Mouse on Mars
Encyclopedia
Mouse on Mars is a duo from Germany
(Jan St. Werner, from Köln
, and Andi Toma, from Düsseldorf
) who have been making electronic music
since 1993
. Their music is a sometimes quirky blend of IDM
, krautrock
, disco
, and ambient
with a heavy dollop of analog synth sounds and cross-frequency modulation. Their music also utilizes live conventional instruments such as strings
, brass
, drums
, bass
and guitar
.
Their first album, Vulvaland, was released in 1994 on the British
record label Too Pure
. This is considered their "straightest" and most focused album, mixing ambient and dance forms. Their second album, Iaora Tahiti
, has a much more playful feel and encompasses a wider variety of electronic dance genres. Over the years, their sound has increased in warmth, playfulness and what the duo term "fantastic analysis". On their fourth album Niun Niggung (released on Domino Records in 2000), the live instruments start to become more prominent. Idiology, their fifth album, continued this trend, while their sixth album, Radical Connector, has a more "pop" feeling. Both of these albums also increasingly include vocals, primarily by touring drummer Dodo NKishi
. Their sound seems to have taken a large veer away from the stylistics of their last two efforts on their newest album Varcharz which follows an eclectic, off-kilter electronic path.
Mouse on Mars regularly perform live as a three-piece, with Toma & St. Werner augmented by drummer Dodo NKishi. In 2005, they released their first live album, titled Live 04.
Mouse on Mars collaborated in the studio and toured with Stereolab
in the mid 1990s - the results can be heard on Stereolab's Dots and Loops
album and the associated Miss Modular
single, and Mouse on Mars' Cache Cœur Naïf EP. St. Werner and Lætitia Sadier of Stereolab have also performed karaoke duets.
St. Werner has released solo work under the names Lithops
and Noisemashinetapes. St. Werner also partners with Markus Popp of Oval
for Microstoria
.
While releasing albums on British indie labels, Mouse on Mars started their own label, Sonig, on which they release their own work and that of other German artists. They have also produced a number of EPs and have recorded music for film soundtracks as well as remix
ing the work of other musicians.
Mouse on Mars have collaborated with Mark E. Smith
of The Fall in a band called Von Südenfed
in 2007. Their album is called "Tromatic Reflexxions". Their new album, Parastrophics will be released in February 24, 2012.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
(Jan St. Werner, from Köln
KOLN
KOLN, digital channel 10, is the CBS affiliate in Lincoln, Nebraska. It operates a satellite station, KGIN, on digital channel 11 in Grand Island. KGIN repeats all KOLN programming, but airs separate commercials...
, and Andi Toma, from Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
) who have been making electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
since 1993
1993 in music
This is a summary of significant events in music in 1993.-January–February:*January 8 – The U.S. Postal Service issues an Elvis Presley stamp. The design was voted on in February 1992....
. Their music is a sometimes quirky blend of IDM
Intelligent dance music
Intelligent dance music is a term that describes an electronic music genre that emerged in the early 1990s. The genre is influenced by a wide range of musical styles particularly electronic dance music such as Detroit Techno...
, krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
, and ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
with a heavy dollop of analog synth sounds and cross-frequency modulation. Their music also utilizes live conventional instruments such as strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
, brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
, drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
.
History
St. Werner and Toma are childhood friends who were born on the same day, in the same hospital. Dating back to the mid‐1990s, their productions do not shy away from fractures and deconstructions of conventional patterns in electronic music; at the same time, they also play with these patterns. Their approach is characterized by a blend of intuition and reflection that spotlights a special sensitivity to structurally and harmonically interesting inventions. For the most part, their pieces do without vocal elements.Their first album, Vulvaland, was released in 1994 on the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
record label Too Pure
Too Pure
Too Pure is a London-based independent record label that was formed in 1990 by Richard Roberts and Paul Cox.-History:Too Pure started off as a small experimental label and had built their reputation by releasing primarily alternative/independent music which they felt was being ignored by the major...
. This is considered their "straightest" and most focused album, mixing ambient and dance forms. Their second album, Iaora Tahiti
Iaora Tahiti
Iaora Tahiti is the second album by German electronica group Mouse on Mars, released in 1995."Stereomission" is a version of the Yamo song "Stereomatic" with the vocals replaced by a Japanese woman explaining stereo sound....
, has a much more playful feel and encompasses a wider variety of electronic dance genres. Over the years, their sound has increased in warmth, playfulness and what the duo term "fantastic analysis". On their fourth album Niun Niggung (released on Domino Records in 2000), the live instruments start to become more prominent. Idiology, their fifth album, continued this trend, while their sixth album, Radical Connector, has a more "pop" feeling. Both of these albums also increasingly include vocals, primarily by touring drummer Dodo NKishi
Dodo NKishi
Dodo NKishi is a singer-songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer for the band Mouse on Mars.-Background:Reggae and Soul form the basis to his approach towards music...
. Their sound seems to have taken a large veer away from the stylistics of their last two efforts on their newest album Varcharz which follows an eclectic, off-kilter electronic path.
Mouse on Mars regularly perform live as a three-piece, with Toma & St. Werner augmented by drummer Dodo NKishi. In 2005, they released their first live album, titled Live 04.
Mouse on Mars collaborated in the studio and toured with Stereolab
Stereolab
Stereolab are an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London, England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier , both of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes...
in the mid 1990s - the results can be heard on Stereolab's Dots and Loops
Dots and Loops
Dots and Loops is the fifth studio album by the band Stereolab, released in September 1997. Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars contributes to several tracks...
album and the associated Miss Modular
Miss Modular
Miss Modular is an EP by the post-rock band Stereolab, released in 1997. It was produced in collaboration with the group Mouse on Mars.All four of its tracks were later re-released on the Oscillons from the Anti-Sun compilation.-Track listing:...
single, and Mouse on Mars' Cache Cœur Naïf EP. St. Werner and Lætitia Sadier of Stereolab have also performed karaoke duets.
