Mudville is a Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, NY-based band and artist collective

Collective

A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project to achieve a common objective...

 whose sound, a hybrid of Downtempo

Downtempo

Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...

, Electronica

Electronica

Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

, Memphis-style Soul

Soul Music

Soul Music is the sixteenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1994. Like many of Pratchett's novels it introduces an element of modern society into the magical and vaguely late medieval, early modern world of the Discworld, in this case Rock and Roll music and stardom, with...

and Jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

was dubbed, "post-Trip hop

Trip hop

Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...

" by John Donohue of The New Yorker

The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

. Core members Marilyn Carino and Ben (Benny Cha Cha) Rubin have distinguished themselves as adding sophistication to the genre with classic Hip hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

 stylings, elements of improvisational free jazz

Free jazz

Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...

 and attention to songcraft more influenced by Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

 and Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

 than the minimalist, pop-based structure and lyrics by which the genre is most often characterized. The New York Post

New York Post

The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

 has lauded Mudville's "poetic lyrics, filled with imagery" and "otherworldly, blues-jazz feel" and Time Out New York praised the band's live sound as "brainy, extended improvs... a potent fusion of jazz and space-rock.

History

The brainchild of bassist/producer Rubin and vocalist/songwriter Carino, Mudville began in San Francisco as a more straightforward rock band that prominently featured Hammond B3 organ. One independently-released CD was recorded in 1997 under Marilyn Carino's name, titled Long Island Lulu.

Upon relocating to New York in 2000, Carino and Rubin began collaborating on songs with Carino writing lyrics and melodies and Rubin producing tracks using a combination of painstakingly-arranged live instruments and digital sampling

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

. Carino is known for her "serious chops", sultry, limber contralto

Contralto

Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...

 voice and expressive phrasing which is often compared to Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...

, Nina Simone

Nina Simone

Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...

 and Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

, and for her poetic, progressive-minded prose, which has drawn comparisons to that of Radiohead

Radiohead

Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

and R.E.M. She has also co-written and sung on tracks produced by Sly and Robbie

Sly and Robbie

Sly and Robbie is the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production team of drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare who joined in the mid 1970s after having established themselves separately in Jamaica as professional musicians...

.

Benny Cha Cha has been a bassist for numerous Jazz and Rock greats, including Ronnie Cuber

Ronnie Cuber

Ronnie Cuber is a jazz saxophonist. He has also played in Latin, pop, rock and blues sessions. In addition to his primary instrument, baritone sax, he has also played tenor sax, soprano sax and flute, the latter on an album by Eddie Palmieri. As a leader, Cuber is known for hard bop and Latin jazz...

, Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell

William Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...

, Jim Campilongo

Jim Campilongo

Jim Campilongo is a U.S. guitarist/composer from San Francisco, currently residing in New York City. Most of his original music is instrumental, although he has featured the singers Norah Jones and Martha Wainwright on his last two releases, and he is a member of The Little Willies, which also...

, Moby

Moby

Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...

 and Marshall Crenshaw

Marshall Crenshaw

Marshall Crenshaw is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist best known for his song "Someday, Someway".-Biography:...

, and has distinguished himself as a 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 ....

 artist who has worked with the Wu-Tang Clan

Wu-Tang Clan

The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...

's Killah Priest

Killah Priest

Walter Reed, better known as Killah Priest, Iron Sheik from the Middle East, or Masada, is an American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan affiliate who was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant & Brownsville neighbourhoods in Brooklyn. He is known for intensely spiritual lyrics loaded with metaphors and religious...

, Karsh Kale

Karsh Kale

Karsh Kale is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music...

 and Brazilian Girls

Brazilian Girls

Brazilian Girls was a band from New York City known for their eclectic blend of electronic dance music with musical styles as diverse as tango, chanson, house, reggae and lounge. None of the members are actually from Brazil and the only female in the band is Sabina Sciubba. Other members include...

.

The duo have recorded an EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, 2003's four-song Mudville, which featured one track, "High Rise", that was co-produced by Billy Talbot

Billy Talbot

Billy Talbot is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the bassist of Crazy Horse.-Music career:Born in New York City, Talbot started his musical career singing on street corners at the age of 14. He moved to New Jersey with his family the next year, and by 17 he had moved to...

, bassist of Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and two full-length recordings; 2005's The Glory of Man is Not in Vogue, which was lauded as "Enchanting... a testament to the healing powers of rhythm" and "A captivating and emotionally charged album" and 2007's Iris Nova, which features an eclectic array of artists, including R.E.M bassist Mike Mills

Mike Mills

Michael Edward "Mike" Mills is an American multi-instrumentalist and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock group R.E.M.. Though known primarily as a bass guitarist, backing vocalist, and pianist, his musical repertoire includes also keyboards, guitar, and percussion instruments...

 on piano, telecaster maestro Jim Campilongo

Jim Campilongo

Jim Campilongo is a U.S. guitarist/composer from San Francisco, currently residing in New York City. Most of his original music is instrumental, although he has featured the singers Norah Jones and Martha Wainwright on his last two releases, and he is a member of The Little Willies, which also...

 on guitar, percussionist/producer Karsh Kale

Karsh Kale

Karsh Kale is an Indian American musician, producer and composer, and is considered one of the pioneering figures in defining the Asian Underground genre by mixing disparate genres of music such as Indian classical and folk with electronica, rock, pop and ambient music...

, Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

 pedal-steel guitar great Buddy Cage

Buddy Cage

Buddy Cage is an American pedal steel guitarist, best known as a longtime member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage....

, the maverick Ethel

Ethel

Ethel is an Old English word meaning "noble", frequently attested in Anglo-Saxon names. "Ethel" is derived from æthel, also spelled aethel and ethel. In Anglo-Saxon times it was a common first element in names e.g. "Ethelbert", "Etheldreda"...

 string quartet and creative saxophonist and former Lounge Lizard

Lounge Lizard

The term Lounge Lizard is usually used to refer to lounge musicians, most often in a negative sense . Since its first appearance as American slang in 1917, "lounge lizard" has surprisingly shown up in nearly every decade...

Michael Blake. American Songwriter Magazine calls Iris Nova "a pageantry of maturing sounds and measures, confident attitudes and different genres" and Rhapsody deems it "a perfect melding, as if Nina Simone came back from the dead to front Morcheeba on a new record".

Mudville's live band since 2005 has consisted of John Walter Bollinger on drums and Brian Charette on keyboards and guitar.

Mudville is also known for collaborations with artists of many disciplines, doing experimental projects with up-and-coming New York videographers and clothing designers and also performing with a contortionist.

Discography

Ben Rubin and Marilyn Carino as Marilyn Carino

• Long Island Lulu - 1997

As Mudville

• Mudville EP - 2003
• The Glory of Man is Not in Vogue - 2005
• Side Trax (Remixes) digital-only release - 2006
• Iris Nova - 2007

Marilyn Carino solo recording

• Little Genius - 2011

External links

• Mudville Official Band Website
• Mudville MySpace page
• Marilyn Carino Website
• Marilyn Carino interviews on Outsight Radio Hours
• Marilyn Carino official Facebook page
• Marilyn Carino MySpace page
• [ Mudville's The Glory of Man Is Not in Vogue album review on allmusic.com]