Momus

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Iworshipped Momus for years. I live in central Canada and he was my sophistacated Dandy . I spent hundreds of dollars on imports , rarities and mercahndise. I downloaded live tracks and rarites from Napster, gnutella and hot line. I burnt CDs and gave them to my friends like ad execs gave cocaine in the 80s. I plasterd my room with photos. I hitchiked to LA to go to concerts. Through his website he introduced me to Serge Gainsbourg and J Pop. I learnt more about Superflat . I wrote Art History papers that had him as a introductury quote nad an entry in the bibliography. Then I started to lurk on this board. Every post he wrote reminded us he was in Tokoyo He said things like "I have an apartment in New York and I don't go below 14th St". Now I am in the boonies and maybe i am just a rube. Is he being amusing and epigrammtic like Andy Warhol or is he just a twit. Now i know how difficult it is to lose childhood obsessions but i feel disinfranchised .

anthony, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Anthony, sounds like you're the exact opposite of disenfranchised.

Nick would not be the very first person to use his intelligence and hipness as a security blanket; the namedropping and cosmopolitan exhibitionism that's bugging you is just a natural reaction to being treated badly by the parochial eedjits who rule the UK media, and they hunt in packs. As far as they are concerned, if there's a last laugh to be had, I hope he'll have it someday.

suzy, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Personally, I think it's best to keep a certain safe distance from one's idols--albeit I've scribbled far too much in Momus's guestbook. Feet of clay and all that. I used to long to meet Nabokov so much it hurt, but then he was dead and we probably would have argued about politics and sex. (I did meet Angela Carter very briefly once and was too awed to let on that I knew how important she was.) I have a weird reluctance to accept that artists I like are real, living, breathing human beings who change and sometimes disappoint us. (I hate even seeing how artists I admire dress. Sort of like finding faults in your analyst's sense of decor. How could one then trust him or her?) Would other people be horribly embarrassed to meet an idol in real life, probably chiefly because he or she would think one was such an idiot, standing there bowing and genuflecting? The few famous or semi-famous people I've known either became famous after I met them or I wasn't aware they were famous at the time we met. (See Morrissey, "We hate it when our friends become famous.")

Sorry, did I drift from the topic? ...I can understand how you're feeling--it may very well be that part of psychological development where you grow older and rebel against your parental figures or mentors. Freud is a wonderful fabulist, so don't feel you have to follow any established methods of modern "maturity." My guess is Momus is having such a good time in Japan that he's like any of us when we visit a foreign country (for me, that includes Canada): We see everything that's wrong with where we normally live all that much more clearly (this before we break down, start seeing the faults at hand, and long for home--not that this would happen with M.). Besides that, we know what they say about prophets in their own country. (One of my favorite parts of the Bible is where that clever fellow Jesus goes back to Nazareth and is derided even by his own family and neighbors.) Of course, I could be all wet. Soaking. Maybe Mr. Nick could send you an autographed demo CD-R just as a token of appreciation; you deserve it! Sorry to go on so long...

--Another rube from the boonies

X. Y. Zedd, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

His El and early Creation records were good but recent records have been sad and boring.An interesting pop star though....

cockney red, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Actually, Anthony, I said I never go *above* 14th Street. Above 14th Street New Yorkers are accumulating what Pierre Bourdieu calls 'Cultural Capital', below 14th they're striving for what Angela McRobbie dubs 'Subcultural Capital'. It's the difference between the stuffy old Lincoln Center and funky Tonic.

'No man is a hero to his butler, or his groupie,' Jarvis Cocker once remarked to me as we strolled wistfully through Regent's Park. 'Or to his bulletin board comrades,' I replied with a sigh. Our frank, vulnerable exchange, caught on film by a Finnish TV crew, was disarming.

By the way, have I mentioned that I'm in Tokyo? Today I was cycling through Setagaya. My girlfriend, twenty metres behind, heard a bunch of Japanese youths exclaiming 'That was Momus, on that orange bicycle! Can you believe it? In Setagaya!' For them, you see, Setagaya is humdrum and Momus is exotic. For Momus, the opposite is true.

By the same token, the I Love Music board, for me, is glamour itself, however ludicrous a figure I cut, pedalling past on my orange opinions.

Momus, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If it makes you feel any better, I don't think most people in the States or the subcultures of NYC, for that matter, know who Momus is. I went looking for a bunch of stuff not too long ago on the L.E.S., a Momus cd for starters, so I could figure out what I'd been missing. I couldn't find a Momus CD at Kim's, Venus, Sounds, Tower or Virgin. Usually if the small shops don't have a cd, the big shops do and vice versa. Oh well. One day, perhaps I will have an opinion of the feller, after I find a cd.

, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Heybuddy -- didja try Other Music on 4th Street, right across from Tower Records?

Michael Daddino, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Momus/Bogus famous in his own lunchtime.....

cockney red, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The only people so bloody enamoured with the downtown area are wannabe hipsters who feel they need to be in a place that the media tells them is cool in order to have a good time. The real reason why no one wants to go above 14th Street is because subway service downtown is shit and it takes forever to get above midtown.

Ally, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

All I have to say is I bought 'The Little Red Songbook' the other day (my first Momus purchase), listened to it this very afternoon and thought it was jolly good. I'm now sorely tempted to take a set of fridge magnet words with me everywhere I go...

DG, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

It's all part of the act, I imagine, which may not be an act at all. But y'know, just another show, leave 'em laughing when you go. Could we have a Momus who didn't go on about Japan, or have links to hentai from his old bookmarks list or leave you floundering in the wake of his precisely manufacured ultra-hip? We're lucky that he's not actually jousting us, I think.

Sterling Clover, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Actually Ally, the reason I like the Lower East Side and particularily Chinatown (to be honest, I seldom go above Grand) is the same one Albert Camus noted in his notebook of a 1948 New York visit: Chinatown is where a European feels the familiar human scale of a city like Paris: people scurrying about, little streets with fish and vegetable stalls. Uptown is big avenues, big cars, big buildings. It's fusty middle aged couples who think Joie de Vivre is something you get gift- wrapped at Saks.

Momus, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You mean it's not a perfume? Then what the *hell* am I going to try to offset my new bottle of Libidinous?

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

when we all know joie de vivre is something you get at the record store with the name 'MOMUS' on the cover, or something.

ethan, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

C'mon, you can do better than that! The goalposts were wide open. I seldom go above Grand. Now someone's supposed to say 'Isn't Grandiose above Grand?' I gave you enough rope! Do I have to finish my own death sentences?

(Grumbles)Honestly, jousting ain't what it used to be. Can't get the horses any more, let alone opponents who know how to jab and jibe. Why, even the NME's gone all nicey nicey... (Incoherent mumbles)

Momus, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

*weeps bitter tears of reproof* Actually, what the hell am I crying for? Besides, 'grandiose' isn't as fun a word as 'efflorescent.'

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Why but Nicholas, isn't grandiose above......oh fuck.

