Amp is an English electronic space rock band formed in London by Richard F. Walker (also known as Richard Amp) in 1992, after collaborating with David Pearce (Flying Saucer Attack) on The Secret Garden and the Distance projects. Amp recorded the audio cassette/short story Green Sky Blue Tree with Ray Dickaty (subsequently a member of Moonshake and Spiritualized, amongst others), while Walker was studying at the Royal College of Art in 1992. After a two year break, Amp resurfaced with French vocalist Karine Charff, Bristol experimentalists Matt Elliott (Flying Saucer Attack and later The Third Eye Foundation) and Matt Jones (Crescent) on board. MC Strong in 'The Great Indie Discography' described Amp as: "Occupying musical territory somewhere between shoegazing and the Bristol 'Trip Hop' sound, AMP had created a work of sweeping soundscapes, echoing ambience and waves of feedback."
Jones and Elliott left to pursue their own projects by 1997. Since then, Amp has centered around Charff and Walker plus a succession of collaborators, including:
- Guy Cooper and Gareth Mitchell of The Secret Garden, who worked with Amp on Astralmoonbeamprojections (1997)
- Robert Hampson (Loop/Main), who worked as producer on Stenorette (1998)
- Olivier Gauthier, on Stenorette and L'Amour Invisible (2001)
- Jan Zert, on L'Amour Invisible (2001)
- Marc Challans on US (2005)
- Ray Dickaty, on Green Sky Blue Tree (1992), US (2005), Transmissions (Phase 1) (2005), All Of Yesterday Tomorrow (2007)
- Donald Ross Skinner (a collaborator of Julian Cope and former member of Baba Looey), on US (2005), Motus (2008), Oetinger Villa (2009), Outposts (2011)
Richard has also released solo records, as Richard Amp and Amp Studio.
Some review quotes for 'All Of Yesterday Tomorrow'
“For many, this writer included, the loose collective that birthed Flying Saucer Attack, Crescent, Third Eye Foundation, Movietone and Amp offered a window onto a new world of possibilities informed by a quietly confident reimagining of rock history... As this excellent three disc collection of rarities illustrates, the music instigated by Richard F Walker under the guise of Amp epitomises this movement's preoccupations and preferences.” “Little of the material here sounds dated, and what does is affectingly so, like a faded childhood photograph or a half-remembered TV theme. For the most part, Amp's cavernous drones and unanchored plaints are disarmingly present in their refreshing lack of affectation or calculation. It's a pleasure to make their acquaintance once again.”
--Joseph Stannard– The Wire
“A mind-expanding 3 CD set... the music does just what its creator intended.” “Some of the tracks featuring vocalist Karine Charff err towards conventional song structures while the looped and treated field recordings of 'Wild Wine Gaze' churn away like a vast weather system. 'When You Have Love' is quintessential Amp, with Satie-like piano ceding to a billowing blur of electronics and unrecognisable sounds, flecked with fragments of melody.” Mike Barnes– Mojo
“This triple CD survey of Amp's work from 1992 to the present is especially valuable.” “Richard Amp started out at the tail end of the UK shoegazing movement but heard in sequence like this, his music distils the scene's most appealing elements. It's surprisingly diverse: from the brooding isolationism of 'Lutin' to the Portishead-style trip hop of the recent 'Fine Day', whose elegiac mood recalls late-period TalkTalk.”
--Rob Young– Uncut
– Organ Magazine
“Dreamily seductive yet fiercely belligerent... A perfect introduction to a strange but curiously alluring musical landscape.”
--Neil Gardner– Rock Sound