Mouse on Mars

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i like my mom too bob: she tht the earthquake was a cow jumping thru the window!!

mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 14:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm sure I haven't listened to Autechre as much as someone who likes them would - why would I? But I have downloaded many of their tracks, including tracks from "Tri Repetae", "Ep7", "Confield", and "Lp5" and I've never particularly enjoyed them. Their songs have a very static feel to me, melodies and harmonic content are weak, and their rhythms do sound stilted. Perhaps that's the point, I dunno. I've never been a big fan of industrial, so maybe this has more of that sort of appeal.

o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 14:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

Perhaps the reason that all of the Autechre criticisms sound "rote" and "off the peg" is because their central weaknesses are so glaring that everyone agrees on them - so you always hear the same reasons.

o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 14:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

I always forget that anything I say about niun niggung I really only mean about the first half. then all the sounds stay the same but the second half becomes all meandering and sounds more like idm again. which I find kind of disappointing. maybe if it would meander a bit and feel like DRIFT like dots and loops, then come back at the end, I could like it more. but after the song-structure brilliance of the first half I'm set up for something else.

onate, usually when I like to listen to autechre (haven't been listening in a while) the sense of tracks unfolding machinically seems to be what does it for me.

Josh (Josh), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 14:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

Asking for melodic Autechre is like wishing Clipse's "Grindin" or better yet, El-P, involved more melody. It just isn't the point. As for the rhythm thing, i think there are definitely patterns and structures and syncopation embedded within the "cold" noise, although lots of their stuff (especially on Confield) is more SAW II than anything in need of rhythm.

Honda, Tuesday, 24 September 2002 14:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

Don't get me started on El-P...

o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 15:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

''But I have downloaded many of their tracks, including tracks from "Tri Repetae", "Ep7", "Confield", and "Lp5" and I've never particularly enjoyed them.''

but can yr computer speakers do justice to the sound if you download them. I'm not a fan or anything (nevah got anything by them) but i'm just wondering abt that.

Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 15:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

OK maybe you connect yr speakers to the computer by using the powah of technology.

Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 15:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

I listen on headphones through the computer. Admittedly, it's only MP3 sound quality, but it's hard for me to imagine that last little bit of CD resolution making much difference in this case.

o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 15:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

I vouch for Vulvaland, one of the great album titles, especially considering it's an album by some German knobtwiddlers, as opposed to something with a Pedro Bell cover or some gaggle of skinny-bearded nu metal idiots. "Frosch" is one of THE slow-dawning pop pleasures of the last decade or so, at least in my book. Likewise, Autoditacker strikes me as the best balance of their receding straight-up IDM roots and their growing organic sound and pop sensibilities.

Don't sleep on Lithops, either. Jan's (I think) solo proj--less beat-oriented, it's all about making machines sing. Very nice.

Lee G (Lee G), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 18:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

melodic Autechre = Amber.

hstencil, Tuesday, 24 September 2002 19:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

yeah see im not hearing that old shit as much, confield is the future!

simon trife (simon_tr), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 19:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

search: 'chagrin', doing the boc thang first and bettah

i haven't heard much m.o.m, i tried to get into idiology at the cd store listening post but it wasn't happenin'

Mitch Lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 19:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

That's what I always hear about Amber, but that never struck me as a melodic record. More of a drifting kind of thing.

Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 19:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

oh and there's this track on vulvand that when i played it in my car one of the noises sounded (on my tinny no-bass car speakers) like a piece of car falling off and scraping along the highway, that was unnerving, i had to change it.

Mitch Lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 19:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

ha why do avant-gardists think that drifty = melodic?

Mitch Lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 19:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

that track with the fake strings is mad melodic, yo.

< /trife >

hstencil, Tuesday, 24 September 2002 19:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

< /wigga > !!!

simon trife (simon_tr), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 19:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

damn MoM put me on my nerves. It makes me feel the same as jazz: I feel there is quite a lot of genius into their records, their interviews and fans seem to back that up, but I don't get it at all and feel very dumb about it.
I actually have 2 MoM albums, Vulvaland and Audioditacker, bought them because of hype in my snob-avantgardist teen years. I like vulvaland, soothing, not too taxing, but everytime I finish listening to audioditacker trying to get into it I feel so anxious I have to put one of my favourites records verily loud just to remember what really loving a record feels like. One part of myself says "pretentious synth wankers stop listening or it'll hurt your head", the other says "I'm missing something I'M MISSING SOMETHING HERE"
Man, I've even tried listening to it in all my mushroom trips to see if I can gain an attachment to it, but I always quickly ignore it.

mario 3 (mario), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 21:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

my use of the word 'pretentious' above was not a direct criticism on Autechre, who I've heard absolutely nothing of, but a criticism of the 'if it's melodic isn't not real maaaan' nonsense.

electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 24 September 2002 23:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

"There is too much sterile-sounding, stilted electronic music out there of the Autechre variety. If you're going to make drum-oriented music, please, have a sense of rhythm."

hahahahahahaha. Personally, I haven't heard any electronic music that's come as close to being as rhythmically advanced/interesting/bad-ass as Autechre (see: the second track on Peel Sessions 2, much of Confield & Chiastic Slide, Gantz Graf).