I should have been here earlier. Damn that London Transport.

Taylor Parkes, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yikes, it's Taylor Parkes! Fuck, I'm trumped in the fame game.

Momus, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Rumbled, the lot of you. I actually have a sneaking suspicion, though, that the guy who keeps posting random insults towards ya, Momus, is Alan McGee on an AOL account.

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Other Music. I never thought of that. I never go in that store. I probably should. I also just realized my last post wasn't entirely truthful. I didsee "Folktronica" up on the walls at Kim's once a while ago, which was the spark that made me remember the the image of "guy w/eyepatch" from Poperation Help in NYC last January. I said, "Who 'dat?" But the eyepatch is a good gimmick, as someone noted here once before (if it is a gimmick) because it's what made me remember "...Momus, oh yeah..." When I went back Kim's later to just pick it up on a whim, it was gone. After coming here and finding the link to his site, I see he's been making cds since the early '90s and I just wondered why the hell I couldn't find 'em around these parts. I'll keep looking. I'm definitely interested from what I see (except the Momus cam). He seems funny. I hope his music is very musical, though, and not just musical noises loosely assembled around lyrical oddities (you know, gimmicky). I'll try Other Music. Thanks!

And, I'll side with Ally about that "going above 14th street" business. Personally, I like the smallness and snuggliness of lower Manhattan, but the people could mostly catch on fire and I wouldn't be too upset. Of course, NYC, in general, is full of pose/eurs, so it's easy enough to ignore them anywhere. But, some of the nicest parts of the city, restaurants and getaways, can be found in those big, scary numbers, too. It's also not as filthy, which is nice, too.

, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Early 90s? Check the bio again, heybuddy. Though certainly all his earliest stuff first came out on vinyl. ;-)

Ned Raggett, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Explanation: No US releases until 1996. Hi McGee! I was indeed unfamous in your lunchtime.

Momus, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Iworshipped Momus for years. I live in central Canada and he was my sophistacated Dandy . I spent hundreds of dollars on imports , rarities and mercahndise. I downloaded live tracks and rarites from Napster, gnutella and hot line. I burnt CDs and gave them to my friends like ad execs gave cocaine in the 80s. I plasterd my room with photos. I hitchiked to LA to go to concerts. Through his website he introduced me to Serge Gainsbourg and J Pop. I learnt more about Superflat . I wrote Art History papers that had him as a introductury quote nad an entry in the bibliography. Then I started to lurk on this board. Every post he wrote reminded us he was in Tokoyo He said things like "I have an apartment in New York and I don't go below 14th St". Now I am in the boonies and maybe i am just a rube. Is he being amusing and epigrammtic like Andy Warhol or is he just a twit. Now i know how difficult it is to lose childhood obsessions but i feel disinfranchised . "

Anthony, if you want to live someplace better than the boonies why not just do so? MOmus tells us what he is doing in life becasue unlike most ego-strangled "music geniuses" he wants to share his life with his fans, albiet electronically. I mean realy, someone give s you such valuable insights, music and references, and you thank him with hostility? DO you really crave his love, as a father figure or something? I say, have admired cohorts, but worship no man. Just listen to his songs and enjoy his cool website .

Mike Hanley, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Damn, you're right. 1986? Probably earlier, too. I must say, some of those CD covers are the coolest covers I've seen (hippopotamomus, little red song book, philosophy of momus, timelord). I want them all, just for the cute covers!

, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I think what i was saying in a roundabout way was that fandom can be consuming. If who you are a fan of disappoints you become bitter. This is completley unresonable. A msuician is a musican and an essayist is an essayist They are not someone to worship. They are not big brothers or any more important for their notority or their foriegness. I think this badly written post was trying to say that realizing the artists you love are not without their foibles is a rite of passage.

To clarify, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well you can either be a fan -vampire who sucks songwriters dry of ideas and then discards them , or be thy like a nice bee, going flower to musical flower, loving the flower feild.

Mike Hanley, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Interested parties might like to know that 'Bogus' was originally coined at the Insult Mint by one B. Gillespie a *long* time ago, so maaaaaaybe...

suzy, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That too. I admit either theory is hampered by the fact that neither Gillespie nor McGee are in the remotest sense Cockney, but maybe that makes a better alias. ;-)

Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Gillespie was prescient: the Bogus man has ended up making Fake Folk records. Whereas Primal Scream are still, in a very real sense, keepin' it real, man.

By the way, has anyone got the URL for those gay porn fan fantasies reported recently in Q magazine's Gay Pop feature, involving Bobby Gillespie and Jim Reid? I wanna jack off to that shit, man. For real!

Momus, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

so who is winning the competition of "most threads named after an ilm poster whose fame extends beyond the internet"? i'd say momus, with simon reynolds close behind and taylor parkes picking up steam. though i am of the opinion that at least TWO of the momus threads were started by the man himself. ;)

fred solinger, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

As long as Momus doesn't start any threads about comics and role- playing games, who care? ;-)

proton, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Alas, not immediately found, but putting "jim reid bobby gillespie fuck" into google.com produces some bemusing results.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Sigh. I love putting my research skills to such edifying uses:

http://www.screamadelica.co.uk/justlikehoney.htm

Nick, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

mam once knitted me a green jumper with a pacmonsta on it . my sista said what if it's all a sham and he's in scunthorpe, i don't care - on wiv tha masque(s), firstborn thinks ive been mailed by a japanese corsair - "is he like the dread pirate roberts dad ?"

El Bruto, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'I worshipped Momus for years. I live in central Canada and he was my sophistacated Dandy .' that is, without question, the greatest opening ever written in any form. nick hornby take note.

ethan, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

momus is crap. thank god he is now on the japanese indie circuit: ie. dinner theatre for aging soap opera stars.

doompatrol23@hotmail.com, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What>? What aging soap stars are on the Japanese indie circuit?

Mike Hanley, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Doompatrol corresponds with Susan Lucci, that's how he discovered her j-pop fetish and love for Momus.

tired proton, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

NE1

geordie racer, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Doompatrol's Susan Lucci page:

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/8890/

proton, scourge of mankind, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

heroes let you down ?

well i thrashed lauren laverne at pool intha egypt one drizzly sunday night, she looked aghast.

this talksoftheadphone sh'ite iz well 3key, your words come out sounding like a demonic-deanna-durbin

cheers to tha wrongfooted googliers - fishin' moi ?

El Bruto, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hah, well if you believe what Patty & Selma and half the fringed twats in London seem to say, I thrashed Lauren Laverne regularly. What a strange, twisted world that indie scene is. What a load of bollocks. I suppose it's all the price of being more famous than Momus. For about a year, in the last century.

I stopped enjoying Momus LPs a while ago, but that's my personal taste. How can he be anything but a good thing? I shouldn't say any more, because almost every time I ever met him I was extremely drunk and probably antagonistic or, at best, a bore. Also, I'm terribly jealous of anyone whose life corresponds even remotely with what they'd like their life to be, which isn't normally a problem in these sorts of places.

