Steve Mason - Monkey Minds in the Devil's Time (2013) [FLAC]

  Released: 2013
  Duration: 58:58
  Genre: Pop/Rock
  Style: Indie Electronic, Trip-Hop
  Source: CD (tracks + cue)
  Codec: FLAC
  Bit Rate: ~ 900 kbps
  Bits Per Sample: 16
  Sample Rate: 44,100 Hz
  
  01 The Old Problem
  02 Lie Awake
  03 Flyover '98
  04 A Lot of Love
  05 The Last of the Heroes
  06 Lonely
  07 Safe Population
  08 Friends for Evermore
  09 Seen It All Before
  10 From Hate We Hope
  11 Oh My Lord
  12 Goodbye Youth
  13 Never Be Alone
  14 Behind the Curtains
  15 More Money, More Fire
  16 Fire!
  17 Operation Mason
  18 Fight Them Back
  19 Towers of ower
  20 Come to Me

  The songscrap producer and haunted vocalist who made the Beta Band one of the brightest lights in Great Britain's post-Brit-pop world, Steve Mason was born in Edinburgh and formed the group during the mid-'90s. The Beta Band was originally a duo consisting of Mason and Gordon Anderson, although Anderson left the lineup shortly thereafter and the group coalesced around Robin Jones on drums, John Maclean on keyboards, sampler and turntables, and Richard Greentree on bass. From that point onward, Mason served as the group's unofficial leader.

 The Beta Band earned heaps of critical praise with an opening salvo of three EPs, all released on Regal and leading up to the release of their acclaimed debut album, 1999's The Beta Band. (Their fame only grew after they were name-dropped in the film High Fidelity by John Cusack, whose character claimed -- and then proved -- that he could immediately sell five copies of their EP collection The Three E.P.'s simply by playing one track.) The follow-up, Hot Shots II, earned greater praise, although shortly after their third release, 2004's Heroes to Zeros, the band announced their breakup.

  Mason had already debuted a solo project, King Biscuit Time, late in 1998, and during the 18 months that followed the Beta Band's breakup, he released a pair of King Biscuit singles -- including "C I AM 15," which reached number 67 on the British charts -- and a full album, 2006's Black Gold. One year later, he launched an electronica project called Black Affair, and a techno-influenced LP titled Pleasure Pressure Point appeared on V2 in 2008. He subsequently returned to a Beta Band format for his first album under his own name, a late-2009 single titled "All Come Down." The expected full-length album, Boys Outside, with production help from Richard X, appeared in 2010 on Double Six, distributed by Domino.