I also think they have some very nice melodies, though often not at the same time as the hardcore rhythmic stuff.

Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 25 September 2002 14:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

one year passes...
Who wants to describe the new album to someone with no slsk, a broken soundcard and no promo love?

Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 19:39 (nineteen years ago) link

It's poppier. Vocals on every track. MoM meets Daft Punk meets Prince.

dleone (dleone), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 19:52 (nineteen years ago) link

And am I to assume that this is the best thing ever?

Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 19:56 (nineteen years ago) link

wow! that sounds awesome! are we talking about dirty mind prince or what?

peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 19:56 (nineteen years ago) link

You're not tricking me again, god dammit

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 27 July 2004 19:58 (nineteen years ago) link

I like

peepee (peepee), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:01 (nineteen years ago) link

slsk this bastard!!

peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:02 (nineteen years ago) link

It's technopunkpop.

Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:04 (nineteen years ago) link

wheres the punk come from?

peter smith (plsmith), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:07 (nineteen years ago) link

Is there anything ambient/orchestral on it? I would miss that if it were gone

Sonny A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:10 (nineteen years ago) link

The punk comes from the bits that rock, messily. And the vocals. No ambient, orchestral bits. Use old records for that.

Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:31 (nineteen years ago) link

MoM's newest is maybe their best, i think... having only had a month+ with it, it's too hard to say yet... they're one of my favorites though, and hands down the best live act i have EVER seen... i have never seen such a sweaty crowd (LA, el rey, idiology tour). Autoditacker is actually what got me into electronic music along with aphex stuff, like most people... but while i don't listen to aphex much anymore, i still put MoM in all the time. i definitely prefer their poppier stuff (auto-, niun, idiology, and now, radical connector), but sound design-wise they're fantastic no matter what they're doing. plus the lyrics are brilliant... it makes contempo philosophizing fun.

firstworldman (firstworldman), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:39 (nineteen years ago) link

most rock people, i should clarify... aphex big bridge for rock people my age (23)...

firstworldman (firstworldman), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:40 (nineteen years ago) link

do the synths still sound like they have a bad cold? this really makes or breaks the deal for me.

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:44 (nineteen years ago) link

absolutely... possibly tuberculosis... but other times they take big deep zen breaths, hold them in for half a song and then cough them out

firstworldman (firstworldman), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 20:49 (nineteen years ago) link

not to hate, but just want to mention this as someone who's been buying every release on sight for the last ten years... this is the first record of theirs I can't listen to, and I've tried several times over the last few months. I am happy they're obviously about to connect to a whole new audience, but I have to hop off the bus for this album.

(Jon L), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 21:19 (nineteen years ago) link

I've yet to see anything less than rave reviews in print & online though, right up to 'album of the year', many from people I generally respect, so don't let me stop you.

(Jon L), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 21:40 (nineteen years ago) link

there is something to be said for the stylistic consistency of mouse on mars (and the live-dodo-bird rarity of that style, given) that they inspire that kind of collector-scum wallet brutality, almost to the level of AFX and Stereolab but without all the japan-only/limited edition shit going on.

To be honest it's also what's driven me away, I'm with the above poster on buying practically everything over the last decade or so, but in my case I'm ready for a change. All I ask is one handraiser, one well-arranged piece of mayhem that can hold my attention for more than half a minute or so, and since we're talking about an album, no more of the filler that made idiology such a disappointment by the third or fourth listen.

Who are the vocalists?

TOMBOT, Tuesday, 27 July 2004 22:35 (nineteen years ago) link

a woman named niobe... and then dodo and maybe even the boys
themselves? has it even dropped yet? don't think so. i've yet
to see proper credits. hard to imagine getting sick of this
album so long as i don't overdoit in the beginning.

firstworldman (firstworldman), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 22:42 (nineteen years ago) link

It's Niobe that's the dealbreaker for me.

I loved the first two tracks on 'Idiology'... it came out so quickly after 'Niun', and so many of the tracks were so crazy / sloppy that I just took that album as a fun transitional blowing-off-of-steam from (which they obviously slaved over) and I didn't hold it against them.

This new one though, it's a statement...

(Jon L), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 22:44 (nineteen years ago) link

meant to type:

blowing-off-of-stream from the previous record (which they obviously slaved over)

(Jon L), Tuesday, 27 July 2004 22:45 (nineteen years ago) link

I love this record. Took me a while to get into them, only after I got a free copy of Idiology, which is now one of my favourite records ever. I saw them with stereolab *many* years ago but didn't get it. I will be sorely dissapointed if they don't tour this properly.

hmmm (hmmm), Wednesday, 28 July 2004 07:11 (nineteen years ago) link

Dusted: Mouse on Mars interview
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/276

DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 13:19 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...
bump.

