Mouse on Mars
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Mouse on Mars are a duo from Germany (Jan St. Werner, from Düsseldorf, and Andi Toma, from Köln) who have been making electronic music since 1993. Their music is a quirky and sometimes kitschy blend of techno, trance, disco, and ambient with a heavy dollop of analogue synth sounds. Their music also utilises live conventional rock instruments such as 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 techno. Their second album, Iaora Tahiti, has a much more playful feel to it and encompasses a wider variety of electronic dance genres. Over the years, their sound has increased in warmth and playfulness as their music progresses. In their fourth album Niun Niggung (released on Domino Records in 2000), the live instruments start to become more prominent. Idiology, their fifth album has continued this trend while their most recent, Radical Connector, has a more "pop" feel. Both these albums also increasingly include vocals, primarily by touring drummer Dodo Nkishi.
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.
Around the same time, they co-produced an album called Time Pie for ex-Kraftwerk drummer Wolfgang Flür's new project Yamo.
St.Werner has released solo work under the name Lithops and partners with Markus Popp of Oval for Microstoria.
While releasing albums on British indie labels, Mouse on Mars started their own label named Sonig. They used this label to release their own and the work of other German artists. They have also produced a number of EPs and have recorded music for film soundtracks as well as remixing the work of other musicians.
Discography
- 1994 Vulvaland (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:9e5m967ofep1)
- 1995 Iaora Tahiti (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:isuj6j5871q0)
- 1997 Autoditacker (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:g9fpxqrjldae)
- 1997 Instrumentals (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&tplem=&sql=10:2nduak2kjm3b)
- 1998 Glam (Sonig) (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wb0xlfkejcqw)
- 1998 Glam (TKCB) (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:or3zeflk2gf3)
- 2000 Niun Niggung (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:micm96oohep6)
- 2001 Idiology (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:69cyxdgb3olf)
- 2003 Glam (Thrill Jockey) (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:r8ue4j576wae)
- 2004 Radical Connector (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:1gjleaw74xs7)
External Links
- Official Site (http://www.mouseonmars.de/)
- Mouse on Mars News (http://www.bandnews.org/band/Mouse%20on%20Mars/)
- Sonig record label (http://sonig.com/)