The Monsoon Bassoon were an English independent rock band active between 1995 and 2001, notable for their exceptionally complex and energetic music. During their lifespan, the band won the NME's Single Of The Week award three times (for three consecutive single releases). They were an integral part of the "London math-rock" scene of the late 1990s and had a passionate underground following, particularly inspiring other bands.
Sound
The Monsoon Bassoon's music (largely created by guitarists Kavus Torabi and Dan Chudley) can be described as psychedelic rock or math rock (the band themselves sometimes used the tongue-in-cheek term "lysergic funk"). Their music drew on a variety of other sources including British and American art rock, heavy metal, folk music, avant-garde music, New York minimalism and progressive rock.
Although the results sounded chaotic or confusing to some ears, the music was in fact carefully planned. Bass player Laurie Osbourne has commented "every note was very worked out and there wasn't much repetition."Interview with Laurie Osbourne on RA website, retrieved 2 November 2008 Kavus Torabi asserts "The music was co-written (by me) with Dan Chudley, and although we pretty much knew how we wanted the tunes to go before they were presented to the rest of the group, the songs would always be open to a few arrangement changes when we all worked on them."Kavus Torabi - Guitar & Singing (interview with Kavus Torabi in Subbacultcha webzine, August 2009) - accessed 18 August 2009
The band were all highly skilled and disciplined musicians capable of precise and detailed performances, which enabled them to play highly complex material. Regular features of Monsoon Bassoon songs were male and female harmony vocals, swapping of the lead singer role, woodwind parts, polyrhythmic sections, time changes and unusual scales. At times, all of the band might appear to be playing in different timings, before locking into a crescendo. Another feature of the band was the use of stylistic shifts within songs and sudden changes in direction or mood.
The band cited a broad range of influences including Henry Cow, Cardiacs, Shudder To Think, XTC and Steve Reich. However, Osbourne has commented "we loved... all kinds of experimental rock; but we always really wanted to make pop music, experimental pop music." The band's output was notably melodic, and catchy enough for their singles to receive attention and outright praise.
History
Prehistory (1988–1993)
Kavus Torabi and Dan Chudley (both guitarists and singers) met in their mutual hometown of Plymouth, Devon, UK and first worked together in 1988 in the psychedelic thrash-metal band Die Laughing,Metal Archives - Die Laughing in which the two developed a tightly integrated and interlocking guitar style. After Die Laughing split in 1993, Chudley formed the band Squid Squad in which he played with singing flute player/clarinettist Sarah Measures and drummer Jamie Keddie. Torabi, Chudley, Measures and Keddie (along with bass player Laurie Osbourne) all relocated to Leyton, East London in 1994 and formed The Monsoon Bassoon.
Early days, Redoubtable and In Bold Gardens (1994–1997)
Early gigs and recordings brought the Monsoon Bassoon to the attention of Organ magazine and Org Records, who issued their first release - (the cassette EP Redoubtable) in 1995. The band briefly went into hiatus later that year following the departure of Jamie Keddie to the eccentric Britpop group Octopus. However, he was persuaded to return in early 1996 and the band began a new lease of life.
In 1997, The Monsoon Bassoon began recording material for their debut album, with Tim Smith (Cardiacs) as producer. Several of these tracks were released in early 1998 on a demo cassette called In Bold Gardens which received limited circulation and a handful of reviews. By this time the band were developing a strong reputation on the London underground scene thanks to their powerful live act, now focussed into tighter songs, and had played on concert bills with Nub and Sidi Bou Said.Monsoon Bassoon 1997 live dates page on skippyscage website, retrieved 29 July 2020
The year of breakthrough singles (1998)
Monsoon Bassoon manager John Fowers had now set up Weird Neighbourhood Records in order to issue Monsoon Bassoon recordings. The label's first release was the debut Monsoon Bassoon single, the double A-side Wise Guy/28 Days In Rocket Ship. Much to the band's astonishment, this was awarded Single of the Week in New Musical Express. Laurie Osbourne later recalled "we had a really trendy moment where for some reason the NME started getting into progressive music. There was a writer called Simon Williams who runs Fierce Panda who discovered Coldplay, Super Furry Animals and so on, and he was really into us, so we had a moment of strange trendiness in amidst eight years of terminal untrendiness, you know?"
Kavus Torabi remembers that "it really kick-started an interest in the band. I love that it was completely on our own terms, it doesn't sound like anything else. It's such an improbable song, but it couldn't have been any other way. When it really started to come together in rehearsals there was a total feeling of magic between the five members of the band. I think we couldn't believe we had harnessed a song that good. I hope that doesn't sound too arrogant. It was a really potent time. I think it was one of those rare moments I felt truly alive and in the here and now. I still get a funny knot in my stomach when I hear it."
