Moloko

For other uses, see Moloko (disambiguation).

Moloko
Photo shoot in 2003. Left to right: Mark Brydon and Róisín Murphy
Background information
Origin	Sheffield, England
Genres	Electronic dance Trip-hop Nu-Jazz
Years active	1995–2006
Labels	Echo Records Warner Bros. Records
Past members
Róisín Murphy Mark Brydon

Moloko ( /məˈloʊkoʊ/) were an Anglo-Irish electronic/pop duo consisting of Róisín Murphy from Wicklow, Ireland and Mark Brydon, from Sunderland, England.

Origin of band name

The band's name originates from the Nadsat slang in the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, in which it means "milk" (from the Russian word for milk, молоко), actually the name of a milk drink that Alex and his "droogs" consume mixed with "drencrom".

History of band

Murphy, born in Arklow, Ireland, had no prior professional experience as a singer when Moloko was formed. Brydon, on the other hand, already had an extensive curriculum vitae within the dance music community as a remixer and member of Chakk, Krush and Cloud 9^{[disambiguation needed ]}. They met at a party in Sheffield, England, when Murphy approached Brydon using the chat-up line, "Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body!" This line would later become the title of their debut album, recorded while the pair were dating.^[1]

The first two albums Do You Like My Tight Sweater? and I Am Not a Doctor gained notice in the underground dance scene. The band broke into the mainstream when "Sing It Back", an album track from I Am Not A Doctor, was remixed by house music producer Boris Dlugosch. The track was a massive hit in Ibiza, and this remixed version broke into the top-five in both the Irish Singles Charts, and the UK singles chart in 1999, and also, helped by a psychedelic video featuring Murphy in a very short metallic "flapper" dress and cap. "Sing It Back" has featured on over 100 music compilations.^[2]

In January and February 1999, Moloko supported Garbage on their Version 2.0 tour. This was not a successful liaison with the Garbage crowd particularly unwelcoming at the Wembley Arena date.

In 2000 Moloko started touring as a full band along with percussionist Paul Slowley, keyboardist Eddie Stevens, and guitarist Dave Cooke.

The band also had chart success with "The Time Is Now", the first single from the third album, Things to Make and Do. This album had relied less on the left field beats of the previous albums, and featured more organic instrumentation as well as musically more multifaceted arrangements by Eddie Stevens.

Murphy and Brydon ended their relationship in 2001. After their breakup, they recorded and released their fourth studio album, Statues. Statues continued a segue into more traditional instrumentation, along with electronica elements from their earlier releases. Statues incorporated the theme of the couple's split: all of the songs deal with a troubled and/or ending romance.

In 2004 Moloko released a live DVD, 11,000 Clicks, recorded on stage at the Brixton Academy, England. It contained many of their well known songs including "Indigo", "Sing It Back", and "The Time Is Now".

After concluding the tour supporting Statues, Moloko mutually parted ways, with Murphy launching a solo career. However, in 2006 Murphy and Brydon, along with long-time Moloko guitarist Cooke, played a select number of acoustic radio performances to promote the Moloko best of album Catalogue. While both currently pursue projects outside of Moloko and state that there are no plans for Moloko at the moment, Murphy has been keen to stress that the group are not necessarily defunct and that she has no interest in "burying" the project.^[3]

Róisín Murphy completed work on her second solo album Overpowered in 2007, released in October of the same year, while Mark Brydon is working on a number of smaller projects in his own studio.

