Loud Bomb

Loud Bomb was less of a band and more of an expensive, 48-channel inside joke orchestrated by the staff at London’s Townhouse Studios. In 2002, the guys behind the glass—engineers and house technicians—decided to occupy the downtime between major sessions by crafting a record that sounded like a fever dream of mid-90s indie-rock. They weren't hunting for a hit; they were playing with the room’s massive SSL board and the kind of high-end outboard gear that indie bands of the era usually couldn't afford. What came out was ‘Coming Down,’ a project that essentially functioned as a tribute to the aesthetics of the 4AD and Creation rosters. It’s the sound of professionals trying to act like amateurs but failing because they were too good at mic placement and tape saturation. They dropped two releases through the short-lived Highwater label and then vanished back into the control room to mix other people's records. It was a blink-and-you-miss-it moment of studio staff reclamation.

Around the web

• MusicBrainz