Taylor Parkes, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Then there was ET's comment on a Tangents journal entry about you as well, Taylor -- presumably that just fits in to what you were talking about vis-a-vis That There Indie World. But Dickon Edwards says nice things about you, which reminds me that I need to get those interview questions to him.

I don't think I ever properly answered the main question this thread posed -- seems to me he's just talking about things as they happen, and he has the chance to go to a lot of spots I don't have the chance to and reflect on the results. It makes for a good experience. And I was listening to him for moons before starting to chat with him every so often, and now he's here. Way cool, mang.

Ned Raggett, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

What aging soap stars are on the Japanese indie circuit?

Oh, they're all here. Dithery Dot and Dirty Den play 'zero memory sampler' and 'no input mixer' in a band called Kabuki Alzheimer. Babs Windsor does a 'frozen statuette' act to the sound of Gilbert and George's 'Underneath The Arches' every Tuesday night at the Nadiff Art Cafe. And Colin from Crossroads plays wheelchair theremin in Boredoms spin-off OOIOO -- he just twitches and the wheelchair sings.

What if it's all a scam and he's in Scunthorpe? Rumbled! On with the masque!

Momus, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

As a resident of what, were I North American, I would call the boonies, I sort of know how Anthony feels.

I think I was totally foolish to hero-worship Momus the way I did. But then the same applies to a lot of people I've looked up to. I work hard and concentrate on the work these days, not like back then.

Robin Carmody, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

hooray! i knew momus would like that jibe.

: - )

I used to have sex to Momus.

Just popped in my head that insult and had to use it!

doompatrol23@hotmail.com, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

you know i used to like that comic 'doom patrol' and you're starting to give it a bad name.

ethan, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

MOmus is just in Japan for the Bikkle and Pocari Sweat.

Mike Hanley, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i hate to bring up another comic book, but remember that issue of akiko about pocari sweat? that was awesome.

ethan, Monday, 21 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

hahahaa....can I really take someone seriously named ethan padgett??

answer: no.

doompatrol23@hotmail.com, Tuesday, 22 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'd be insulted if I heard Paul was having sex to my record, or just plain flabbergasted someone so nasty to the people posting here managed to find a partner in the first place. Or maybe not. It could have been a solo mission. What song was it, sweetie?

suzy, Tuesday, 22 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

HAHAHAAH!!!

: - )

I like being insulted as well (is that a hint??? weell...no.....maybe....)

Ummm...believe it was "tender pervert" "the angels are voyeur"...on cassette, nonetheeless!!!!!!

doompatrol23@hotmail.com, Tuesday, 22 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

No......

Not cassingle but CASSETTE. Purchased in a help the aged. Sounded like if Felt had written porn for seniors.

DOOMPATROL23@HOTMAIL.COM, Tuesday, 22 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

errr...of course it was the 23 minutes long remix by the orb and not the three minute version.........honest! *giving honest joe face*

doompatrol23@hotmail.com, Tuesday, 22 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Momus: >Why, even the NME's gone all nicey nicey...

This week's NME has half a page of phone sex adverts. Real ones. Is that what you meant, Nick? One of them says "MANDY - 30 SECS 'TIL U SMILE." Presumably a Labour campaign line for the Hartlepool area?

Oh, everyone's gone.

Yours, a sophisticated dandy warhol.

Dickon Edwards, Wednesday, 23 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I am confused - Momus was your "sophisticated Dandy" and you were put off by the fact that he name drops about Tokyo and being snotty about New York?

Dave M., Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Hee hee. Sophisticated dandy ...that makes it sound liek he is some kind of sugar daddy and you are a twink or something. Like he is the candy man of your own private Canada "WHo can take your stereo fill it full of sperm insult you to your face and expose his Scottish worm The Dandy Man cAn then dany man can cause hes Momus and he just came into your ear"

Mike Hanley, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

To think of Mandelson and Scargill - two of the most contemptible men in Britain - actually opposing each other. Any Hartlepudlians reading this: VOTE LIB DEM.

Ahem. The phone sex stuff the lowest ebb in the NME yet, surely?

Robin Carmody, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Has the NME ever had a high ebb?

Mike Hanley, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well, it's been better.

Robin Carmody, Thursday, 24 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

five months pass...
Is there really a Momus Boulevard in Coventry?

John Robinson, Monday, 12 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

where is the rascal these days

Mike Hanle y, Saturday, 24 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...
I saw MOMUS live at The Mercury Lounge during the Little Red Songbook tour with TOOG and Kahimi Karie. I wrote a review.. He's brilliant!

http://www.geocities.com/sscwon/momusliv.html

Todd, Wednesday, 26 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...
It's time to give Momus some big props.

N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 30 August 2003 21:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't ask me, I don't even know who Momus is, mate.

mei (mei), Saturday, 30 August 2003 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...
I like my line in this thread about 'cycling past on his orange opinions'. Especially when Alan McGee -- Mr Orange Opinions himself -- then cycles briefly through the thread!

Momus (Momus), Sunday, 19 October 2003 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

do you think that was actually him though?

the surface noise (electricsound), Sunday, 19 October 2003 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I like it when you talk about jacking off to Gillespie and Reid.

adaml (adaml), Sunday, 19 October 2003 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...
Momus, I just saw your nemesis "Harry K-Tel" as I was coming in to work this morning. I think he was coming out of some fancy Tribeca hotel/residence, but other than that I didn't gather enough information for an actual anecdote.

Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 7 January 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

Nick, sorry to use this as my personal Make Random Comments to Momus in Hope of a Response but I just saw that photo on ILB on the clipboard thread. Are you working on a Moondog project now? Momus Moondog Matinee?

Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 7 January 2005 16:21 (twenty years ago)

I've never actually read through this before. This time I did it and came across one of those rare Dickon Edwards posts. Remember when Momus and Dickon were real people?

Atnevon (Atnevon), Friday, 7 January 2005 23:17 (twenty years ago)

Is there any particular reason why this was posted here? Is there any particular reason that I shouldn't delete this?

Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 8 January 2005 12:40 (twenty years ago)

Please delete, Norm.

Ken L (Ken L), Saturday, 8 January 2005 14:10 (twenty years ago)

(long, irrelevant, possibly slightly dodgy message shitcanned)

Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 8 January 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

(long, irrelevant, possibly slightly dodgy message shitcanned)

Not at all! These artifacts have historical value.

Atnevon (Atnevon), Sunday, 9 January 2005 05:47 (twenty years ago)

Above or below 14th street, either way it's pretty fucking pathetic. NY is 2 miles, dude. Siberia is on 40-somethingth street, for instance. I hang out mostly on the southern west side in my spare time, but if I actually took the time to tell people that as if it was something worthwhile of noting, I would know I was a fucking dick with no penis or incredible mental problems if indeed I was blessed with a large cock.

