Monday 26 March 2012

Sense and Senserbility

Like RDF, Senser have a female, bit-part singer who looks like she's in the wrong band.
In fact, when Senser first emerged, they all looked like they were in the wrong band.
True fusion.

As one of the early pioneers of 'nu metal' - although it wasn't called that then, it soon became a term best avoided, harbouring poor connotations due to the likes of Limp Bizkit and Alien Ant Farm - Senser were categorised as 'rap metal' and other clunky, hybridized genre definitions.

This album, their first, captures Senser at their peak, and it was during the festival seasons of 93 and 94 that the band gained most attention, helped by televised performances from Glastonbury and Reading, where moshing occurred on a major scale.

So think Transglobal Underground on amphetamines; Stereo MCs with balls; Beastie Boys with better references (and better accents); Rage Against the Machine much improved; or, imagine if DJ Shadow was kidnapped by a metal band (and a girlfriend) from the early nineties, well, this is the music they'd make once the Stockholm Syndrome had kicked in.

Okay. Bounce up and down, up and down, ad infinitum.

Senser - Stacked Up (1994)

States of Mind
The Key
The Switch
Age of Panic
What's Going On
One Touch One Bounce
Stubborn
Door Game
Peanut Head
Peace
Eject
No Comply
Worth

Excellent cassette rip @320kbs
Gain good Sense here

7 comments:

Sage said...

Saw this band support Alien Sex Fiend at the ULU way back and remember very little about them at all so I'll download it and see if stirs up any memories.

ASF that night were very good and it was superbly hectic down the front, those were the days.

Nik

corbypunk said...

i disagree that senser should be lumped in with rap metal, they grew out of the free festival scene, where rave/hippy/reggae/whatever were overlapping and merging. i see them more in a back to the planet/consolidated frame. and i really don`t see an alien ant farm influence as this was released in 94 yet alien ant farm didnt get together till 1995

roy rocket said...

Fair enough... but they did rap and they used plenty of metal tropes... genre labels often infuriate.... And as I said, 'nu metal becam a term best avoided, due to the likes of Alien Ant Farm', not meaning they were an influence: meaning they were pants; plaguing the whole 'genre' (bit like MCR buggering up any band's association with emo). roy

corbypunk said...

sorry bout leaving that comment, bit preachy! was a bit pissed and in a bead mood!

roy rocket said...

S'alright, nothing wrong with opinions - cripes, I'm opinionated enough... beer goggles or not. ; ) roy

Clobyn said...

Bumped into them in '94 at a festival, knowing nothing about them beforehand. Their performance was awesome, still have good memories of that gig. Immediately after the festival (and recovery stage) I went out to by Stacked Up and I still love that album. Their later work never really managed to keep my attention though.

Anonymous said...

"You won't pull the wool over my eyes you wool pulla"