Rikki Turner has a past. He is a former Paris Angel, a veteran of Manchester bands The New Southern Electrikk and The Hurt and more recently San Pedro Collective. He has been working on a project recently that he says will be his last, that once it is done he will retire from music. Rikki always knows who to work with. His previous groups seen him write and play with among others Wags (a Paris Angel who went on to Black Grape), Suddi Raval (of Hardcore Uproar fame), Simon Wolstencroft (The Fall, pre- Stone Roses Stone Roses).
His latest and last musical outlet is Unknown Territories, a collective based in Manchester's Spirit Studios, with Martin McLaren and bringing ex- Inspiral Carpet Tom Hingley on board along with Sean Crossey and Esther Maylor (from Heavy Salad) and with production courtesy of Callum Croston and Lewis Jones. Rikki wears his heart on his sleeve and has been sending me snippets of the forthcoming album for some time, always with the promise that it is for Isaac. The first fruits of Unknown Territories came out yesterday, a single called Broken...
Broken is heavy duty 21st century music, the lead vocals of Esther front and centre, underpinned by deep electronic bass and the tsk tsk tsk tsk of hi hats, skittish bleeps and crunching drums. There's more to follow with an album forthcoming featuring both singers and spoken word pieces, and a one off gig at The Eagle Inn, Salford, in December.
Back in 1990 Paris Angels caught the wave of interest in Manchester bands following the explosion of 1988/ 89. The group were from east Manchester, the unfashionable side of the city, out in Guide Bridge and Ashton- under- Lyne. Regulars at The Hacienda and the Boardwalk they were soaking the influences that were in the air- 60s guitars, sequencers, dance rhythms, New Order's late 80s marriage of all those- kaleidoscopic sounds that saw them sign to Sheer Joy and release three singles, All On You (Perfume), Scope and I Understand, before they signed to Virgin for the album Sundew. 1990's All On You (Perfume) is the one everyone talks about (and rightly so) but Scope, released the same year, can also hold its own, both at the time and now, thirty three years later.
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