This is the thread for LA area people going to the Thursday Mouse on Mars/Junior Boys show

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And also the thread to talk about the implicit FAP that's coming together. It might just be a matter of chatting over drinks at the show itself while Ratatat is playing but I'm canvassing folks on the idea of meeting up somewhere beforehand for a quick bite and chat, if possible. Attendees so far:

Yours truly
Mark aka Robotsinlove
Greg aka Firstworldman
Spencer Chow
Remy
Paul Kennedy aka SciFiSoul, out here for a visit!
Dan aka dregan
metonymus prime

Add in thoughts, post photos after, etc. etc. etc.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 03:26 (twenty-one years ago)

FYI, I heard that Junior Boys played before Ratatat at show in Vancouver, so don't arrive late if you want to catch Junior Boys...

― vvvvv, Wednesday, 6 October 2004 04:45 (twenty-one years ago)

That doesn't surprise me if that's the way it shapes up on all dates.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 04:47 (twenty-one years ago)

That's the way it's listed here too, so don't be late! I'll try to find out the showtimes.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 6 October 2004 05:01 (twenty-one years ago)

are Ratatat missable? (don't know em)

― Paul (scifisoul), Thursday, 7 October 2004 05:13 (twenty-one years ago)

RATATATATATATATATATATATAT

― why do old people and old users of ILX such bastardos (deangulberry), Thursday, 7 October 2004 05:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Kaboom. I am tryin' to finish up my work so I can do the early meet-up part.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 7 October 2004 22:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, meet up info! Be at

Bossa Nova
7181 W. Sunset
6:30 pm

Brazilian food, cheap and good. If we don't see you there, catch you at the venue!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 October 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

That place is quite enjoyable.

― why do old people and old users of ILX such bastardos (deangulberry), Thursday, 7 October 2004 22:48 (twenty-one years ago)

saw this show in SF lastnight. Ratatat are definitely missable, though Jr. Boys come on first. JBs were great (except the guy's voice seems a little amateurish). MoM blew me away once again.

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Thursday, 7 October 2004 22:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't make this, no meeting! :(

― Howard Wine (nordicskilla), Thursday, 7 October 2004 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 7 October 2004 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Adam, I have to meet you sometime. You're like my more professional doppleganger.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Thursday, 7 October 2004 23:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Leaving for Bossa Nova now; will anybody be there? Remains to be seen.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Friday, 8 October 2004 00:07 (twenty-one years ago)

jess and amateur!st said the junior boys are good, so i wanted to go to this, but i can't. please report back. i don't know anything about the junior boys.

― youn, Friday, 8 October 2004 00:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Adam, I have to meet you sometime. You're like my more professional doppleganger.

Hahahaha! I see what you're trying to say, but I am afraid YOU are the professional, dude. I'm a big loser. Really.

― Howard Wine (nordicskilla), Friday, 8 October 2004 00:17 (twenty-one years ago)

JBs are quite good live. Ratatat = el stinko. MoM: FUCKING INCREDIBLE.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Friday, 8 October 2004 00:24 (twenty-one years ago)

What Matos said. The show followed exactly that trajectory! Great time had by all. Good seeing Paul, Mark, Spencer, Jeremy (for the meal but alas not the show), Greg, Rob Geary in a surprise guest appearance, and none other than the legendary ML Compton! (Well, some will remember.) Plus millions of friends of mine for some reason. I was the social butterfly that evening.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 07:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sure you looked the part as well, you little fashion plate.

― Howard Wine (nordicskilla), Friday, 8 October 2004 13:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Especially since YOU weren't around, you wannabe.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 13:08 (twenty-one years ago)

junior boys were surprisingly good! i would have loved to see them break from one of their more shoegazey tunes into a more straight-up danceable bit (like the breakdown in "birthday" hints at) but they seem afraid of losing the cardigan sweater types in the audience. that voice seems surprising coming out of the singer.

oddly i kind of liked ratatat- they're basically sega genesis music live.

mouse on mars flat-out incredible. i danced like a fool right up front the entire time. "frosch" as the encore!

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, that version of "Frosch" was AMAZING. Really didn't expect it but then that riff floated in.

So you were up front, good on ya, we were more towards the back and to the side. Introduce yourself next time if you can! A bunch of us should be at the Avalanches DJ set next Thursday.

The Ratatat description was apt, but I thought they were Trans Am gone WAY suck.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

oh ned, i'm rob g.

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

hi!

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Ah! See, it's all clear now. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

keep it on the down low

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Friday, 8 October 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, I dunno, this is kinda emo:

"Tonight I got your number
I even know your street
If you could only meet me
I know we're meant to meet

And if I find you
I know you make me feel
You make me feel more than real"

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 8 October 2004 15:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Oops, wrong thread.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 8 October 2004 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

So y'all in LA can feel a part of the world (or at least NAmerica):

mouse on mars, ratatat, junior boys VS ..and you will know us by the trail of dead

― peepee (peepee), Friday, 8 October 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

JBs were terrific and Jeremy is very nice and is well aware of ILM. Ratatat are awful. MoM have some odd trappings which keep me from fully loving them but they are ON when they sound like Prince!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 8 October 2004 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I was sorta noticing you were semi into them, semi-not. What didn't work for you? (Not being accusatory, merely curious.) I did think they took a couple of songs to warm up but after that, near unstoppable.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

There's this weird stoner rock thing going on, which I suspect is why they chose (I'm assuming they chose) to have Ratatat open for them. It just reminds me of close-minded people in high-school and college. I think it's holding them back from true greatness.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 8 October 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, much as I hate genre names but allow me this indulgence, I would say less stoner than Krautrock, which while a stereotypically 'obvious' connection given the German background -- and rightly or wrongly I sorta saw the more motorik moments as reflecting a version of Can where Malcolm Mooney both sang and played drums, if you will! -- results in something far more propulsive in a danceable sense than stoned-zone. This said, the line is often very fine where Krautrock and stoner blend off, Chuck Eddy's talked about this for years.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 17:56 (twenty-one years ago)

It seems to me that those Krautrock/Stoner-Rock elements are being intentionally left behind by the band (to some extent)in favor of the more Prince-like elements you mentioned. Their records reflect more and more of that vibe with each one, and the show, at least here in Seattle, was danceriffic in the extreme.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Friday, 8 October 2004 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I took a friend along to the JBs/Ratatat/MoM show in Omaha and thought that Ratatat was fine. My friend, being less into the electronics and more of a guitar guy, really enjoyed them. They weren't doing anything that amazing, but I thought it was enjoyable.

MoM was completely crazy though.

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 8 October 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

i kno this is lame but here.

― g--ff (gcannon), Friday, 8 October 2004 18:31 (twenty-one years ago)

i skipped junior boys at mutek to go see the fucking von bondies and some lesbo punk trio instead. what was i thinking. have fun.

― phil-two (phil-two), Friday, 8 October 2004 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

The Prince suggestion is...interesting. In that he didn't immediately leap to mind for me as a comparison point for what the band was doing. Rather than a leaving behind of anything, the show suggested an integration.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Two of their songs were straight-up early Prince jams (sounding kind of like "All the Critics Love U in NY").

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 8 October 2004 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

In fact I was thinking of the terms "Micro-Prince" and "Micro-Funk" last night to describe their really good stuff.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 8 October 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Do the Junior Boys sound like Mouse On Mars?

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 8 October 2004 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

(x-post) Huh. I guess? I'm not trying to knock the Prince comparison, really, I'm more bemused and intrigued -- like I said, it's just not something that either consciously or unconsciously suggested itself so specifically. Calling it 'micro-funk,' I respond to that more.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Well it seems like I'm not the only one. Also, I'm wondering if Matos picked up on it too, and if that's a part of why he found them "FUCKING INCREDIBLE".

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 8 October 2004 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I would not be surprised!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 19:18 (twenty-one years ago)

x-post to Ned, maybe "left-behind" is an overstatement, but I would certainly argue that those elements are being de-empphasized (though I see how you could make the argument that this is really just the integration that you are talking about).

This de-emphasis/integration/move towards the micro-funk/micro-prince thing made the show so much more enjoyable than I anticipated. I expected just to really enjoy the show. But these anthemic pop-dance elements made the show so hot it could have melted the face off the Terminator. (the Terminator was not there, to my knowledge)

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Friday, 8 October 2004 19:24 (twenty-one years ago)

We saw him modelled on the gym on La Brea walking to the venue. He looked ripped.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

It's all the andro I've been mainlining.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 8 October 2004 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Spencer Chow IS the Incredible Hulk.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

show was AMAZING last night. though unfortunately i didn't wind up meeting or talking to ilxors much. i couldn't get out of the office in time to meet up early and the venue was so loud and the music was so good (other than ratatat, but my friends liked them). mouse on mars were as good as i remember. danced from the first note to the last. i stand by my assertion that mouse on mars are the best live show going now.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:17 (twenty-one years ago)

the only disappointment was that niobe was selling merchandise but still didn't join them onstage... dodo did a fair job on 'send me shivers' though. even though i'm fairly exhausted, i'm considering going to the casbah show if only to see if they have the new niobe record for sale early... didn't occur to me last night.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:19 (twenty-one years ago)

If I go see the Chicago version of this show, will I suffer from being totally unfamiliary with the work of MoM, or will it still blow me away?