St. Werner has released solo work under the names Lithops
Lithops
Lithops is a genus of succulent plants in the ice plant family, Aizoaceae. Members of the genus are native to southern Africa. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words λίθος , meaning "stone," and ὄψ , meaning "face," referring to the stone-like appearance of the plants...
and Noisemashinetapes. St. Werner also partners with Markus Popp of Oval
Oval (band)
- Work history :The band's original members were Markus Popp, Sebastian Oschatz, and Frank Metzger, although Oschatz and Metzger left the group in 1995. All three are regarded as pioneers of glitch, a genre of music that embraces the sound of damaged audio produced by the failure of digital...
for Microstoria
Microstoria
Microstoria is an experimental electronic ensemble from Düsseldorf, Germany.Microstoria was founded in 1994 by Markus Popp and Jan St. Werner . Their first full-length arrived in 1995, released in Europe on the Mille Plateaux label and reissued in America on Thrill Jockey...
.
While releasing albums on British indie labels, Mouse on Mars started their own label, Sonig, on which they release their own work and that of other German artists. They have also produced a number of EPs and have recorded music for film soundtracks as well as remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
ing the work of other musicians.
Mouse on Mars have collaborated with Mark E. Smith
Mark E. Smith
Mark Edward Smith is the lead singer, lyricist, frontman, and only constant member of the English post-punk band The Fall.-Early life:...
of The Fall in a band called Von Südenfed
Von Südenfed
Von Südenfed is a collaboration between Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner , and Mark E. Smith, leader and vocalist of The Fall.-History:...
in 2007. Their album is called "Tromatic Reflexxions". Their new album, Parastrophics will be released in February 24, 2012.
Studio Albums
- 1994 VulvalandVulvalandVulvaland is the debut album by electronica group Mouse on Mars, released in 1994.-Track listing:# "Frosch" – 9:18# "Elli Im Wunderland" – 5:28# "Uah" – 6:59...
- 1995 Iaora TahitiIaora TahitiIaora Tahiti is the second album by German electronica group Mouse on Mars, released in 1995."Stereomission" is a version of the Yamo song "Stereomatic" with the vocals replaced by a Japanese woman explaining stereo sound....
- 1997 AutoditackerAutoditackerThird album by German electronica group Mouse on Mars, released in 1997.-Track listing:# "Sui Shop"# "Juju"# "Twift Shoeblade"# "Tamagnocchi"# "Dark FX"# "Scat"# "Tux & Damask"# "Sehnsud"# "X-Flies"# "Schnick Schnack Meltmade"# "Rondio"...
- 1997 Instrumentals
- 1998 GlamGlam (album)Glam is an album by German electronica group Mouse on Mars, released in 1998. It was going to be a soundtrack for a film of the same name but both the film and the soundtrack were rejected by the studio....
- 2000 Niun NiggungNiun NiggungNiun Niggung is an album by German electronica group Mouse on Mars, released in 1999.The American release of Niun Niggung included a radically different configuration from the British and German release and contained several bonus tracks.-Track listing:...
- 2001 IdiologyIdiologyIdiology is an album by German electronica group Mouse on Mars, released in 2001.Native instruments interviewed the duo after they released this album. In the interview, they explain technical aspects of the album's production...
- 2004 Radical ConnectorRadical ConnectorRadical Connector is an album by German electronica group Mouse on Mars, released in 2004.-Track listing:# "Mine Is in Yours" – 4:53# "Wipe That Sound" – 4:11...
- 2006 VarcharzVarcharzVarcharz is an album by German electronica group Mouse on Mars, released in 2006 by Ipecac Recordings.-Track listing:# "Chartnok" 6:01# "I Go Ego Why Go We Go" 5:01# "Duul" 6:34...
- 2012 ParastrophicsParastrophicsParastrophics is the upcoming album by German electronica group Mouse on Mars. It will be the duo's tenth studio album and is set for release on 28th February 2012 and is their first album to be produced under Modeselektor's label - Monkeytown Records....
Compilations
- 1994 Trance Europe Express - Volume 3 cd02 track 01:-Mouse On Mars Maus Mobil (6:30) http://www.discogs.com/release/17824
- 1998 1001 - On In Memoriam Gilles Deleuze on the label Mille Plateaux
- 2003 Rost Pocks: The EP Collection
- 2006 Silver Monk TimeSilver monk timeSilver Monk Time is both a tribute record to the German-American beat band The Monks and the soundtrack to the award winning film Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback. The record was produced and compiled by the filmmakers Dietmar Post and Lucia Palacios. It was released in October 2006. The official...
- a tribute to the monks (29 bands cover the MONKS) label play loud! productions
Singles / EPs
- 1994 Frosch
- 1995 Bib
- 1995 Saturday Night Worldcup Fieber
- 1997 Cache Coeur Naif
- 1997 Twift
- 1999 Pickly Dred Rhizzoms
- 1999 Distroia
- 1999 Diskdusk
- 2001 Actionist Respoke
- 2002 Agit Itter It
- 2005 Wipe That Sound
External links
- Official Site
- Mouse on Mars at Sonig record label
- Paradical.de unofficial site with extensive discography
- Exhaustive discography of Mouse on Mars
- Radio interview with Mouse on Mars and Laetitia of Stereolab
- The Noisemashinetapes Archive