Triple Ho, Sunday, 9 January 2005 05:53 (twenty years ago)

I want to point out I'm drunk and not serious.

Triple Ho, Sunday, 9 January 2005 06:00 (twenty years ago)

the momus records ping pong, 20 vodka jellies and little red songbook are good. they are like the holy trinity of momus.

chaki in charge (chaki), Sunday, 9 January 2005 06:17 (twenty years ago)

chaki on topic and otm.

Ken L (Ken L), Sunday, 9 January 2005 06:30 (twenty years ago)

what is the cultural meaning
of coming in a girl's mouth?
do i wish to reach her
or fill her mouth with mouth

or whatever it is/|\,momus, when he's on
is really untouchable, now isn't he

hephaestus, Sunday, 9 January 2005 08:04 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...
[admin] take this demented nonsense elsewhere, please.

Paula Bradley, Thursday, 10 March 2005 06:18 (twenty years ago)

(long, irrelevant, possibly slightly dodgy message shitcanned)

-- Pashmina (vietgrov...), January 8th, 2005.

Come, Pashmina, with your deleting sword, your hour is again at hand. This is anti-semitic and publishes people's phone numbers. Get it off my thread!

Momus (Momus), Thursday, 10 March 2005 07:39 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...
Momus is very clever on this thread, it is impressive.

Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Saturday, 26 March 2005 04:07 (twenty years ago)

[ridiculous irrelevant babble removed]

Citizens' Rights committee, Sunday, 27 March 2005 11:50 (twenty years ago)

eh?

frenchbloke (frenchbloke), Sunday, 27 March 2005 13:22 (twenty years ago)

deja vu

zappi (joni), Sunday, 27 March 2005 13:33 (twenty years ago)

Blistering barnacles, scrub the hull with Vim, walk the plank you Swedish Neo-Aryan bashibazooks!

Momus (Momus), Sunday, 27 March 2005 14:27 (twenty years ago)

It is clear enough that your chess threads have brought Bobby Fischer here. Hails to the satanic chess master!

Janne Karlsson, Sunday, 27 March 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

Momus should I read A Thousand Plateaus? Please state why or why not in one hundred words or less. Thanks.

bonus material, Sunday, 27 March 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

new momus interview on tangnets, its pretty nice.

keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 27 March 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

eleven months pass...
[more ridiculous irrelevant babble removed]

Alkurt X. KÁRÁSJOHKA, Thursday, 2 March 2006 06:38 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...
[spam]

crestor, Monday, 3 April 2006 20:39 (nineteen years ago)

lock and load - we're on mussage

john clarkson, Monday, 3 April 2006 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

[spam]

valium, Monday, 3 April 2006 21:48 (nineteen years ago)

dampgirl.com? I don't think Valium is what you need if you want to progress to the wetgirl.come domain.

StanM (StanM), Monday, 3 April 2006 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

Oh come on, cheer up!

StanM (StanM), Monday, 3 April 2006 22:44 (nineteen years ago)

Yay, more threads about me! Oh...

Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 4 April 2006 00:01 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...
"I vomited today while reading Momus talk about Matthew Barney," spoken by Christopher Cirgenski, who hopes that this ruins his budding career.

lf (lfam), Thursday, 27 April 2006 22:29 (nineteen years ago)

The only name I recognize in that sentence is the one that I learned from reading this message board.

Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 27 April 2006 22:41 (nineteen years ago)

"I vomited today while reading Momus talk about Matthew Barney," spoken by Christopher Cirgenski, who hopes that this ruins his budding career.

-- lf (lfamula...), April 27th, 2006.

whose budding career? momus, barney, or cirgenski?

that's so taylrr (ken taylrr), Thursday, 27 April 2006 22:46 (nineteen years ago)

Cirgenski.

lf (lfam), Thursday, 27 April 2006 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

I expect it to be the most boring and yet also the most exciting and resonant film of the year. I love to be piqued by incomprehension, baffled into tingles by strangeness.

lf (lfam), Thursday, 27 April 2006 23:14 (nineteen years ago)

that sentence doesn't actually end there

lf (lfam), Thursday, 27 April 2006 23:14 (nineteen years ago)

What does?

mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 28 April 2006 08:32 (nineteen years ago)

WHAT IS

lf (lfam), Friday, 28 April 2006 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

What is love?

Chris Bergen (Cee Bee), Friday, 28 April 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

Momus don't hurt me.

Eppy (Eppy), Friday, 28 April 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

I am hated for loving.

Momus (Momus), Friday, 28 April 2006 16:03 (nineteen years ago)

That was the anticipation thread, but of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Momus (Momus), Friday, 28 April 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

Momus sighting Thursday night: Spring & Greene, Soho

Confounded (Confounded), Friday, 28 April 2006 16:08 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, heading towards my favourite Japanese cafe, which is at a secret location not far from this mural:

Momus (Momus), Friday, 28 April 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

I instructed Cirgensky to get his own identity here so he can engage with you more directly but he probably won't.

lf (lfam), Friday, 28 April 2006 16:59 (nineteen years ago)

I thought about stopping you, but naaaaaah.

Confounded (Confounded), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

We were playing capture the flag... did you see all the ruckus?

Confounded (Confounded), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:22 (nineteen years ago)

Mate, mate, I don't want any trouble, mate.

Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 28 April 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

Anybody coming out to see him at the Pub tonight with me?

forksclovetofu, Wednesday, 10 October 2007 23:32 (seventeen years ago)

[ADMIN: stop being a dick, Dom.]

Dom Passantino, Wednesday, 10 October 2007 23:33 (seventeen years ago)

I've listened to "Murderers, the Hope of Women" 40+ times this week.

Tape Store, Wednesday, 10 October 2007 23:38 (seventeen years ago)

Nick fucks children

Slander much?

rockapads, Thursday, 11 October 2007 00:05 (seventeen years ago)

its not slander

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Thursday, 11 October 2007 00:53 (seventeen years ago)

Petra Cortright: MOMUS IS SO GAY
Petra Cortright: where is he playing so i can go boo at him
Petra Cortright: MOMUS YUR LIVEJOURNAL SUXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Thursday, 11 October 2007 00:53 (seventeen years ago)

Petra Cortright: YOUR POSTS SUXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Thursday, 11 October 2007 00:54 (seventeen years ago)

Jon, I see you skipped out.

forksclovetofu, Saturday, 13 October 2007 20:32 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

Momus on the bbc radio 6 at this moment, it is a nice song called I Was A Maoist Intellectual

Slumpman, Sunday, 8 February 2009 19:02 (sixteen years ago)

^ That was a great song. Can't remember which album it was (Hippopotamomus? Hmm, no ... fuck it) but yeh, that whole period when Momus actually wrote great songs was a joy.

Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Sunday, 8 February 2009 19:18 (sixteen years ago)

http://ndobos.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/bat-signal.jpeg

Henry Frog (Frogman Henry), Sunday, 8 February 2009 19:22 (sixteen years ago)

Can't remember which album it was (Hippopotamomus? Hmm, no ... fuck it)

Tender Pervert. Still great, now free.

