Two Lone Swordsmen

After dissolving his Sabres of Paradise project and label, U.K. dance don Andrew Weatherall set up the tripartite Emissions label group and launched his latest, perhaps most prodigious musical venture, Two Lone Swordsmen. A collaboration with Emissions engineer Keith Tenniswood, 2LS was formed in early 1996. The group speaks the same language of warped, downtempo grooves as much previous Sabres work (particularly “Smokebelch” and “Wilmott”), but opts instead for a syntax of minimal electronics and taut, brittle electro-funk for structure and guidance. The group’s first full-length release, 1996′s The Fifth Mission, was a whopping double-CD/triple-LP, both preceded and followed by additional EPs of new material (“Tenth Mission” and “Third Mission”). A few months later, the group issued two additional LP-length releases (both remix albums under the title Swimming Not Skimming, although the CD and LP versions sported different tracks), and by the end of 1996 had racked up no less than a half-dozen remixes (including Slab, Alter Ego, Sneaker Pimps, and David Holmes). The heavy release schedule continued through the rest of the decade, with an assortment of LPs (1998′s Stay Down, 2000′s Tiny Reminders) and mini-LPs recorded via a new deal with Warp. They returned in 2001 with the Further Reminders EP and delivered a remix collection, Peppered with Spastic Magic, and From the Double Gone Chapel, an album inspired by post-punk and electro, in 2004. The relatively rock-oriented Wrong Meetings followed in 2007. ~ Sean Cooper