Tomorrowland

by Bryan ThomasAnn Arbor, MI's Nick Brockney and Steve Baker are known collectively as Tomorrowland. They are part of a Michigan-based space rock and electronic scene that also includes Füxa, Asha Vida, Auburn Lull, and quite a few others. Tomorrowland's influences included Krautrock, psychedelia, early Brian Eno (especially Discreet Music), Seefeel, My Bloody Valentine, Teutonic post-rock/electronic acts like To Rococo Rot and Mouse on Mars, and various others. Prior to Tomorrowland, Brockney had been a member of Children's Ice Cream, who released a single on Randall Nieman's Mind Expansion label (Nieman is a member of Füxa). Brockney eventually ended up in Ann Arbor, where he met Steve Baker during orientation as both were preparing to begin attending classes that fall at the University of Michigan.
They began making music together in March 1996, initially seeing their first release come out on the Burnt Hair label -- via Mind Expansion -- followed by a 7"-only single, I Wish I Was an Angel So I Could Sleep on the Moon, released on the Japanese Motorway label. In May 1997, they issued Futurist on Burnt Hair. That same year, they were invited to participate in Darla Records' Bliss Out series. Released in November of that year, Stereoscopic Soundwaves became the sixth volume in the label's ambient pop series. It was in September 1998 that their first full-length recording, Sequence of the Negative Space Changes, was issued by the Chicago-based Kranky label. In October, the duo returned to the San Francisco-based Darla label, who released the band's People Mover. In 2000, Kranky issued Microbe. They continue to perform and record. Baker continues to work in printmaking and sound, while Brockney is involved in video installations.