Air Cuba, previously known as Cuba, were a British

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

duo formed by Christopher Andrews and Ashley Bates. They released two singles and an album, ''Leap of Faith'', on

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD af ...

in 1998 and 1999. Their sound demonstrated a range of electronic, pop, and rock influences, and they were frequently compared with

Primal Scream Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie. The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums) ...

Background

The group was formed as Cuba in 1998 by Christopher Andrews and Ashley Bates, formerly the drummer of Chapterhouse. Originally from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Andrews named the band "Cuba" in honour of his mother's birthplace. The group self-financed two singles, "Havana" and "Fiery Cross", which were released by

. The following year they changed their name to Air Cuba and released their only album, ''

Leap of Faith A leap of faith, in its most commonly used meaning, is the act of believing in or accepting something outside the boundaries of reason. Overview The phrase is commonly attributed to Søren Kierkegaard; however, he never used the term, as he ...

''. During the 1990s, Andrews was married to

Slowdive Slowdive is a British rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Rachel Goswell on vocals and guitar, Neil Halstead on vocals and guitar, Christian Savill on guitar, Nick Chaplin on bass and Simon Scott on drum ...

vocalist/guitarist

Rachel Goswell Rachel Ann Goswell (born 16 May 1971) is an English singer-songwriter and musician who rose to prominence as vocalist and guitarist of the shoegazing, shoegaze band Slowdive, which formed in 1989. Goswell, along with Neil Halstead, Ian McCutch ...

(their marriage dissolved in 2000). She performed on some of the band's recordings, and Cuba also collaborated with

Angie Brown Angie Brown (born 13 June 1963) is a British singer and songwriter from Brixton, South London. She is a co-artist on the hit single " I'm Gonna Get You" (1992) by Bizarre Inc and performed on a number of recordings with them as lead vocalist in ...

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, and Mau (alias of Michael Giffts), formerly of

Earthling Earthling or Earthlings may refer to: Film and television * ''Earthling'' (film), a 2010 sci-fi film * ''Earthlings'' (film), a 2005 animal rights documentary * ''The Earthling'', a 1980 drama film * "Earthling" (''Fringe''), a 2009 TV episode ...

Recordings

The group's first single release, "Cross the Line," was called "pretty appealing" in a ''

Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specific ...

'' review, which recommended Cuba as "a blistering cure for the summertime blues." Their sole full-length studio album on 4AD, ''Leap of Faith'', was described as an "updated

Happy Mondays Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), his brother Paul Ryder ( bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joined t ...

with the

ecstasy Ecstasy may refer to: * Ecstasy (emotion), a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness * Religious ecstasy, a state of consciousness, visions or absolute euphoria * Ecstasy (philosophy), to be or stand outside o ...

-induced excesses" by ''

Chart Magazine ''Chart Attack'' was a Canadian online music publication. Formerly a monthly print magazine called ''Chart'', it was published from 1991 to 2009. While the web version appears to be available online, the domain is now used as a popular media outle ...

''.

Discography

Albums

* ''Leap of Faith'' (4AD CAD9014, 13 September 1999) *# "Cross the Line" (featuring Mau) *# "Devil's Rock" *# "Black Island" (featuring

) *# "King of Kelty" *# "Starshine" (featuring

) *# "Peak Flow" *# "Winter Hill" (featuring

) *# "Havana" (featuring Mau) *# "Hail Mary" *# "Urban Light" *# "Foxy's Den" *# "Fiery Cross"

Singles

* "Urban Light" (4AD TAD8010, 11 May 1998) *# "Urban Light" (7:00 PM) *# "Urban Light" (12:00 AM) * "Cross the Line" (4AD BAD8012, 27 July 1998) *# "Cross the Line" *# "Raise the Alarm" *# "Foxy's Den" * "Havana" (4AD BAD8019, 30 November 1998) *# "Havana" *# "Leap of Faith" *# "Havana" (Daniel Aufbäger Remix) * "Black Island" (4AD BAD9016, 30 August 1999) *# "Black Island" *# "Isla Negra" *# "Black Island" (

Groove Armada Groove Armada are an English electronic music duo, composed of Andy Cato and Tom Findlay. They achieved chart success with their singles "At the River", "I See You Baby" and "Superstylin'". The duo have released nine studio albums, four of whic ...

's Desert Island Disc) * "Starshine" (4AD BAD9019, 1 November 1999) *# "Starshine" (Edit) *# "White Shadow" *# "Starshine" (

Rae and Christian Rae & Christian are an English production duo, consisting of Mark Rae and Steve Christian. They are also founders of the Grand Central Records label. History In 1995, Mark Rae fulfilled a long-term dream by founding Grand Central Records in Ma ...

Remix)

References

Specific

General

* Charlie Porter, "Singled Out - Music", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' (London, England), 25 July 1998, Sec. features, pg. 12. * "Weekly Reviews of New Releases", ''

Chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

'', 7 September 1999.

External links

*
Cuba on 4AD's websiteCuba fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Air Cuba English electronic music duos Big beat groups Musical groups established in 1998 English electronic rock musical groups 1998 establishments in the United Kingdom