I Was A Taoist Intellectual (sic), Monday, 9 February 2009 10:53 (sixteen years ago)

Oh, superb. I've not heard that for years. Good excuse to reacquaint myself. Thank you.

Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Monday, 9 February 2009 10:59 (sixteen years ago)

Ha! Bishonen "could well be the peak of my songwriting career". No "could well" about it, Nicky Boy.

Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Monday, 9 February 2009 11:00 (sixteen years ago)

casting an eye over the juno release list a couple of weeks ago and found that he's got a song on the new dial 12"!

resident advice whore (haitch), Tuesday, 10 February 2009 23:52 (sixteen years ago)

two months pass...

Momus - 5/26/09 Highline ballroom NYC

Dewey B., Thursday, 30 April 2009 04:22 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

There's a vinyl copy of The Tender Pervert in the window of one of the charity shops along Cowley Road, Oxford.

I was surprised to see it in the window.

djh, Tuesday, 8 March 2011 19:09 (fourteen years ago)

four months pass...

Strangely, the Tender Pervert is still on display in the same shop window.

You'd have thought either a) someone would have bought it or b) they'd have put something else in its place by now.

djh, Monday, 18 July 2011 21:21 (fourteen years ago)

Momus on the bbc radio 6 at this moment, it is a nice song called I Was A Maoist Intellectual

this is the only momus song i've ever heard.

you've got male (jim in glasgow), Monday, 18 July 2011 21:31 (fourteen years ago)

has this guy grown up yet?

by another name (amateurist), Monday, 18 July 2011 22:13 (fourteen years ago)

I only got about 20 posts in, but it made me miss Tonic! Saw a few great shows there before I actually moved to NYC: Stars of the Lid, etc. I was up here for CMJ once and saw the tail-end of a Momus gig somewhere downtown. It was only three weeks after 9/11 and the city felt indescribably strange, Anthrax scares screaming out from hotel elevator television broadcasts, seemingly nobody roaming the streets at night. Momus did some songs and then went back to his booth where a few very tiny Japanese women stroked him pensively. I'll never forget it.

Clarke B., Wednesday, 20 July 2011 00:30 (fourteen years ago)

=)

I think Otto Spooky and Ocky Milk are my favorite Momus albums. I really love that masterful DIY cabaret concrete thing he has going on them. They are quite deeply psychedelic and experimental, especially considering he's long been a teetotaler. Some of the most bizarre, melodic, lyrical, catchy, and endearing music I have heard from any modern artist.

The first time I heard "The Artist Overwhelmed" I was spellbound, and had to replay it over and over again. It was a total mind-blinder.

Telephoneface (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 20 July 2011 01:03 (fourteen years ago)

seven months pass...

Has anyone heard his new stuff? I haven't listened to anything since Joemus. I thought that was a slight letdown but had some very very high points. I still think he's one of my favorite contemporary musicians, especially his post-2k phase. There is some otherworldly beautiful music on the 'Oskar Trilogy' albums. A lot of those songs really sound like parts of dreams I've had. "Sempreverde", "Bantam Boys", and "The Artist Overwhelmed" (all from Otty Spooky) really feel like they only exist in a sublime, distorted dreamworld.

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 9 March 2012 01:15 (thirteen years ago)

My last Momus experience was seeing him (and, I think, you) on the American Patchwork tour. I was a fan of Circus Maximus, Don't Stop the Night and Timelord. I would like to catch up with his newer stuff but I'm not sure where to start. For what it's worth, I loved your set! And also for what it's worth, I found Momus to be quite approachable, friendly, and accomodating, despite his being ticked off that the venue was too cheap to give him a beer.

epistantophus, Friday, 9 March 2012 01:51 (thirteen years ago)

Cool, where was that? It's a bit surreal, that summer. It was 10 years ago! Thanks, Super Madrigal Brothers feels like one of my past lives now!

He was working on Oskar Tennis Champion at the time. It has that amazing song "Is It Because I'm a Pirate?" where he portrays a pirate trying in vain to hit on a waitress. He played that live during that tour, along with the beautiful "Little Schubert". That album also has a chiptune medley that I made at the end of it.

Otto Spooky is my favorite, mostly because of the variety of instrumentation. He was heavily influenced by Berlin-era Bowie for those two albums and the next one, Ocky Milk, and they are all deeply psychedelic, bizarre pop and music-hall songs with electronic cut-up acoustic and world instruments alongside retro synths. Some really bizarre experiments in sound and lyrics.

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 9 March 2012 02:02 (thirteen years ago)

Atlanta (I think it was the EARL?). Fun show. Fake swordfights, kitten impressions, the whole deal. I'll check out those albums, thanks for the recommendations!

epistantophus, Friday, 9 March 2012 02:24 (thirteen years ago)

Hah, I remember that show, whoever was running it was being a ass about the booze and calling us faggots and stuff. Probably why he's never been back to Atlanta.

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 9 March 2012 02:27 (thirteen years ago)

Ugh. Well, in spite of it all, Momus was quite nice to me! And I have also not been back to Atlanta.

epistantophus, Friday, 9 March 2012 02:32 (thirteen years ago)

anyone got to the oto thing?

Crackle Box, Friday, 9 March 2012 14:08 (thirteen years ago)

I've actually come around to Joemus quite a bit in the past year or so, after initially being slightly disappointed. Don't think it's at all a drop in quality from the Oskar -> Ocky trilogy (honestly I'd probably pick Ocky as the weak link of the four-album span). Unfortunately that kind of energy is totally missing from the two most recent albums, though there are some nice moments here and there. The Thunderclown really should've been left as an EP.

Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Saturday, 10 March 2012 09:31 (thirteen years ago)

I remember really liking the ending of Joemus, with "The Man You'll Never Be" and "The Vaudevillian".

Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 10 March 2012 14:50 (thirteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

He's been posting great new stuff on Youtube for the past few days:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkKh0dOi_Fc&feature=bf_prev&list=PL8F26123A7F7BED5C&lf=autoplay

America's Mobile, Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:16 (thirteen years ago)

pretty good!

og (admrl), Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:20 (thirteen years ago)

two years pass...

Catching up on his Hearspool radio series: http://mrstsk.tumblr.com/post/59591346688

I'm listening to the first one, which overlays surreal, soft-spoken monologues with field recordings, ambient classical and pop music. Most latterly is a deconstruction of Wire's '40 Versions'. It's all rather delightful - one part Stanshall, one part Blue Jam (without Morris' wacky excesses), two parts God knows what. It was recorded for Basic FM but has most of the hallmarks of a good Resonance FM show

halber mensch halber keks (imago), Sunday, 13 April 2014 10:51 (eleven years ago)

two months pass...

Hey i was going to buy Momus's book and then i looked on Amazon and saw he has a few!

