The Transit Kings are a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 electronic music

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 group consisting of Alex Paterson

Alex Paterson

Alex Paterson is an English musician and co-founder of the ambient group The Orb, in which he has worked since its inception....

, Guy Pratt

Guy Pratt

Guy Pratt is a session bassist and also a songwriter, actor and comedian. He is the son of actor Mike Pratt. In Kensington and Chelsea, London, in 1996, Pratt married Gala Wright, the daughter of Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright...

 and Dom Beken. Jimmy Cauty

Jimmy Cauty

James Francis Cauty is a British artist and musician born in Liverpool, England, in 1956...

, co-founder of The Orb

The Orb

Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...

 with Paterson, was involved in initial recording sessions but does not take part in live sessions. He is currently on "extended leave". The Transit Kings' music is reminiscent of The Orb and The KLF

The KLF

The KLF were one of the seminal bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s....

. The band was named Custerd for a brief period.

History

Ambient house

Ambient house

Ambient house, a music genre that first emerged in the late 1980s, is a sub-genre of house music, combining elements of acid house and ambient music...

 pioneers Paterson (The Orb) and Cauty (The Orb, The KLF), joined with Pratt and Bekem in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

’s Townhouse Studios in the summer of 2001, to begin work on a new project. Recording later continued in Cauty's Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

 studio. In 2003, the group released their first single, "Boom Bang Bombay", under the name Custerd.

On New Year's Day

New Year's Day

New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...

 2004, the Transit Kings appeared live in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. In 2005, they released the Token EP, and performed live (without Cauty) at the Big Chill Festival

The Big Chill (music festival)

The Big Chill is an annual festival of alternative, dance and chill-out music and comedy, held in the grounds of Eastnor Castle during early August...

. In 2006 they released a limited edition set of three colored vinyl 7" singles on Malicious Damage featuring the songs "America Is Unavailable" (Red), "Japanese Cars" (Amber), and "Butterflies and Boom" (Green). They released their first album Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God

Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God

Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God is the debut album by the Transit Kings. It featured guest appearances from The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and comedian Simon Day...

in August 2006. The "sample-tastic" house album featured guest appearances from The Smiths

The Smiths

The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...

 guitarist Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...

 and comedian Simon Day

Simon Day

Simon Day is a British comedian most famous for his roles in the sketch show The Fast Show, sitcom Grass and a series of comedic adverts for Powergen.-Life and career:...

. The Sun

The Sun (newspaper)

The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...

described the album as "quality" and "out of this world" and compared it to a mixture of DJ Shadow

DJ Shadow

Joshua Paul Davis better known as DJ Shadow is an American music producer, DJ and songwriter. He is considered a prominent figure in the development of instrumental hip hop and first gained notice with the release of his highly acclaimed debut album Endtroducing....., which was constructed...

 and Röyksopp

Röyksopp

Röyksopp is a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø, formed in 1998. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland....

; however, The Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

called it "Orb-lite" and proclaimed it to be "Deep Forest

Deep Forest

Deep Forest is a musical group consisting of two French musicians, Michel Sanchez and Eric Mouquet. They compose a style of world music, sometimes called ethnic electronica, mixing ethnic with electronic sounds and dance beats or chillout beats...

-style sludge".

Cauty left the band in 2004 to work on other projects; the official website has him listed as on "Co-Pilot (on extended leave): Graybeard". He is, however, listed as a composer on seven of the Transit Kings' debut album's twelve tracks.

Discography

• "Token" EP (2005, Malicious Damage, Cat: MD602)
• "The Red Single" (2006, Malicious Damage, Limited Edition 7" Vinyl Single)
• "The Amber Single" (2006, Malicious Damage, Limited Edition 7" Vinyl Single)
• "The Green Single" (2006, Malicious Damage, Limited Edition 7" Vinyl Single)
• Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God
  Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God
  Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God is the debut album by the Transit Kings. It featured guest appearances from The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and comedian Simon Day...
  
  (2006, Malicious Damage)