21st Anniversary Double Cd, Out October 31st On Monkeytown Records.
By Blurt Staff
Mouse on Mars celebrate their “coming of age” surrounded by 30 of their peers.
21 again sees them dabbling in laid-back disco funk with Tim Gane (Stereolab / Cavern of Anti-Matter) or spinning jittery dream pop with Scratch Pet Land. Their collaboration with Candie Hank spawned a kind of desert polka, while Modeselektor and Puppetmastaz inspired anthemic hip-hop excursions. Tortoise and Laetitia Sadier take the duo into neo-post-rock territory, Eric D Clark supplies radio-friendly song-writing skills, Funkstörung – reunited for the occasion – deliver broken funk while the song with Junior Boys reinterprets R’n’B as a holographic genre. 21 again is an ode to joy and to the friends of the band, yet also an homage to constant dialogue and diversity.
This willful diversity might cause confusion, but the band’s identity is more about process and agility than any clear-cut self-image. Toma and Werner define their music and themselves through friction and interaction; they freely put their concepts to the test and up for discussion. They each find their reflection in the other, practicing a kind of interactive magnetism. And yet, despite this highly attentive adaptability, a Mouse on Mars sound does exist. There is an immediately recognizable musical signature, conjured up despite the duo’s wealth of different projects and connections. Many different voices, speaking with and over each other, are part of this signature style, complemented by a radical nonchalance and unshakeable anarchy that leaves few musical moves unincorporated. Each noise, each sound, each shattering beat comes with its own comment. Comments that take any shape or guise – a rhythmic hiccup, a wow and flutter in the harmonic arc, an unexpected melodic fragment, a subliminal scratch or two. Mouse on Mars tell us “not to take it all too seriously”; after all, anything could change any minute.
Mouse on Mars 21 Again Festival takes place October 31st and November 1st at HAU 21 Hebbel Theatres in Berlin.
21 Again is out as a double-CD on October 31st via Monkeytown Records.
21 Again Tracklisting:
CD1:
01. Eli & Mark E. Smith: 21 Again
02. Mouse On Mars & Cavern of Anti-Matter: Fertilized
03. Mouse On Mars & Tortoise: Shoe Fly
04. A Hawk And A Hacksaw & Balàzs Unger: Celebration Song Mouse On Mars & Errorsmith: Errormom
05. Mouse On Mars & Eric D Clark: Lost And Found
06. Mouse on Mars & Modeselektor feat. Mr. Maloke: Purple Fog
07. Mouse on Mars & Siriusmo: Immer Kurz Davor
08. Mouse on Mars & Scratch Pet Land: Splymogym
09. Mouse on Mars & Dodo NKishi: Queen Für Erschein
10. Mouse On Mars & Atom TM: Key My Brain
11. AGF / Delay Team: 21 Momstars
12. Mouse on Mars & Helado Negro: Carca Jadas
13. Mouse On Mars & Laetitia Sadier: My Toe Is On Fire
CD2:
01. Ingrid & Oswald Wiener: Wir möchten auch drauf sein
02. Mouse On Mars & Schlammpeitziger: Ein Leben Wie Heu
03. Mouse on Mars & Junior Boys: Putty Tart
04. Mouse on Mars & Candie Hank: Metaloona Swamp
05. David Michael Digregorio & Sung Huang Kim: We’re Glad You Are Born Today, Unless You Weren’t Born Today
06. Mouse on Mars & Machinedrum – Juice Clr 9
07. Mouse On Mars & Mesak & Claws Costeau: Somiak
08. Mouse on Mars & F.X. Randomiz: Fromm
09. Prefuse 73: 90’s
10. Mouse on Mars & Funkstörung: Bon Djerry
11. Mouse on Mars & Yoshimi: NKANKA
12. Mouse on Mars & Matthew Herbert aka DJ’s Collapse: Double Gum
13. Mouse on Mars & Olivia Block: Pterion
14. Mouse on Mars & Oval: Gitto Ski
15. Mouse on Mars & Tyondai Braxton: Off Sea
16. DJ Sotch Egg: Mouse On Egg (Happy Birthday!)