This UK electronic duo proved popular in the independent UK charts of the late 80s, and with critics who saw in them a brave, unconventional approach to music. Alex Ayuli and Rudi Tambala, who both hailed from the east end of London, consistently shunned the press that so venerated them. Despite this, Ayuli claimed to be the advertising copywriter who dreamt up the idea of using This Mortal Coil's "Song To The Siren" as the soundtrack to the Thompson travel group's Freestyle Holiday advertisement. The band's first recording was "When You're Sad" on One Little Indian Records, followed by the impressive Lolita EP for 4AD Records, sympathetically produced by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. Later they collaborated with Colourbox for the M.A.R.R.S. one-off single, "Pump Up The Volume", which topped the UK charts. 69 became the first long-player for Rough Trade Records in 1988, making a hat trick of prestigious independent labels who employed their services.
More importantly, it and the subsequent i brought about a huge breakthrough, a new pop animal forged from material components including Miles Davis, the Cocteau Twins and Robert Wyatt. Veering between riff onslaughts and open, quasi-ambient spaces, both albums offered an aural experience totally unique at that time. A hiatus prefaced Americana, which compiled tracks from their first two albums along with new material. It was released on David Byrne's Luka Bop label. After a five-year gap the duo re-emerged in 1994 with their final album, New Clear Child, which was again radically different to everything that had preceded it. This time there was little of the previous abrasiveness to temper the spaced-out sequences, with the lyrics built on an unconvincing brand of new-age mysticism. Despite this, it maintained AR Kane's proud tradition of sounding unequivocally different to anything else on offer. Tambala subsequently released two ambient recordings as Sufi with his sister Maggie.
