Mouse on Mars
Radical Connector
Thrill Jockey
It’s a sad fact of life that I won’t/can’t dance, and as such, I have historically had little tolerance for dance music. Matmos has made in-roads into my CD collection thanks to the absurd genius of their recent concept albums, but that’s it… aside from Mouse on Mars.
I think the main draw for me is that Mouse on Mars retains the feel of a “band,” despite working primarily from a compilation of blips and breaks. The duo accomplish this by letting human elements filter into their music through live instrumentation: the oboe/bass/hazy guitar strum that’s ushered in on the breakdown of “The End” and the warm soul injected by a Hammond organ on “Send Me Shivers” give the album a tinge of color in the cheeks, a characteristic lacking in the other robotic remainders of the IDM campaign of a couple years back.
Guest vocalist Dodo Nkishi and Niobe contribute such otherworldly performances in terms of enunciation and diction that in the hands of Jon St. Werner and Andi Toma, they become twisted and alien. This leads me to believe that Radical Connector is an attempt, through machines, to join the dancefloors of Earth with those on the farthest side of the galaxy. It’s a lofty aspiration, but perfectly fitting for a band who calls themselves Mouse on Mars.
Thrill Jockey: http://www.thrilljockey.com
