Hartley (a.k.a. Wild Planet). Bell produced ''

Homogenic ''Homogenic'' is the third studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 22 September 1997 by One Little Indian Records. Produced by Björk, Mark Bell (British musician), Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth, Howie B, and Markus Dra ...

'' (1997) with Björk and performed with her on her 1997 ''Homogenic'' and 2007/08 '' Volta'' tours. He also produced '' Exciter'' (2001) with Depeche Mode. In 2003, LFO released their third album, '' Sheath'', produced alone by Bell. In 2005, LFO and

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

collaborated with the EP AFX / LFO. In 2009 the ''

Warp20 (Recreated) ''Warp20 (Recreated)'' is a compilation album released by Warp Records in 2009. It contains covers of Warp artists, such as Aphex Twin, LFO (British band), LFO, Boards of Canada and Grizzly Bear (band), Grizzly Bear, by other Warp artists, such a ...

'' compilation featured covers of two early LFO songs, "LFO" by

Luke Vibert Luke Vibert (born 26 January 1973) is a British electronic musician and producer, also known for his work under several aliases such as Plug and Wagon Christ. Raised in Cornwall, Vibert began releasing projects in the 1990s across varied genre ...

and "What is House? (LFO Remix)" by

Autechre Autechre ( ) are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all o ...

. The original version of "LFO", albeit the Leeds Warehouse Mix, featured on Warp's 10th anniversary album '' Warp 10+2: Classics 89–92''. LFO's track ''Freak'' was used in the opening title sequence for

Gaspar Noé Gaspar Noé (; ; born 27 December 1963) is an Argentine filmmaker, who lives and worked primarily in France. He is one of the primary exponents of New French Extremity, with his most notable works including the feature films '' I Stand Alone'' ...

's 2009 film ''

Enter the Void ''Enter the Void'' is a 2009 English-language art film written and directed by Gaspar Noé and starring Nathaniel Brown (actor), Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, and Cyril Roy. A Fantasy (genre), fantasy psychological drama set in the neon-lit ...

''. In 2014, Bell died from health complications at the age of 43, resulting in the disbandment of the band.

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' (1991) – No. 42 UK * '' Advance'' (1996) – No. 44 UK * '' Sheath'' (2003)

EPs

* ''What Is House? EP'' (1992) – No. 62 UK

Singles

* "LFO" (1990) – No. 12 UK * "Love is a Message" (1990) * "Loop" (1990) * "Frequencies" (1991) * "We Are Back" (1991) – No. 47 UK * "Tied Up" (1994) – No. 99 UK * "Freak" (2003) – No. 79 UK

References

External links

LFO
at Warp * * {{Authority control Acid house groups English house music duos English techno music groups Intelligent dance musicians British electronic dance music duos British male musical duos Musical groups from Leeds Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 2014 Warp (record label) artists Tommy Boy Records artists Rhythm King artists