Floor - Below & Beyond Box Set

'Floor' was a Florida Stoner/Doom band that was active sporadically from 1992-2004. Their self-titled album has been described by Chunklet magazine as a “psychedelic My Bloody Valentine/Black Sabbath hybrid with 10 times the hooks.” That's quite a hefty claim that verges on hyperbole, but Floor did much to validate most of that praise. Their “dream sludge” crunch was definitely balanced by a grasp for hooks which they drenched each song perfectly with, and it made their rumbling low tuned riffs destroy with purpose instead of chaos.

Like most forward-thinking artists Floor was under-appreciated during their time, only gaining recognition later through the popularity of Steve Brook's current band Torche. Steve was the singer and one of the guitarists for Floor, and so because of that much of Floor's later songs became early source material for Torche. Torche's last album “Meanderthal” garnered huge critical acclaim and although I do like the album I personally prefer their self-titled debut and their EP follow up “In Return,” which would probably explain why I like Floor so much. I wasn't able to catch Floor live but have seen Torche 4 times and they often played Floor songs during their sets. Their recent loss of guitarist Juan Montoya has left their performances a bit bare, so I hope their new material resembles the trio days of Floor. It looks like Floor has gotten quite a few more fans since their heyday, enough to prompt Robotic Empire to release a comprehensive box set of all of Floor's recorded material.

This humongous box set contains everything Floor has ever recorded, and it includes Ten 12" records, a 7" EP, eight CDs, a 32 page book and t-shirt all housed in separate jackets contained within a custom cloth-bound box. This is a one time pressing of 305 pieces and they're selling for $250 plus shipping. Some of the recordings contained are unreleased demo versions and live tracks, and to be honest some of the production doesn't match the level that the Self-Titled and “Dove” albums reached so this release would be more appropriate for completists and hardcore collectors. Regardless the box set is selling well, and there is a much more affordable $40 Box Set available that contains the 8 CDs of all their material. It comes housed in an LP sized gatefold jacket with the 32 page booklet and is much more suitable for the curious or first-time listeners. It's an insane value that should make even the casually interested want to pick it up, and they should be guaranteed to enjoy it if they're a fan of Sludge/Stoner/Doom Pop music.

Chunklet and Robotic Empire has been kind enough to offer 2 FULL live Floor shows and 2 tracks from the box set for free download so look for those after the video below and click the link to check out these beautifully collected sets.

Click Here to Download the 2 Full Live Shows

Click Here to Download "Xian"

Click Here to Download "The Pulse"

Order the Box Set here: Robotic Empire Store

Floor Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/floor

Torche Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/torche