The next single, In The Iceman's Back Garden, was another NME Single of the Week and was received with similar enthusiasm in the underground press. Reviewing it, Robots And Electronic Brains described the Monsoon Bassoon as "the kind of band that Organ were calling pronk all those years ago: proggy bombast and stylistic excess welded to punk energy, thrill and speed. No two consecutive bars are the same, the total antithesis of bands like Tortoise or Mogwai, there's loads of fiddly bits, a fidgetful beat, tons of influences and an archly British, eccentric theatrical edge... It's a beauteous noise and an education your ears will thank you for."Robots & Electronic Brains review of ‘’In The Iceman's Back Garden’’/’’Wise Guy’’, retrieved 2 November 2008
The third Monsoon Bassoon single, The King Of Evil, was NME Single of the Week once again. Reviewing it, NME's Stevie Chick concluded "Slightly hamstrung by more than a few things, notably the fact that they don't live in Glasgow, they aren't on Digital Hardcore, they look like Club Dog roadies, they are completely and utterly skint and they have the lumpiest band name since Frottage Bunion, the fivesome nevertheless persist in making the most amazing alternative music...the most gorgeous, grotesque, explosive outbursts of noise witnessed since the madder bits of 'Come on Die Young' came round and ruined our woofers. Key words? Psychotic. Lunging. Lithe. Panthers in the back garden. Hair-raising, in every sense of the word."NME review of The King Of Evil, retrieved 2 November 2008
The band rounded off their most successful year to date by supporting their longtime heroes Cardiacs at the Garage, London, on 4 December, followed by a concert with Rothko, Nightnurse and an embryonic Snow Patrol at the Camden Underworld on 15 December and a support slot for The Clint Boon Experience on 17 December at the Bull and Gate, Kentish Town.Monsoon Bassoon 1998 live dates page on skippyscage website, retrieved 29 July 2020
I Dig Your Voodoo (1999)
The Monsoon Bassoon were, by now, at the epicentre of the loosely defined London math-rock scene. Centred around relatively small venues such as the Dublin Castle and Upstairs at the Garage, this featured London-based bands such as Billy Mahonie, Guapo, Rothko, Nub, Delicate AWOL, Geiger Counter (later Foe) and the Shrubbies, plus affiliated acts such as the Oxford-based Nought and developing indie acts such as Seafood.
The band's first (and only) album, I Dig Your Voodoo, arrived in 1999. Like the singles, it was released on Weird Neighbourhood Records. It received reviews in the mainstream press in publications as disparate as The Guardian, Heat, and NME.Mention of I Dig Your Voodoo on Authority page on Omnia Opera homepage, retrieved 2 November 2008 The latter, giving the album eight points out of ten, said "it is with longing arms that we clutch The Monsoon Bassoon close to our heavy bosom. They have come with a malicious intent to bludgeon all musical preconceptions into mush. And they will, ultimately, tug hard on your heartstrings in ways that you won't quite understand. It's all in the delivery. I Dig Your Voodoo... is psychedelic pop that has been hung, drawn and quartered only to be dipped into an acid pickle and served with a liberal helping of punk rock angst... Every spurt of sonic agitation is brimful of intent." Comparing the music to Nomeansno, Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser and Cardiacs, the review concluded that the album was "one fuck-off cosmic rock'n'roll sensation, with scant regard for the songwriting rulebook. Truly, it's a world of unfathomable prog-new-wave wonders. Pop music, then, but not as those in their right mind know it."NME review of I Dig Your Voodoo, retrieved 2 November 2008
The band gigged persistently in and around London during this year, playing once again with Snow Patrol in July..Live review @ Water Rats in New Musical Express, 22 February 1999
Final years (2000 to mid-2001)
Despite the positive response to their album, The Monsoon Bassoon did not get signed by any major labels to enable them to make the next step in scaling up their career. Undeterred, they continued to perform live, and to record and release on Weird Neighbourhood. 2000 saw the release of two seven-inch vinyl split singles, intended as the first two parts of an ongoing collaborative series, in which the band would cover/adapt one piece by a chosen collaborator in and in return would have one of their own pieces covered or adapted in a similar way. Wall of Suss 1 saw the band working with Rothko and Wall Of Suss 2 was a collaboration with Max Tundra.
In mid-2001, The Monsoon Bassoon provided three tracks for the "Summer 2001" box-set release in Day Release Records’ "Four Seasons Singles Club" series (alongside Defeat The Young and The Naysayer). Robots And Electronic Brains commented "Monsoon Bassoon offer up a blast of their patented blueprint of acid-powered sax abuse and corrugated rock. It's Morphine trying some rather less stuporific narcotics. On "God Bless The Monsoon Bassoon" they reprise the Cardiacs-folk of Sidi Bou Said..." Robots And Electronic Brains review of Monsoon Bassoon segment of "Four Seasons Singles Club – Summer 2001’’, retrieved 2 November 2008
Split (late 2001)
Despite an ongoing show of confidence and a loyal fanbase, The Monsoon Bassoon's resources were flagging, and a second departure by Jamie Keddie spelled the end of the band. Laurie Osbourne recalls "we had no money and we didn't get signed — there was this big push to approach a label and get signed and it just didn't happen... After that, (Jamie Keddie) left and after that it was just, well, ‘if one of us leaves...’ We were just such a family unit that we had to split up. We'd been together, and lived together for eight years at that point. He left because he had a kid and a family."
In October 2001, via the skippyscage website, Sarah Measures announced that the band had split up. Her statement said: