Ok, so I’ve tried a couple of times in the past to create some themed posts, but due to uni and stuff, I’ve never really continued them for long. Here’s another one, and at the very least I know it’s got some mileage, because I have a playlist already set up. You’ve been warned.
What’s the theme, I hear nobody but myself ask? That answer would be bands that broke up too soon – we’re talking those that disbanded due to reasons other than a member’s passing. Even though I’m only 20, I’ve already seen plenty bands come and go, and some of them leave without giving all that a listener like myself thinks they could have done.
First up then, by way of random selection, is Headland. Not to be confused with an awful American rock group or an Australian TV show both of the same name, Headland were an indie band from London with a slight leaning towards electronic experimentation and a bit of sampling.
I first heard them on EA’s Cricket 07, with straight rock song Monster In A Shirt. As a little side note- EA had some people with amazing taste in music selecting the soundtrack to their games from about 04 to 09, FIFA 08 in particular was brilliant.
Naturally, I went straight for their back-catalogue, of which there was only one album, 2004′s Touchy Feely, which was fairly limited in it’s release. Despite this, the album was, and remains, superb. It’s not conventional, but it draws you in on several tracks and doesn’t let you go until the very end. At times I took a step back and thought, what is this I am listening to? It manages to keep you hooked enough to give the next track a go, and the next one, and by the end you want more.
It appeared, however, that that view was not held by enough people for the band to break through. However, EA came along and gave them exposure with a place on a soundtrack, and three new songs were released, one of which I vaguely remember to be on iTunes’ electronic front page for a couple of weeks. Alas, it was not noticed, and nothing else was released.
I followed the band’s myspace (remember that?) for a while and was excited by a new song, Candlemaker Row, and the promise of one new song a month. Those songs did not come, and the band has slid beyond obscurity into nothingness. Shame. Here’s a couple of songs from the above album that weren’t on youtube before (to the best of my limited knowledge).
