The Durutti Column

One of the earliest and most enduring creative acts springing from the Manchester-based Factory Records scene, the Durutti Column started out in the late 1970s as an actual band, and quickly evolved into a more nebulous arrangement of guitarist Vini Reilly and a host of collaborators. Reilly's haunting, innovative guitar pieces are multi-tracked, and sometimes mesh with guest vocals, string instruments, samples, and loops. His ambient approach has always stood apart from the trends of the day, and his discography--with a pause between the years 1990-95--is astonishingly consistent in quality. Though Factory Records folded in '92, Reilly's later output has been released through a series of independent labels.

• pop rock