The Book of Jokes
http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Jokes-British-Literature/dp/1564785610/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1403564848&sr=8-4&keywords=momus

The Book of Scotlands
http://www.amazon.com/Solution-11-167-The-Book-Scotlands/dp/1933128550/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1403564848&sr=8-6&keywords=momus

UnAmerican
http://www.amazon.com/UnAmerica-Success-Failure-Series-Momus/dp/0985508590/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403564848&sr=8-1&keywords=momus

Has anyone here read these? Which one should i get first...

©Oz Quiz© (Adam Bruneau), Monday, 23 June 2014 23:11 (eleven years ago)

also the book of japans. I gave the book of scotlands to a friend, idk how good it is.

ogmor, Monday, 23 June 2014 23:16 (eleven years ago)

two years pass...

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/pubic-intellectual-an-anthology-1986-2016/

djh, Monday, 11 July 2016 19:39 (nine years ago)

pubic instead of public

Pat Umunna Glass (DJ Mencap), Monday, 11 July 2016 20:39 (nine years ago)

good tracklist. looks like almost half of Voyager is there which is A Very Good Thing in my book. i like this quote from a few years back;
"it perplexes me slightly when people say that Voyager is my peak. But it's understandable -- I think the anonymity of the record allows it to fit other people's lives, and the era, whereas the quirkiness of my current work maybe doesn't.. "

piscesx, Tuesday, 12 July 2016 10:30 (nine years ago)

i wonder how Cherry Red have been able to release old Creation tracks? i guess all that's been Sorted Out now. the albums were out of print for years which is i guess why he decided to put them all up online for free in 2008. it'd be nice to have deluxe editions of those 80s/90s albums.

piscesx, Tuesday, 12 July 2016 10:34 (nine years ago)

always fascinated by anthology/best-of/selected works records curated by the artist themselves, always some big surprises regarding what they put in, and what they leave out. can't believe his picks from stars forever! totally forgot about "life of the fields" though, beautiful song.

it's sort of a layered stunt (sheesh), Wednesday, 13 July 2016 04:44 (nine years ago)

Any thoughts on disc 3?

(That's the point where I stop recognising track titles).

djh, Wednesday, 13 July 2016 21:59 (nine years ago)

very familiar w the first half of disc 3. mostly the stuff from the NYC psych folk prog phase. "Going for a Walk With a Line" is brilliant. i also quite like "Nervous Heartbeat" which has a lovely and heart-tugging strings sample. "Frilly Military" is fun too, i think he wrote that for Kahimi Karie a long time ago and this version has a nice slightness going for it. "The Vaudevillian" is incredible, one of those songs that made me stop in my tracks when i first heard it. love the mix of humor & pathos. wonderful finale (also could've gone w "The Artists Overwhelmed")

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 14 July 2016 11:01 (nine years ago)

ten months pass...

oh wherefor art thoa

Violet Jax (Violet Jynx), Thursday, 25 May 2017 14:26 (eight years ago)

five months pass...

yum

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/momus-create-i-procreate-3cd-remastered-expanded-edition/

piscesx, Friday, 24 November 2017 21:34 (seven years ago)

Thought this revival would be about Momus competition coming back to help us with our Japanese.

Modern Zounds in Undiscovered Country (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 November 2017 21:41 (seven years ago)

Plot twist

Momus doesn’t speak japanese

i n f i n i t y (∞), Saturday, 25 November 2017 00:28 (seven years ago)

No compute

Modern Zounds in Undiscovered Country (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 November 2017 14:52 (seven years ago)

i sympathize with or relate to his reasons/excuses for not learning japanese

XxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxXxxxx (dylannn), Saturday, 25 November 2017 20:36 (seven years ago)

Do you guys seriously think that Momus never learned Japanese?

Modern Zounds in Undiscovered Country (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 25 November 2017 21:04 (seven years ago)

did he even learn english

mark s, Saturday, 25 November 2017 21:05 (seven years ago)

i'm sure he has to at least some extent. but i sympathize with what he says about japan being a nice place to live and not speaking japanese being a way of protecting/isolating yourself from the conformity of japanese society.

XxxxxxxXxxxxxxxxXxxxx (dylannn), Saturday, 25 November 2017 21:11 (seven years ago)

I would bet money Momus speaks almost no Japanese

she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Saturday, 25 November 2017 21:45 (seven years ago)

Who does he talk to then? He lives there.

treeship 2, Saturday, 25 November 2017 21:59 (seven years ago)

He can’t even gossip.

treeship 2, Saturday, 25 November 2017 22:00 (seven years ago)

Momus knows Japanese. he's written lyrics in Japanese and has sung in Japanese. plus i've seen him practice with my own eyes. he was practicing when i was on tour with him in 2002. i was in a chiptune band of his creation called Super Madrigal Bros. it was the American Patchwork tour and we drove all over America playing shows with 2-3 other acts. he was dating a Japanese woman (also his tour manager) at the time and she was helping him with his kanji. it was the first time either of them had been to the US outside of New York or LA, and they were amazed by all the land and space. whenever we passed a farm with cows she would point out the window saying "Nick! Nick!" i have great memories of that tour, it was a lot of fun and brilliant music, and our hosts were very kind Tour Mom & Dad.

i wonder what he's up to these days. i see him on youtube he has a series of videos continuing his old blogging style about art and culture and stuff. this is good news on the new compilation! i've only heard one of those albums but it was a very cool, moody, weird folk record. hope he is well and happy.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 30 November 2017 01:36 (seven years ago)

i remember seeing you guys play in austin. and momus complaining on his blog about texas being "huge, hot and empty".

new noise, Thursday, 30 November 2017 01:54 (seven years ago)

woah. that was at Emo's. did they have a drop down movie screen that projected old cartoon before the bands played? i feel like that might have been at that show...

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 30 November 2017 03:13 (seven years ago)

that's not something i remember ever seeing at emo's.

new noise, Thursday, 30 November 2017 03:25 (seven years ago)

Adam! Had no idea you were a Super Madrigal Bro! (Apologies for the brand new unfamiliar dn I've been mostly lurking for the past decade though I do post now and again when I work up the gumption)

Anyways I made a new account mostly just to tell you that I'm a great fan, and that I desperately tried to see both you and Momus on that tour you mentioned when it came thru Portland, even went so far as to enlist the prettiest girl I knew to try and beg the doorman to let us in but we weren't anywhere near old enough to be there and he wasn't having it, oh well.

Anyways would love to hear anymore memories you have of that tour, or being on AmPatch (you say the band was of his creation?)

