Mouse On Mars, however, deliver not a cold, robotic, digital album, but a living, breathing record of their experimentations and perambulations in and around the subject of technology and its growing impact in our civilization.
Firmly experimental yet relaxed
For almost thirty years, Mouse on Mars, the legendary German duo (aka Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma), always seem to operate with a childlike curiosity and levity to their music. Theirs is not a sound of dark reverbs, thunderous distorted bass, or spiky digital tones, and lengthy rambling ambiences. This is the music of artists open to their world and always looking for new opportunities and inspirations. When they added drummer Dodo NKishi in 2005, their sound expanded into dalliances with rock while remaining firmly experimental yet relaxed.
AAI (aka Anarchic Artificial Intelligence) is twenty tracks varying in length from mere seconds to just over seven minutes concerning itself with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Fortunately as concept albums go, this one is intriguing, beguiling, and in some places quite funky. In the hands of less seasoned or careful musicians, this concept would devolve into nightmare scenarios of humanity being overtaken in yet another cyberpunk dystopia with some good tunes. Mouse On Mars, however, deliver not a cold, robotic, digital album, but a living, breathing record of their experimentations and perambulations in and around the subject of technology and its growing impact in our civilization.
“The Latest Space” pops, bumps and burbles along while disembodied robotic voices attempt to form their first words. “Thousand To One” is vaguely reminiscent of earlier MOM tracks from their older catalog while skirting the edges of power-noise and ambient music while creating a compelling track of their own. Much of the voices and text are those of scholar Louis Chude-Sokei who’s written groundbreaking works on technology and race among other topics. Or so you think, until you realize it’s software programmed to model his speaking voice. So the ghost in the machine is perhaps a man/machine, which, given the fact that Andi Toma is from Dusseldorf, home to gods of electronic music Kraftwerk.
Come for the music, listen to the words, and stay for the dawn of the singularity where Mouse on Mars is the housebound playing AAI.
AAI is available on Thrill Jockey. [Bandcamp | Release page]