Got the new one today. reactions from those who have it already? "Instrumentals" bores me a bit tbh, but "Rost Pocks" & "Idiology" are fab. One of those acts where I'm actually wary of hearing more of their records in case they don't match up to the same standard.

Mmmm "Send Me Shivers" is doing it for me at the moment :)

Subtly processed female vocals = big weakness of mine, I don't really enjoy Sophie Rimheden though, but adore Ellen Allien. Should I really be buying disco records?

ruffle bar (grumpy_bastard), Tuesday, 14 September 2004 08:32 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...
fuck.

MoM are as bad as Autechre for zero-critical-agreement on what is their best work. I'll probably try 'Glam' next I think.

This one is such a dissapointment. I think I'm going to sell it.

i contribute something on ilm?? (i lurk on ilm), Friday, 15 October 2004 01:18 (nineteen years ago) link

six months pass...
This - http://www.quio.poemproducer.com/ (mp3's thru link) is what 'Radical Connector' should have sounded like! :-O

Search

Rost Pocks
Idiology
Instrumentals
Vulvaland
Niun Niggung

find/download - 'Untitled States Of'

Destroy

Radical Connector

(Yet to hear 'Autoditacker'& not too bothered tbh, want to hear 'Glam' eventually. Probably sleeping on Iaora Tahiti unfairly).

fandango (fandango), Saturday, 30 April 2005 00:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Glam is awesome, their best imo.

Amon (eman), Saturday, 30 April 2005 01:20 (eighteen years ago) link

>> is what 'Radical Connector' should have sounded like!


Radical Connector is one of the best records of the last 10 years. Thank fuck it doesn't sound like you think it should.

Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Saturday, 30 April 2005 02:59 (eighteen years ago) link

wow Brad chill tf out.

I love MOM usually, I just happened to find it a predictable and sonically boring record.

I'm intrigued you have such a strong reaction though. Care to defend it some more? I'd be interested to read another perspective on it, I didn't find the reviews at the time hugely englightening.

fandango (fandango), Saturday, 30 April 2005 12:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Ditto. Once I’ve got through all my Bandcamp Friday acquisitions (and am done with Todd), this is definitely next on the list.

Jeff W, Sunday, 7 March 2021 14:21 (three years ago) link

maybe this will motivate some of you: half of this sounds like "Telephasic Workshop" to me

frogbs, Monday, 8 March 2021 21:01 (three years ago) link

I've listened to this a few times now and I think it might be very, very good.

neilasimpson, Thursday, 11 March 2021 13:32 (three years ago) link

one month passes...

absolutely loving AAI

assert (MatthewK), Tuesday, 20 April 2021 07:42 (two years ago) link

Total agreement from me.

neilasimpson, Wednesday, 21 April 2021 15:22 (two years ago) link

it's very good. it has in common with Dimensional People that it feels long-form and ambitious, which makes me less likely to go back to it then the breezier late 90s stuff that made me fall in love with them. But once I make the commitment it definitely comes through

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Wednesday, 21 April 2021 15:32 (two years ago) link

six months pass...

honestly after many spins I think their Top 5 are the three most recent + Ioara Tahiti and Autoditacker, idk in what order though

frogbs, Sunday, 31 October 2021 03:15 (two years ago) link

I would need Glam and Von Südenfed (unless that doesn’t count)

assert (matttkkkk), Sunday, 31 October 2021 18:17 (two years ago) link

one month passes...

the track "Resume" on Dimensional People is so cool. the spoken word bit is from Swamp Dogg, the guy who is the patron saint of every bad album cover group on Facebook. a fucking virtuoso of the genre and he damn well knows it too. he references the hit "Baby, You're My Everything" from 1965 which got me to look that up. I really think this record (the MoM one) is on another level. each track is wildly different but they all keep sampling & referencing each other. you could probably write a long essay about how all the stuff on here connects. that post upthread..."it's a proper record"...very otm. lots of fun too.

btw yes I do think Von Sudenfed counts as a MoM album. did MES have a hand in the music or arrangements? probably to some degree but it's like...Radical Connector pt. 2.

frogbs, Wednesday, 22 December 2021 05:08 (two years ago) link

one year passes...

Would anybody be interested in a new Mouse on Mars Album even if it was recorded 29 years ago?

— Mouse on Mars (@MoM_official) June 15, 2023

just sayin, Friday, 16 June 2023 09:49 (ten months ago) link

Especially if

Grandall Flange (wins), Friday, 16 June 2023 12:02 (ten months ago) link

following

out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Friday, 16 June 2023 13:16 (ten months ago) link

three months pass...

its streaming in 20 minutes:

https://mouseonmars.bandcamp.com/live/bilk-listening-party

frogbs, Monday, 25 September 2023 17:38 (six months ago) link

really enjoying thise

what you say is true but by no means (lukas), Monday, 25 September 2023 18:16 (six months ago) link

yeah its really nice. second half so far even better than the first

frogbs, Monday, 25 September 2023 18:25 (six months ago) link


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