The Oakland, CA, experimental collective Noisegate was founded in 1995. Following a couple of limited releases, they issued their first official LP, The Towers Are Burning, through the One Hundred Years of Solitude label in 1998, at which time their lineup consisted of Trevor Paglen (bass, vocals), Nicolas Lampert (guitar, vocals), and Chris Fitzpatrick (sampler, vocals). The sound on this album could be loosely described as a blend of hardcore/grind/crust punk elements and menacing ambient atmospherics. The LP was reissued on CD (with two added tracks) in 1999 as a joint effort between Philadelphia's Legion and San Francisco's tUMULt labels. Moving in a more restrained dark ambient/drone direction, their second full-length, Suspended Animation Ambient, Vol. 1 surfaced in 2000, also on tUMULt. An album of live performances recorded during the Suspended Animation Tour, entitled As We Were Walking, showed up a year later on Manufracture Records. ~ William York, Rovi