by Jason AnkenyUpon the 1991 dissolution of the British trance-rock quartet Loop, bassist Neil McKay and John Wills formed the Hair and Skin Trading Company, leaving guitarists Robert Hampson and Scott Dawson to found the highly-experimental Main, a project combining the aesthetics of ambient music with layered tapestries of droning electric guitar textures and dark, ominous soundscapes. Mains debut EP releases, 1991s Hydra and 1992s Calm — later collected as the Hydra-Calm LP — were their most aggressive, as well as the closest to conventional rock idioms; beginning with 1992s stellar Dry Stone Feed, the duo began exploring ambient sounds, gradually eliminating all traces of percussion and rhythm from their work.With 1993s Firmament and the triple-LP set Motion Pool, Main began pushing into drumless space, a realm of cold, alien sound with little resemblance to conventional musical structure; 1994s Firmament II severed all remaining ties to tradition, focusing instead on two epic, abstract environmental pieces with no earthly precedent or connection. After 1995s Ligature, a collection of early material remixed by the likes of Paul Schütze, Jim ORourke and Paul Kendall, Main mounted Hz; their most ambitious project yet, it compiled a series of six monthly EPs pushing harmonic drones, industrial intensity and atmospheric minimalism to their furthest extremes. Upon completing the third installment in the Firmament series, Dawson left the duo in late 1996, and Hampson continued Main primarily as a solo project, soon returning with Firmament IV.