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:22 (twenty-one years ago)

It will still blow you away. I took a few people who didnt know any of the bands. They all liked the JBs and the one who stayed loved MoM.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

it wouldn't hurt to get familiar, but you might want to stick with more recent stuff if you don't want to mess with your preconceptions as to what the show will be like

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I've never heard a single note by them and really enjoyed it!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:26 (twenty-one years ago)

What's up with ILM folks not liking Ratatat but all their friends do?

― danh (danh), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

We are, like, so cool.

(To agree with the other points, MoM definitely put on a show you can easily get into. I still love the fact I saw an LA club show audience actually dance.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Dancing was in this week.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, I've been noticing alot of unashamed spontaneous dancing in L.A. of late - although maybe it was just me!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

N/A, I only have two Mouse on Mars albums, and when I saw them at the Hideout Block Party, they only played one song I knew within a 40-minute set -- but it was pretty unstoppable nonetheless.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Do you know how much tickets are for the Chicago show? Have you already ordered?

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 8 October 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i dunno, i got some hipper-than-thou stares for dancing, at least early!

there was very little micro about mouse live to my ears though...they took the little wibbly micro synth hook and turned them into monstro loud hooks. i can see it in the weightless between-song chaos bits.

i don't hear too much krautrock left in what they do at this point- even though they are literally a krautrock band. dodo's drumming is so fast, it seems to obliterate that point of comparison for me.

prince makes a bit of sense tho. i liked dodo singing "send me shivers" way more than i would have thought!

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:06 (twenty-one years ago)

i dunno, i got some hipper-than-thou stares for dancing, at least early!

Losers all. Mock them.

dodo's drumming is so fast, it seems to obliterate that point of comparison for me.

Definitely the drum-and-bass style fills are their own thing! But the likes of Neu! had their crisp and quick moments.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't ordered yet. Not sure how much tickets are. Will probably get soon, though.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i only saw the JB's in an instore, so i missed MoM. what's so exciting about their shows. are there live instruments? i figured it would be just laptops.

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Years back they were essentially keyboard/laptop-only types -- this is based on my seeing them in 1998 with Stereolab -- but now they have Dodo on drums and one of them (I don't know which is which from the core duo by sight) now plays bass and guitar, IIRC, as well as various tech related goods.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

shoot, i missed the meetup portion of the night...well at least i got to see two of la's notorious ilxors at the show.

― metonymus prime (rgeary), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:35 (twenty-one years ago)

This is why you should not be so mysterious. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 21:50 (twenty-one years ago)

So where was this show at and did it sell out? I've got to go to these instead of watching TV.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 8 October 2004 23:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Knitting Factory. Don't think it sold out but it was definitely packed.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 October 2004 23:20 (twenty-one years ago)

hey i was at this show!

i thought Ratatat was just fine. Much more engaging live than the Junior Boys.

Mouse On Mars were so much better than I thought they could be. Having a live drummer front and center is really great. I didn't get bored. I was really impressed with all the on-the-fly vocal manipulation too.

― brontosaur, Saturday, 9 October 2004 02:36 (twenty-one years ago)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/jcoombs/fap.jpg

(Paul, Mark, Ned, Benedryl-Enhanced-Me)

― Remy (x Jeremy), Saturday, 9 October 2004 02:45 (twenty-one years ago)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/jcoombs/fap2.jpg

also here is TEH OTHER WAY.

(em-decnahne-lyrdeneB, deN, kraM, lauP) and we don't look quite as bad.

― Remy (x Jeremy), Saturday, 9 October 2004 02:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Goofy ass photos of me there. But! The new glasses are FINALLY on display, rah!

hey i was at this show!

Speak up! And come out to more FAPs and things.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 9 October 2004 03:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Spencer's "stoner" comment wrt MoM sorta makes sense to me. I haven't seen them live but I'm having difficulty getting into the new album (nb. I haven't heard Idoliogy). I theoretically approve of what they're trying to do but - compared to Basement Jaxx etc. - there's a slightly leaden, weighed-down quality to their attempts to groove that put me more in mind of a rock band than a dance/disco/funk act, like all the samples are too heavy for the grooves to support.

I haven't ruled out falling in love with the album later on.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Saturday, 9 October 2004 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought the album was all right but the show much better. An official live release would be nice!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 9 October 2004 03:07 (twenty-one years ago)

What Tim says about Mouse on Mars makes a lot of sense...not that it really matters but I think they're intentionally incorporating awkwardness. Always seemed like those beats were supposed to be unwieldy, which sometimes works (when they congeal into a weird and v. personal groove) and sometimes doesn't (record is not so good as dance music.)

― Mark (MarkR), Saturday, 9 October 2004 03:56 (twenty-one years ago)

ned::
"and one of them (I don't know which is which from the core duo by sight) now plays bass and guitar" = andi toma

"Years back they were essentially keyboard/laptop-only types -- this is based on my seeing them in 1998 with Stereolab" i saw the same tour[vancouver] and as i mentioned on the other thread,really enjoyed the interraction the two had with each other on that date.

