Tilt (The Lightning Seeds album) focusing on subjects such as the Liverpool dockers' strike, self-loathing pop stars and general disillusionment. Preceded in release a week by the single "Life's Too Short", "Tilt" was released by Epic Records in November 1999. A unique billboard campaign was developed to promote the album. The album was a commercial failure, only reaching number 46 on the UK Albums Chart. Its two singles also fared badly in the UK Singles Chart. Broudie was later unsatisfied with the album, and took the band on hiatus in 2000. After the Lightning Seeds had been a solo project for Ian Broudie, the project
Io (English band) their second full length album. The album "Materioptikon" was released in November on Grammatical Records. The album received positive reviews such as "A beautiful, melodic, Post-Rock epic that forces repeated listens". Io (English band) io is an experimental rock band from Birmingham, UK. The band currently consists of Al Lawson (guitar/vocals), Stu Atkins (guitar), Dave Wright (drums), and Steve Wood (bass). The band formed in 2006 after the collapse of two Birmingham bands, State of Serenity and Project-7. Al Lawson (guitars/vocals), Stu Atkins (guitar), Dave Wright (drums), and Tom Lawson (bass) started writing loud, progressive, instrumental music that evoked the