Black Star Liner were formed in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in 1994, by Choque Hosein, Tom Salmon, and Chris Harrop. Their music consisted of a mix of Asian music (

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

and

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

and dub.

History

They formed Soundclash Records to release their initial

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

- "Smoke the Prophets" EP, and "High Turkish Influence". After receiving the single of the week award in the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

for "Smoke the Prophets", they recorded three

Peel Sessions John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

, the first of which was broadcast in April 1995. The Peel session enabled them to secure a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with EXP, which was run b
Graham Brown-Martin
with A&R by

Feargal Sharkey Seán Feargal Sharkey (born 13 August 1958) is a singer from Northern Ireland most widely known as the lead vocalist of punk band The Undertones in the 1970s and 1980s, and for solo works in the 1980s and 1990s. His 1985 solo single "A Good H ...

from

The Undertones The Undertones are a rock band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974. From 1975 to 1983, the Undertones consisted of Feargal Sharkey (vocals), John O'Neill (rhythm guitar, vocals), Damian O'Neill (lead guitar, vocals), Michael Bradley ...

and Richard Norris from

The Grid The Grid is an English electronic dance group, consisting of David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell) and Richard Norris, with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Texas Cowboys", "Crystal Cle ...

. Their debut

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 ...

, ''Yemen Cutta Connection'' was released in September 1996, with a press launch on

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

involving

Jimmy Cauty James Francis Cauty (born 19 December 1956), also known as Rockman Rock, is an English artist and musician, best known as one-half of the duo The KLF, co-founder of The Orb and as the man who burnt £1 million. He is married to artist and mu ...

and

Bill Drummond William Ernest Drummond (born 29 April 1953) is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was a co-founder of the late-1980s avant-garde pop group the KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with wh ...

from

The KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band formed in London in 1987. Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing ...

. The album received critical praise, including album of the week in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. After the demise of EXP, Rob Dickens from

WEA The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

signed Black Star Liner, and they recorded their second album ''Bengali Bantam Youth Experience'', which featured the single "Superfly and Bindi". Again receiving substantial critical acclaim, the album was also nominated for the 1999

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

. and their live act was also praised. Labelled as part of the Asian Underground, they worked with Tjinder Singh's

Cornershop Cornershop are a British indie rock band best known for their single "Brimful of Asha", originally released in 1997 and, in a remixed version, topping the UK chart in 1998. The band was formed in 1991 by Wolverhampton-born Tjinder Singh (singe ...

and are featured in the book, '' Brimful of Asia''.

Discography

*"Smoke The Prophets" EP (12") Soundclash 1994 *"High Turkish Influence" (12") Soundclash 1995 *"The Jaws" EP (10") EXP Recordings 1995 *"Haláal Rock" EP (CD, EP) EXP Recordings 1996 *"Haláal Rock" EP (12") EXP Recordings 1996 *"Harmon Session Special XI" (12") EXP Recordings 1996 *''Yemen Cutta Connection'' (LP) EXP Recordings 1996 *''Yemen Cutta Connection'' (CD) EXP Recordings 1996 *"Rock Freak (CD, Maxi)" WEA International Inc. 1997 *"Rock Freak EP (12")" Warner Music UK Ltd. 1997 *"Superfly And Bindi (CD, Maxi)" WEA International Inc. 1998 *"Superfly And Bindi (12", Promo)" WEA International Inc. 1998 *"Superfly And Bindi (12")" Warner Music UK Ltd. 1998 * ''Bengali Bantam Youth Experience!'' (CD) Warner Music UK Ltd. 1999 *"Twelve Inch Confrontation Mix" (CD) Echo Beach 2000 *"Yemen Cutta Connection" (CD) Echo Beach 2001

References

{{Authority control British reggae musical groups British techno music groups English house music groups Musical groups established in 1994 Musical groups disestablished in 2001 1994 establishments in England