Faithless

Before electronic act Faithless disbanded in 2011, I was fortunate enough to witness their full live spectacle on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2010. It was a massive celebration of the 20+ year career, packed with all their hits and backed up with a full live band and plush production. Faithless’ influence on UK electronic music is undeniable –Sister Bliss’ compositions, Rollo’s production and Maxi Jazz’ spoken word vocals have been plagiarised ever since they broke out onto the dance scene in the mid-to-late ‘90s. Seeing their trance-laced trip-hop and club music brought to life via a live band, and seeing and hearing the enigmatic Maxi Jazz in the flesh, was one of the highlights of that whole summer. They played all the favourites: from ‘God Is A DJ’ to ‘Insomnia’ to ‘We Come 1’. For those that never managed to catch Faithless live before they retired – fear not, as Maxi Jazz and Sister Bliss still sporadically perform together in a stripped down incarnation known as The Faithless PA and DJ 'Sound System'. Last year I caught this project as they headlined Secret Garden Party (2011), and although their sets lean more towards traditional house and techno music than the Faithless we know and love, they still drop all their hits. That ‘Sound System’ set was proof enough that Maxi Jazz’ stage persona and vocals remain unsurpassed.

There’s certain bands from the Madchester scene who never quite burnt out in the way that some of the more prominent acts did; Happy Mondays, of course, collapsed in comical fashion under the weight of eye-watering levels of drug use and, if you’re to believe the historically-dubious Tony Wilson biopic 24 Hour Party People, threats to the Factory boss at gunpoint, whilst the wheels also came off in pretty spectacular fashion for The Stone Roses in the mid-nineties after the half-baked Second Coming flopped. 808 State, though, always had enough cult appeal to remain a going concern; they were formed out of the dance-oriented Manchester record store Eastern Bloc (which still exists today, albeit on different premises) and soon set about bringing house and electro sounds to the clubbers of Manchester, particularly at the Hacienda. They’ve had an impressive legacy in the years since, too, with Aphex Twin just one of a host of contemporary acts to credit 808 State with having influenced their career. They haven’t released an album since Outpost Transmission in 2003 - which featured Guy Garvey of Elbow - but still play live sets across the country to crowds made up partly of nostalgists and partly of house and dance aficionados, confirming their place in British dance music history.