Spooky

Not to be mistaken for the New York-based DJ and producer sharing the identical moniker, the London duo Spooky—formed by Duncan Forbes and Charlie May—first entered the studio for William Orbit’s Guerilla imprint in the opening years of the 1990s once Orbit had come across the pair inside a record shop. Their reputation rests chiefly on delivering one of the earliest major statements within London’s progressive house surge; the debut album Gargantuan remains a defining benchmark of that sound through its dense analog textures, lyrical melodic phrasing, and robust rhythmic drive. When the label folded, the pair reemerged as an experimental techno and electro outfit aligned with the Warp and GPR aesthetic, confounding both supporters and critics, yet they sustained momentum via subsequent outings including the single “Schmoo” and the intensely exploratory 1996 successor Found Sound. That record offered a sharply percussive reworking of 1980s electro resting on a stark musique concrète base, reflecting Forbes and May’s stated regard for minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Arvo Pärt together with percussion-centric traditions from gamelan and the Indian raga. Nearly every drum and melodic element was in fact either synthesized from the ground up or captured from everyday sources including sheet metal, flowerpots, and the studio’s own heating unit. Found Sound appeared after three singles issued on the duo’s own Generic label—a subsidiary of A&M, with whom Forbes and May secured an agreement following Guerilla’s closure—and was succeeded by a European tour supporting 808 State plus the double-pack single “Bamboo,” which included a Dave Angel remix alongside a live rendering of the Gargantuan track “Little Bullet.” May subsequently collaborated with trance DJ Sasha, contributing programming to the Xpander EP.