Florin Cuchares, Saturday, 2 December 2017 08:15 (seven years ago)

cool nice to meet you Florin! im curious how you heard about us. i know they did flyers and ads in the local alt weeklys every where we went.

it was probably the greatest summer of my life. travelling around the US playing a show just about every night every day for a month. Momus had been doing this a long time so he was an old pro by this time, and a lot of places we had stayed were friends of his from previous tours, other artists, musicians, etc. it was mostly sleeping on the floor of a punk house type situation, which is one i have always been fine with. towards the end of the tour we splurged on a few hotel rooms. lol i think we all snuck into two rooms, this eccentric Scottish guy w an eyepatch, his Japanese business manager, and 8 or so freaky teenage art schoolers. on that tour it was Momus, the Gongs, Phillip, and the Supermads:, me and John Fashion Flesh. Fashion Flesh just released an LP by the way (https://www.discogs.com/Fashion-Flesh-Withdrawn/release/10946402) it is amazing kind of in the vein of Severed Heads or Throbbing Gristle, early industrial/synth-pop, instrumental, minimalist, w trippy glitchy stuff and home made synths. amazing stuff!

https://i.imgur.com/2TiUwyTl.jpg
hanging out on a breezy porch one morning after a show

the band itself and the album name was Momus's idea. i was doing chiptune music (this was 1998/1999) and had recorded an album of Christmas music. my main idea was to get this CD to Bjork cos i thought for some reason she would love it or something. i sent it in to Momus (i had previously sent a few other things in) and he wrote me back an email a few months later basically saying "Here's this idea for a band, you would work with this other guy who lives in another state, we need an album by x so we can do a summer tour with my whole label." i was 21, had just dropped out of college, and was living in a 2 bedroom room punk rock apartment with 5 other people and 3 dogs. i was like fuck yes, i'm going to do this, goodbye to my dogshit apartment. i went to the library to use the internet to look for MIDI files and would find songs to do, then do them in Fruity Loops. unfortunately i did not use samples from actual consoles, i was using emulators to isolate channels and make samples from that. NESticle was one emulator I used the most to get samples. i had a lot of tricks i used all the time, like the Gameboy startup sound for bass (this is something Momus used in his song "Walter Carlos" so I ripped it off him) and having it do an octave leap rather than having a break or stopping the note, this gave the songs little glitchy blips at the end of the lines (around this time i was introduced to Roxy Music and the octave leaps in "Virginia Plain" were a big influence). after arranging a song and saving a .WAV i would burn a CDr and mail it to John, who would remix the tracks in his own unique way (often with custom gear, twisting my clockwork creations, like your body stepping outside of yourself and now seeing things in the Astral World. it was like a shadow album living alongside the regular one), and mail another disc back to me. we had them back and forth on the albums and i think it's the best way to get both versions of the material. i think he had gotten a little bit of a budget for 2 records and a tour and it was a really wonderful experience and i will be forever grateful for the invitation. to be able to perform w so many amazing artists and musicians was incredible.

i've always been a huge fan of Momus (imo some of his best work is for real Bowie-level talented but just not as lucky or commercially palatable) and the Gongs and Phiiliip. Phiiliip has done some really cool stuff since then, an album called "Divided by Lightning" that had an accompanying art show and accompanying music video DVD (i love the song that mixes in Boyz II Men's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye..." over a trance beat and footage of NY club kids in the 80s). i wrote to him on Facebook years ago and he was taking a sound class with one of the guys in Animal Collective and he was learning how to mix properly and stuff. his music started getting less lofi but still very psychedelic, very much like if Beck hadn't decided to start sucking and went back to what he was doing in the early 90s but with Ableton. i heard he had fallen ill and had to move in with his family but that was a while ago, so i'm not sure what's up with him now. i did find a soundcloud page of his recently (Wirekid) that had all these really intense, really crazy and amazing remixes that were like live mashups with new lyrics, melodies, and raps. like he had Buddy Holly's "Everyday" glockenspeil going over a death metal blast beat. or the "Goonies R Good Enough" synth arpeggio over skittering drum n bass. but they are all original songs??? it's really amazing stuff, some of the most unique music i have ever heard in my life. there is one song he did recently that was "Sparkle Off the Clock" and i think it was a take on Justin Beiber (not sure) but it had a really catchy melody and the arrangement was a really nice, crunchy 8-bit thing, complete w video game noises, and at one point he starts mixing in Mr. Miyagi and he's taking about catching the fly and making these swish sounds. yeah this shit is dope.

anyways for the "Shakestation" record Momus really gave us full freedom to do whatever. he didn't tell us how long to make the album or how many songs or what songs to do or anything. he had an artist who would do the cover, Florian Perret, who did an amazing black and white drawings. personally i wanted something colorful and videogamey and pixelly but i respected the collaborative spirit of the whole thing. tbh i think the "Shakestation" cover would look nice on an LP jacket, the CD is just too small to show those details. anyway i had no idea what a madrigal was so i just started slapping sounds together. i wanted to do via video games and medieval music what Esquivel or The Three Suns had done for jazz and exotica, with weird arrangements, stereo effects, basically kitchy electronic Perry-Kingsley style stuff etc. inspired by the Moog Cookbook and A Clockwork Orange (lol i was listening to this soundtrack yesterday, Wendy Carlos is God). the second album has a whole romantic section where we do more modern stuff like the Carmen opera and the whole direction got more baroque in general. i remember Momus not really being happy about that, lol, us time-jumping like that, and maybe we really should have stuck with the medieval smaller scale stuff. half of the second album is still pretty medieval though. it's funny, since then i have read many books on medieval history and have found it to be something i am really very interested in. at the time i was just trawling through MIDI websites for songs to try to cover i didn't really care about the history. well i think if we ever re-visit it (and we have talked from time to time, u never know) then i will take it more seriously and probably incorporate more of a historical concept to the work.

the tour... wow! Portland was cool, i wish you could have made it! i remember we went to a punk house that had little to no furniture in it. by that time i think we had met up with Rroland, who was really cool. he had written all these songs using only a Roland synth. he was Nick's age, in his 40s, which was cool and kind of funny. there were all of us electronic noise kids and then this middle aged father who owned a vineyard and produced his own wine! and yet that music he made was transformative, you really felt like you were listening through his past lives. he was only with us for a few days out west. i remember that drive up and down the west coast so well, it was so beautiful, it felt like we were at the edge of the world, on the edge of paradise. this was the first time i ever heard Klaus Nomi, and i remember driving along the west coast highways listening to "Rubberband Lazer" and just kind of being dazzled by it all (probably on shrooms!).

