Loop - Arc-Lite (Radar)

Loop are one of those favourite bands that are among my favourite bands in principle, and forever, but that I rarely listen to anymore. Yet I love Loop, and if I had to list my 10 favourite bands, Loop would be in there. I love their droney humourlessness. I love their refusal to write verse-chorus-verse songs. I love that they're still obscure despite being seminal. I love that Loop backwards spells qooL. How qooL is that? I used to own a complete set of Loop CDs, including that red limited edition Italian bootleg, but I sold them all for a pittance when I moved away to grad school in Victoria, BC, in 1995. I have regretted this sale frequently and completely, and have been slowly re-amassing my Loop collection. I've found used copies of Heaven's End (1987), The World in Your Eyes (1987), and A Gilded Eternity (1990). I have Wolf Flow (1991) on cassette (whoo!). And some kind soul on the now-defunct Shoegazer's Dream collective posted the Italian bootleg CD so I have that in mp3 form now too. I'm still missing Duel (1992) and, most sadly, I still lack a copy of my very favourite Loop album: Fade Out (1988). A complete discography of loop can be found here. I passed up a vinyl copy of Fade Out on my otherwise lovely honeymoon in San Fran in 2002. I found it at Amoeba Records (Haight-Asbury location), and it was only $10, but we were trying to travel light and USB turntables hadn't been invented yet, so I passed it up in the hopes that I'd stumble across it in CD form at some point. Never did. Damn! If anyone out there could post the Fade Out album and provide a link to it in the comments section, I'd be grateful. I won't hold my breath. For now, here's a so-so Loop song from The Gilded Eternity era. "Arc-Lite (Radar)" is from the 12" single released on Situation Two Records in 1989. The single included the album version, "Arc-Lite (Sonar)", and a 10 minute yawn called "Sunburst" that doesn't blow me away, cf. my favourite Loop songs like Burning Prisma, Fade Out, and Brittle Head Girl. Unfortunately, this 12" is the only Loop I have on vinyl, so you'll have to seek out some better Loop stuff elsewhere.

Side A - Loop - Arc-Lite (Radar) [3 stars mp3]