Artist: bis
Album: fukd i.d. EP
Song Notes: bis is famous for doing the ending theme to The Powerpuff Girls, but they did a lot more than that. They were particularly popular in England with the single "Kandy Pop" and became the first unsigned band to appear on Top of the Pops. As with most bands that get popular too quickly, there was a popular press backlash (mostly in the form of jokes made about Manda Rin's weight, leading to some bis songs like "Monstarr" from The New Transistor Heroes), though they still had a relatively strong fan base, though probably more of a cultish one. Their appearance on the various Powerpuff Girls CDs did help their popularity, particularly in the US, leading to a push behind their second album Social Dancing, which was more electronic. Their third and last album, Return to Central was much more electronic than the poppy Social Dancing, tending towards longer songs with very little guitar. This comes from a limited edition EP put out by Chemikal Underground as part of their fukd i.d. series. The EP was much more experimental than bis typically got, although one of the songs ended up on the Plastique Nouveau remix compilation. bis broke up after the release of Plastique Nouveau, and John and Steven formed the electronic outfit Dirty Hospital, which put out a 12", and Manda formed The Kitchen with her then-husband, which put out an awful EP and an excellent album. Manda's marriage and new band fell apart, and recently, the members of bis have reformed as Data Panik, which have currently put out a 7" on Rough Trade; the single is definitely bis-like, but a return to the more pop-song format; it's probably the most similar to the Music for a Stranger World EP recorded between Social Dancing and Return to Central, and it's excellent—definitely worth picking up, and hopefully an album will come soon! - Rev. Syung Myung Me