― william (william), Saturday, 9 October 2004 05:18 (twenty-one years ago)

whoa! who's that in the pics of Kevin Shields upthread? ;)

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Saturday, 9 October 2004 07:23 (twenty-one years ago)

er, wait. is it simon reynolds that everyone thinks ned looks like? no, it was shields, right?

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Saturday, 9 October 2004 07:24 (twenty-one years ago)

re: Ratatat... i can't believe i'm saying this but i think they would been really good with some vocals, and that's rarely something i advocate

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Saturday, 9 October 2004 07:25 (twenty-one years ago)

lets have a psychic tv fap

― big chaki (chaki), Saturday, 9 October 2004 07:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd go to the show for Babyland, but a reconstituted Psychic TV, I dunno...

no, it was shields, right?

Shields. Thus:

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2003-09-04/music_feature5-1.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 9 October 2004 12:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually, I suppose my new glasses increase that resemblance! Truly we are intertwined.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 9 October 2004 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)

saw this in san diego last night. really surprised the junior boys came across as good as they did plus three songs ive never heard. i think the most intersting thing i learned is how greenspans guitar playing is comparable to alan sparhawk which has kind of forced me now to reinterpret the jbs in general. will be posting pictures and a writeup this weekend for the ep site.

― twelve, Saturday, 9 October 2004 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

(apologies for slow postage)

a great pleasure to meet/see all of you: Ned, Spencer, Mark, Stripey, Remy & Jay
special thanks to Ned for helping organize the meetups & for playing host in his hometown

Junior Boys were amazing live - much better than I'd hoped, with casual semi-shy fun! stagepresence and unexpected strong guitar shockah! the 2 new tracks plus "Sweet One (Under the Sun)" and "Teach Me How To Fight" came off especially well.

we had a good chat with them after the set - which leads me to wonder how many ILx'rs will approach them during their long tour.

enjoyed Mouse On Mars too, though not nearly as much -
very interesting line-up, now electronic funk synth-bass-drums trio:
a bit dryly athletic due to lack of vocal center (much of the time) including primarily instrumental jamband aspect mentioned above
(not as bad as that sounds - see Ned's Can-comparison: think Mushroom/Oh Yeah/Vitamin C gone electro with less-vox)
still good though and I probably would have gotten into it more if less tired
(had to leave before the end so missed encore)

look forward to catching same lineup in New York

L.A. traffic was quite the experience - kinda fun jumping into it for first time baptism-by-fire in rental car

>> LOOT (Amoeba, Lou's, NoiseNoiseNoise):

Prince - Prince LP (selftitled 2nd)
ABBA - The Visitors LP (absolutely no ILM influence here)
Propaganda - A Secret Wish LP (ditto)
Scritti Politti - "Hypnotise" 12"
Kix - Kix LP (blame Chuck)
Maddy Prior & June Tabor - Silly Sisters LP
Wayne Wonder - "Bashment Girl" 7"
Killing Joke - Night Time LP (once had 2 copies of this in collection, but they belonged to a friend... no, not Alex in NYC)
B.B. King - Live At The Regal LP
Saint Etienne - Fox Base Alpha LP

― Paul (scifisoul), Sunday, 10 October 2004 04:32 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...

This is a TYPO of some note:

TUES MAY 24: CARIBOU (FORMERLY MANITOBA) / JUNIOR BOY / BRAD LAINER AND CHRISTOPHER WILLITS / RUSSIAN FUTURISTS

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Thursday, 3 March 2005 00:32 (twenty years ago)

At Spaceland

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Thursday, 3 March 2005 00:33 (twenty years ago)

Junior Entity

Anyway, this sounds like it should be a show of goodness.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 3 March 2005 00:44 (twenty years ago)

hey y'all.. just thought i'd mention here that Dan Caribou asked me to be on the bill after I
wrote him to call him out (in the friendliest way possible) about the rather huge Medicine sample on the last cut of the new album.. Man was I ever flattered, it's a truly great album !

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Thursday, 3 March 2005 01:09 (twenty years ago)

Heheh, I was wondering if you would say something. :-) So should we invade the stage or just bop around?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 3 March 2005 01:10 (twenty years ago)

you enjoy bopping ?

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Thursday, 3 March 2005 01:12 (twenty years ago)

Well yeah. You mean people don't?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 3 March 2005 01:15 (twenty years ago)

not usually to walls of guitar and laptop noise, no. but please fell free to buck that convention : )

― Brad Laner (Brad Laner), Thursday, 3 March 2005 01:18 (twenty years ago)

Woohoo! A challenge! :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 3 March 2005 01:42 (twenty years ago)

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