Discography

Albums Year Title Chart positions Certifications (sales thresholds) UK[4] AUT[5] BEL[6] FIN[7] NL[8] SWI[9] 1995 Do You Like My Tight Sweater? Released: November 1995 Label: Echo 92 - - - - - 1998 I Am Not a Doctor Released: 24 August 1998 Label: Echo 64 30 - - - 45 2000 Things to Make and Do Released: 31 October 2000 Label: Echo 3 21 6 26 66 25 BPI: Platinum[10] 2002 Statues Released: 8 October 2002 Label: Echo 18 19 1 12 28 26 BPI: Silver[11] IFPI: Gold "-" denotes releases that did not chart. Remixes and compilations [12] Year Title Chart positions UK[4][13] NL BEL 2001 All Back to the Mine Released: 2 October 2001 Label: Echo 149 - 41 2006 Catalogue Released: 17 July 2006 Label: Echo 82 65 10 Live albums [14] Year Title Chart positions BEL 2004 11,000 Clicks 9 Singles Year Title Peak chart positions Certifications (sales thresholds) Album UK AUS BE (FL) BE (WA) GER IRL ITA NLD SWI 1995 "Where Is the What If the What Is in Why?" — — — — — — — — — Do You Like My Tight Sweater? "The Moloko EP" — — — — — — — — — 1996 "Dominoid" 65 — — — — — — — — "Fun for Me" 36 — — — — — — — — "Day for Night" — — — — — — — — — 1998 "The Flipside" 53 — — — — — — — — I Am Not a Doctor "Sing It Back" 45 — — — — — — — — 1999 "Sing It Back (remix)" 4 20 31 26 47 12 35 24 18 UK: Silver[13] 2000 "The Time Is Now" 2 36 15 43 49 10 30 46 41 UK: Silver[13] Things to Make and Do "Pure Pleasure Seeker" 21 — 65 — — — 48 — — "Indigo" 51 — 66 — — — — — — 2003 "Familiar Feeling" 10 46 29 47 72 26 38 100 84 Statues "Forever More" 17 — 26 50 96 — — 77 — "Cannot Contain This" 97 — 53 — — — — — — 2005 "A Style Suite (Farolfi & Gambafreaks vs. Moloko)" — — — — — — — — — non-album release "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country. Awards and honors "Best International Live Act" - Belgian TMF Awards 2004 Moloko in other media Moloko's music has appeared in several video games: "Sing It Back (Can 7 Supermarket Mix)" appeared in the Konami music simulation games Beatmania (European PlayStation version) and Beatmania APPEND GOTTAMIX 2 ~Going Global~. "Sing it Back" has appeared in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and SCEE's Eye Toy: Play. "Familiar Feeling" is one of the songs in the Konami dance simulation game Dancing Stage Fusion. "Fun for Me" appears in the racing game "Dirt 3". The song "The Time is Now" is also featured in the Ford Focus adverts for Sky Sports News in the UK as well as the channel's flagship live Premiership football programme Ford Super Sunday, since 2004. In 2009 it was used for the Australian advertisement for the updated BMW 3-Series range. The song "The Time is Now" was performed by the Jabbawockeez and it was also imitated for their final performance "The Red Pill" on the show Americas Best Dance Crew. The song "Fun for Me" was featured in the motion picture Batman & Robin, and is on the soundtrack to that film as well. It was also utilised in the advertisements for Dharma and Greg in syndication on American television featuring Jenna Elfman as Dharma, one of the main characters, dancing to the song. The Only Ones from the Statues album was featured on the soundtrack to the motion picture "Johnny English". Indigo was featured in the movie "Mystery Men". The Time is Now was featured also in the "Sex and the City" soundtrack and in the British television drama "Cold Feet". The song Day For Night was a part of Chris Morris' BBC Blue Jam radio show and Jam (TV series) television show. The album version of Sing It Back was featured in the 2010 feature film Repo Men.[15] The songs The Time Is Now and Sing It Back were performed by Marta (Gabriela Barros) and Lourenço (David Carreira), the main characters of the Portuguese soap opera Morangos com Açúcar (8ª serie) - Agarra o Teu Futuro. The two songs are in the compilation Morangos com Açúcar - Escola de Talentos Vol.3, tracks 2 and 17. See also List of number-one dance hits (United States) List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart References ^ World's Fair: Moloko ^ Moloko - Catalogue ^ http://www.roisinmurphy.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=714 ^ a b "UK chart positions". zobbel.de. http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_M.HTM. Retrieved 16 December 2008.  ^ "Austrian album chart positions". austriancharts.com. http://www.austriancharts.com/search.asp?cat=a&search=Moloko. Retrieved 16 December 2008.  ^ "Belgian chart positions". ultratop.be. http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Moloko. Retrieved 16 December 2008.  ^ "Finnish album chart positions". finnishcharts.com. http://finnishcharts.com/search.asp?cat=a&search=Moloko. Retrieved 16 December 2008.  ^ "Dutch album chart positions". dutchcharts.nl. http://dutchcharts.nl/search.asp?cat=a&cat2=s&search=Moloko. Retrieved 16 December 2008.  ^ "Swiss album chart positions". hitparade.ch. http://hitparade.ch/search.asp?cat=a&search=Moloko. Retrieved 16 December 2008.  ^ "Things to Make and Do British sales certification". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/platinum/platinumright.asp?rq=search_plat&r_id=29112. Retrieved 16 December 2008. [dead link] ^ "Statues British sales certification". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/platinum/platinumright.asp?rq=search_plat&r_id=30789. Retrieved 16 July 2008. [dead link] ^ ultratop.be - Moloko - Catalogue ^ a b c http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_M.HTM ^ ultratop.be - ULTRATOP BELGIAN CHARTS ^ http://www.moviefone.ca/2010/03/22/repo-men-soundtrack/ External links Official Róisín Murphy website