Seven Inches of Heaven: Ultrasound - Floodlit World

Some bands seem destined to be short lived and/or forgotten. Ultrasound then; forgettable name, only one unsuccessful album, and always slightly too odd to make them more than a shortlived cult phenomenon in the same British indie circles infested by the Mansuns (YAY!) and King Adoras (BOO!) of the world. Fronted by the majestic Andrew "Tiny" Wood, they were a five peice blend of indie, glam and prog that for a short period between 1996 or 1997 and 1999 were one of the most exciting fixtures on the post-Britpop scene (which was a far more fun and varied one than mainstream critics would ever have you believe: fuck them). Like many bands at that time their debut single, Same Band, was released by England's legendary Fierce Panda Records, and soon a small bidding war saw them signed to Nude Records, also of course home to Suede, Black Box Recorder and, um, Geneva.

However after a run of singles of varied brilliance (including Best Wishes, I'll Show You Mine and the tremendous Stay Young), the band took an inexplicable 12 months out of the limelight to produce their debut album. That album, the interesting but definitely bloated and definitely overproduced Everything Picture, was a triple length prog/glam epic that sold very few copies and gained pretty bad reviews. Tours were cancelled, tensions mounted and soon after the band split up. Which is a damn bloody annoying shame, because when they were good, they were wonderful. You can get a little more info on them at Wikipedia, or if you like what you hear Amazon marketplaces has the album and singles for rather cheap prices.

This is my favourite of the band's singles, 1999's Floodlit World along with its bside. Enjoy!

Ultrasound - Floodlit World
Ultrasound - Death of Drag Racer