Skylab

by Sean CooperSkylab is the combined efforts of U.K. DJ/experimentalist Mat Ducasse, producer Howie B. Bernstein, and Japanese Major Force recording artists Tosh and Kudo, aka Love TKO. Beginning as a post office project between Ducasse and Bernstein (with Ducasse shipping tape after weirded-out tape of obscure samples and tape-loop experiments to the intrepid Bjork/U2 producer), Skylab become one of the more celebrated of the crossover trip-hop/ambient breakbeat set. Wedding Ducasses affectation for 60s experimental jazz, funk, and soul with Bernsteins penchant for making connections and Tosh and Kudos tight, solid hip-hop moorings, the group generated much of the raw material for their LAttitude debut and subsequent EP in the studio (as opposed to the sampler). Fifth member Debbie Sanders interesting, often wordless vocal contributions added novelty and texture. Although all the members released solo material outside of the group, Skylabs shifty, off-beat flavor remained a unique collaborative product. In 1994, Astralwerks released the full-length #1 in America. While Howie B went on to a fertile solo career, the remaining quartet converged again five years later for 1999 (Large as Life and Twice as Natural).