''Beat'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American band

Bowery Electric Bowery Electric was an American post-rock band, formed by Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener in 1993. History Formed by Lawrence Chandler and Martha Schwendener in late 1993, Bowery Electric played their first show in New York City in Jan ...

. It was released on November 12, 1996 by Kranky. The cover art is taken from Catherine Opies’ Untitled #27, the photos were taken somewhere near Corona Del Mar Fwy, a freeway located in

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, California.

Recording

''Beat'' was recorded and co-produced by Bowery Electric and

Rich Costey Rich may refer to: Common uses * Rich, an entity possessing wealth * Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling ** Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting Places United States * Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated commun ...

at Studio .45 in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

in June 1996. Drummer Wayne Magruder contributed to four of the ten tracks.

Music

Lawrence Chandler Lawrence Chandler is an American composer, musician, producer and artist living in London. He is best known for his work as a founding member of the band Bowery Electric. Biography Following Bowery Electric's final tour in 2000 Chandler took a ...

of Bowery Electric told ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...

'' "''Beat'' is the beginning of us learning our way around a proper sampler and software which allows us to work with samples on the computer. We can sample ourselves, manipulate sounds, create our own beats and basically work with fewer restrictions."

Release and promotion

''Beat'' was released on November 12, 1996 by Kranky.

Beggars Banquet Records Beggars Banquet Records is a British independent record label. Beggars Banquet started as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin and is part of the Beggars Group of labels. History In 1977, spurred by the prevailing DI ...

licensed ''Beat'' for release in the United Kingdom and Europe. Two singles, "Without Stopping" and "Coming Down", were released from the album. Bowery Electric toured the United Kingdom and North America following the album's release. Bowery Electric co-headlined the Music in the Anchorage festival with

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogw ...

in New York on June 20, 1997. They performed in London on July 16, 1997 and on The Think Stage at The Phoenix Festival. Reviewing a concert during the tour, ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' noted "for two people to be able to create such a huge, rolling epic sound is surprising; what really hits hard is just how huge it can be, how the inarguable and pulverising beauty of BE's sound simply forces a slacked out crowd into its swell." A

John Peel Session John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

was recorded at

Maida Vale Studios Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London. It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1, ...

in London on July 20, 1997 and broadcast on

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1 August 7, 1997. The album was reissued in the United States by Kranky on November 18, 2016.

Reception

''Melody Maker'' named the album the "rock LP of the year", and ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

'' praised the album as "genre-defining".

Neil Strauss Neil Darrow Strauss, also known by the pen names Style and Chris Powles, is an American author, journalist and ghostwriter. He is best known for his book '' The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists'', in which he describes his ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' rated it in his 1997 selection of albums "that haven't received much attention but are worth the extra time it takes to hunt for them". In a 2016 review of the album's reissue, ''The Wire'' wrote: "This music hasn't aged a bit. ... tremains an unexplored road to a wondrous promontory only Bowery Electric have ever reached".

Track listing

"Low Density" is included in the 2016 repress.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the ''Beat'' sleeve. * Martha Schwendener – bass, keyboards, vocals *

– guitar, keyboards, programming, vocals *

– production * Bowery Electric – production * Wayne Magruder – drums (on tracks 2, 7, 8, 9) *

Catherine Opie Catherine Sue Opie (born 1961) is an American fine-art photographer and educator. She lives and works in Los Angeles, as a professor of photography at University of California at Los Angeles. Opie studies the connections between mainstream and i ...

– photography ("Untitled No 27" from her Freeway Series)

References

{{Authority control 1996 albums Bowery Electric albums Kranky albums Beggars Banquet Records albums Albums produced by Rich Costey