hula: shadowland

Hula were founded in Sheffield in 1981. Three members (Mark Albrow, Alan Fish and Ron Wright) lived with Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire) and Paul Widger (They must be Russians, Clock DVA, The Box) in a villa called Hula Kula. After trying the bass players Alan Watt and Chris Brain (Tense, NOS) Hula recorded the impressive debut album Cut From Inside with Mark Brydon (Chakk, Moloko). Ingredients like cut ups, steady rhythms, and paranoia vocals blended together into a unique white funky sound. Murmur was the band's second album and came out on Red Rhino in 1984. This was also the time of Hula's great singles -- 'Fever Car', 'Get the Habit' and 'Walk on Stalks of Shattered Glass' were all released around that time. Shadowland was published by Red Rhino in 1986 and was a different beast to the previous LPs. The recording was made at a special event: The Sheffield Arts Department commissioned Hula to put together a performance to include certain sound sculptures featured in the Arts Council's touring Noise In Your Eye exhibition. The two long tracks are much more abstract than the songs Hula recorded before and show a more experimental side of this outstanding group. The same year also saw the release of a 12" single named Black Wall Blue. All three tracks are included as bonuses here on this CD. Again, this was remastered by Martin Bowes of Attrition.