Moloko () were an English-Irish

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 ...

duo formed in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, England, consisting of vocalist

Róisín Murphy Róisín Marie Murphy ( , ; born 5 July 1973) is an Irish singer, songwriter and record producer who first became known in the 1990s as one half of the Pop music, pop duo Moloko alongside the English musician Mark Brydon. After the breakup of M ...

and producer Mark Brydon. Blending elements of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

and

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

, they are best known for their UK top 10 singles " The Time Is Now" (2000) and " Familiar Feeling" (2003) as well as the 1999 Boris Dlugosch

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

of "

Sing It Back "Sing It Back" is a song written and performed by Irish-English electronic music duo Moloko ( Róisín Murphy and Mark Brydon). It first appeared in its original version on Moloko's second album, '' I Am Not a Doctor'' (1998); it was released a ...

", which became an international hit.

History

Formation and success (1994–2000)

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 and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...

and Cabaret Voltaire on releases from the

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...

. In 1994, the two met at a party in

, where Murphy approached Brydon with the chat-up line, "Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body!" Its first sentence became their debut album's title, recorded while the pair had begun dating. The name Moloko comes from the

narcotic The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "I make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

-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 Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...

novel '' A Clockwork Orange'', based on the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

word for milk, " молоко" ("moloko"). The group signed to Echo Records 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?'' was released in 1995. The group toured with Pulp following the release. The single "Fun for Me" was featured prominently on the '' Batman & Robin''

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

and received radio airplay and strong

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

rotation. It reached number four in the US Dance chart. In 1997, their cover of " Are 'Friends' Electric?" featured on the

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...

tribute album ''

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

''. After Moloko finished the tour, they built a home studio and recorded their second album, titled '' I Am Not a Doctor'', 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 the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, a Boris Dlugosch remix of "

", the third single from the album that originally failed to reach the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart, was a huge hit, reaching number four in the UK chart and number one in the US Dance Chart. Moloko toured in support of the album, opening for

Garbage Garbage, trash (American English), rubbish (British English), or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or ...

in UK and Ireland in January and February 1999. Their third album '' Things to Make and Do'' 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, and guitarist Dave Cooke.

''Statues'' and disbandment (2003–2004)

Their 2003 album '' Statues'' produced two hit singles, " Familiar Feeling", which reached number ten in the UK, and " Forever More", which reached number 17. Brydon and Murphy ended their romantic relationship in 2002, just before they began work on the album. Murphy toured without Brydon for eighteen months in support of the album throughout 2003 and 2004. The concert at the

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Lon ...

, recorded on 22 November 2003, was released on the live DVD '' 11,000 Clicks'' in 2004. Following the tour, the group disbanded.

Post-disbandment (2004–present)

Following the disbandment, both Murphy and Brydon began solo careers, with the former releasing her first solo album, '' Ruby Blue'', in 2005. On 22 May 2006, the band announced their

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'' Catalogue'', including the unreleased track "Bankrupt Emotionally", released on 17 July. The same year, Murphy and Brydon, along with long-time Moloko guitarist Cooke, briefly interrupted their hiatus to play a select number of acoustic radio performances. In 2016, Moloko digitally reissued their remixes on the compilation ''All Back To the Mine'', split into two volumes and comprising a total of 68 tracks. In 2019, the four Moloko albums were remastered and reissued on vinyl. Since the band's disbandment, Murphy has performed several Moloko songs on her solo tours and live performances. However, she has stated in several interviews that she has no intention of reuniting with Brydon.

Style

Moloko's music has been described as

alternative dance Alternative dance (also known as indie dance or underground dance in the United States) is a musical genre that mixes alternative rock with electronic dance music. Although largely confined to the British Isles, it has gained worldwide exposure ...

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

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 music, experimental techniques such as m ...

dance-punk Dance-punk (also known as disco-punk) is a post-punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the disco, post-disco and new wave movements.Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984. Simon Reynolds.Faber an ...

and

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

. Heather Phares of

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 ...

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, England, by Robert Del Naja, Robert "3D" Del Naja, Daddy G, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, Tricky (musician), Adrian "Tricky" Thaws and Andrew Vowles, Andrew "Mushroom" ...

with elements of

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, and

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

, 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 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 2004

References

External links

*
Moloko
at

WhoSampled WhoSampled is a website and app database of information about sampled music or sample-based music, interpolations, cover songs and remixes. As of April 2025, the website features 1,155,375 songs and 355,929 artists in its catalog. History ...

{{Authority control English electronic music duos English dance music groups Irish electronic music groups Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 2004 Musical groups from Sheffield Trip hop groups Male–female musical duos Warner Records artists 1994 establishments in England Female-fronted musical groups