The Legendary Pink Dots formed in London in August 1980 around Edward Ka-Spel, born there in 1954. Cassettes of dark, bent synth pop started appearing in 1981, among them Chemical Playschool 1+2 and Kleine Krieg on Mirrordot, and the first LP Brighter Now came out on In Phaze in 1982.
When the political The Tower (1984) landed without effect at home, the group moved to the Netherlands and drew in musicians from the Dutch underground; the studio has been in Nijmegen since. The music pulls on krautrock, ambient, folk and psychedelia and sets it against apocalyptic lyrics. More than 400 releases carry the band’s name, with over 60 solo albums from Ka-Spel alongside them.