https://i.imgur.com/eYgFxfel.jpg
here is a photo of me with Cythia Plaster Caster, 2002

the tour was a lot of fun, it was the experience of a lifetime. mostly i really loved the other musicians we were touring with, like we were listening to each other's CDs in the car on the road between shows. i have some great memories of hazy parties, memories of driving across states as the sun rises, etc. the kind of memories you get when you go on road trips with friends. the coolest person i met was Cynthia Plaster Caster who was at our show in Chicago. she had casted Momus and he was in a recent documentary about her. she was a total sweety and just she gave me a big hug and called me a sweetie like the coolest rock n roll aunt ever. i also met Mumbleboy at our NYC kickoff show, but i was so nervous about playing for the first few days, i don't remember what i said. i met Beck's brother at Spaceland and Beck was going to come to the show but didn't and this was a big letdown personally cos i am obsessed with Beck but it was cool cos Phillip had this mix CD with all the Midnight Vultures outtakes and i had never heard that stuff before. still blows my mind. i remember at the second to last show in my hometown of Atlanta the people at the club got real aggressive (i don't remember why, an unpaid bill or something? it seemed unreasonable) and they threw us out, calling us "F*****s", yelling "Get the fuck out of here!" and i felt real embarrassed cos i lived there lol. after the show we stayed with some friends in Dunwoody including Jack Hines of the Black Lips who thought Momus was hilarious and who drove us the next day to the final show in SC. heh after living in 2 cramped cars with 7 other people for a month, it was nice to get into a new car, so i remember how luxurious it felt to be able to spread out and like stick my feet out the window!

i remember going home and bringing a check - we had made a couple hundred dollars which is really impressive now that I've seen a few tours. i was still living with my parents out in the country at this point, so i got home and was completely fried and feeling isolated and getting really depressed and cabin feverish. it was almost like having jetlag or something. it made me want to move to the city, which i ended up doing just a few months later. i've lived here for the past 15 years this winter.

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 14 December 2017 02:46 (seven years ago)

Thanks so much for sharing, that was awesome to read. I was at the Lawrence Kansas show and remember really enjoying it.

erasingclouds, Thursday, 14 December 2017 03:38 (seven years ago)

seven months pass...

He's been videos for new stuff every couple of days on youtube. Residents meets ISB vibe in most of it so far. Anyone listening?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHLymyfTAhw

everything, Monday, 13 August 2018 04:38 (seven years ago)

two months pass...

I have. This is my fave from the new album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5o8VAmEQnM

daavid, Thursday, 1 November 2018 23:40 (six years ago)

seven months pass...

One of the best opening posts in site history

Trϵϵship, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 21:18 (six years ago)

Is it the one by Anthony? /zing

TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 21:45 (six years ago)

*Loads, scrolls, nods*

TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 21:47 (six years ago)

The first three posts are all great.

Luna Schlosser, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 22:30 (six years ago)

Between this and the Miles thread today has been Ye Olde ILX0r Wayback Wednesday.

TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 22:44 (six years ago)

I wish anthony still posted. There is a lot of overlap between his interests and mine, it seems

Trϵϵship, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 22:47 (six years ago)

I’m a fan of momus but if he knew me he’d think i was a rube for sure you know so, preemptively, fuck you momus

Trϵϵship, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 22:48 (six years ago)

Anthony helped me edit down my mom's obituary so it could fit within the required parameters to be published in the local newspaper. I'll never forget that bit of kindness extended to me.

Just like I won't forget how I used to listen to Momus's podcast episodes (back when he hosted them on his website -- I found his voice soothing, even if I disagreed with his content) and in one of them he rhapsodized about one of my top 100 favorite songs of all time (and the namesake to what was my vehicle at the time), David Sylvian's "Orpheus". Any man who loves DS can't be all that bad.

Dee the (Summer-Hating) Lurker (deethelurker), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 23:43 (six years ago)

seven months pass...

60 today!

Luna Schlosser, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 22:06 (five years ago)

doompatrol doing robust half-bright sock-work on the thread, i wonder how he is these days

mark s, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 22:19 (five years ago)

60?!?!?

El Tomboto, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 22:42 (five years ago)

Good for him. I check in on his tumblr every once in a while and he seems to be doing well and still living by his own rules.

treeship., Tuesday, 11 February 2020 23:15 (five years ago)

‘Flame Into Being’ is one of the forgotten great songs of the 80s.

treeship., Tuesday, 11 February 2020 23:15 (five years ago)

I was just listening to Stars Forever today. I think it's my favorite album of his. His old ironic-misogyny stuff really grates, but some of the songs on Stars Forever have the kind of heart I wish he'd put into his poetry more often.

OneSecondBefore, Tuesday, 11 February 2020 23:16 (five years ago)

Yeah he has a kind of nabokovian disdain for anything sentimental. This attitude seems to be declining—probably for the worse. It’s good to have some mandarins around.

treeship., Tuesday, 11 February 2020 23:25 (five years ago)

two months pass...

For those not in the habit of visiting the *BBC Scotland website, he's working on a Covid-LP.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52270653

(*I'm not either, someone posted the link on Facebook).

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Sunday, 19 April 2020 09:13 (five years ago)

"At that moment, I was very scared. I really thought - this is it - and started anticipating all the RIP Momus messages people would be posting."

Hey, let me drunkenly animate yr boats in about 25 to 60 days! (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 19 April 2020 10:10 (five years ago)

... on ILX. They missed that bit out.

The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Sunday, 19 April 2020 10:21 (five years ago)

^ Ha! I liked "The Hairstyle of the Devil reached number 94 in the singles chart in 1989."

djh, Sunday, 19 April 2020 10:45 (five years ago)

too high

mark s, Sunday, 19 April 2020 11:00 (five years ago)

... on ILX. They missed that bit out.

Well, yeah

Three Hundred Pounds of Almond Joy (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 19 April 2020 12:01 (five years ago)

my man with the hustle

treeship., Sunday, 19 April 2020 12:12 (five years ago)

“My Corona” lol

Paul, Sunday, 19 April 2020 13:33 (five years ago)

one year passes...

So there is a book about Momus coming out from Zero Books. I’m reading the blog it’s based on, fifteenpeople.com, and revisiting some of those albums.

Timelord is a great record. Not as snotty and arch, filled with longing and despair, so more my speed than his other records. I like how he draws out the main theme of most sci fi— the fact that so much of our technology is motivated by a desire to overcome time and death. The kind of thing that sounds trite in a messageboard post but the buried longing does come out on songs like Enlightenment, which also deals with more contemporary concerns

treeship., Saturday, 1 May 2021 14:09 (four years ago)

of course it's fucking zer0

cancel culture can't go far enough

Left, Saturday, 1 May 2021 14:13 (four years ago)

I’m discovering some personal stuff about him in the blog that isn’t so cool also.

treeship., Saturday, 1 May 2021 14:14 (four years ago)

Not trying to avoid that reality. I feel like momus is cancelled here already so discussing the music should be ok

treeship., Saturday, 1 May 2021 14:16 (four years ago)

six months pass...

Ah. Just came here to wonder how the book was?

djh, Saturday, 27 November 2021 16:49 (three years ago)

I'm unable to watch his series of Open University videos because he has this possibly unconscious click in his speech which really triggers my misophonia.

Luna Schlosser, Saturday, 27 November 2021 20:07 (three years ago)

two months pass...

Did anyone read the book?

djh, Sunday, 30 January 2022 19:41 (three years ago)

three months pass...

I wrote it, if that helps?

thranjax, Saturday, 30 April 2022 13:05 (three years ago)

four months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3KwmdOYPvk

MaresNest, Tuesday, 6 September 2022 17:28 (three years ago)


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