Colourbox • The Moon is Blue  4AD Records (1985)

4AD three piece group, Colourbox consisted of two brothers - Martyn and Steve Young - and the vocal talents of Lorita Grahame. Influenced by scratch/rap records from New York and spaghetti westerns from their TV set, Martyn and Steven explored the possibilities of the recording studio with Lorita adding her classy vocals to the group’s debut album “Colourbox”.

The result is a fresh, yet familiar mix of pop styles. Colourbox were known for their willingness to explore new ideas and the ability to charge off in all directions at once. They were a group confident that their records can and do stand on their own.

Colourbox released only one proper album, 1985’s self-titled “Colourbox.” In 1987, 4AD records suggested that Martyn and Steven team up with AR Kane, another group on the label. They also brought in scratch master CJ Mackintosh and DJ Dave Dorrell and produced the underground dance classic “Pump Up The Volume” (1987) under the name M|A|R|R|S, which featured an urban flavored house beat and revolutionary scratching and sample-dropping. It was a breakthrough effort heralding sampling’s gradual absorption from hip hop into dance music and ultimately the pop mainstream and it soon topped the British charts (and shot into the top 10 of other countries as well), the first 4AD release to accomplish the feat. 

After “Pump Up The Volume”, Colourbox disappeared. Aside from Lorita Grahame showing up on a couple random dance tracks and Martyn producing a few remixes in the early 90s, the members of Colourbox have not been heard from since apart from the 2001 compilation “Best Of 82/87”, compiled by the band themselves.

The Young brothers also collaborated with 4AD’s This Mortal Coil while Lorita Grahame joined Love Child Orchestra and Ian Robbins has been active in music, touring with Modern English in 1996 among other projects. 

Info from: http://www.fedge.net/colourbox/home.html

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