Back Catalogue

Mouse on Mars "Parastrophics" (MTR022) 
Monkeytown Records CD / 2xLP / Download 
Release dates: 
Feb 24th 
Feb 27th (UK) 
Feb 28th (U.S.)

Over the course of ten albums - not to mention an avalanche of side projects, remixes and collaborations - Jan St Werner and Andi Toma of Mouse On Mars established themselves as two of the most inventive and unpredictable artists in electronic music. But since they delivered the bracing, angular salvo that was Varcharz back in 2006, there has been an uncharacteristic period of silence. 

In 2012, that silence is broken. Mouse On Mars' triumphant return comes in the shape of Parastrophics, a life-affirming and constantly surprising album which is crammed with ideas, exuberance and sheer kinetic energy. It's like listening to the entire history of pop music - distilled, refined and crystallized into a string of compulsive new shapes, full of glitter, intrigue and addictive detail. Atomised fragments from two lifetimes of listening flare and fade, tiny scraps of memory shrapnel hover, tantalizing and insubstantial, before being whisked away by the next impatient idea. 

But despite all that restless curiosity, Parastrophics also demonstrates a peerless command of pace. Whereas some previous Mouse On Mars releases have bordered on the frenetic, their latest displays a subtle but persuasive sense of control. Even when tempos climb, 303s squirm and kick / snare patterns snap to brisk attention, there's an elegance to the way that each element slips in and out of the mix which speaks, 
whisper it, of maturity. Parastrophics is as a playful as ever, but it's never throwaway. The closing track „Seaqz“ is the perfect illustration, a frenetic romp which is perfectly held in check by gracefully undulating melodies; it brings into focus the beguiling sense of confidence that suffuses the whole record. All of which is a roundabout way of saying that, after six years away, Mouse On Mars have come back with their best record yet.

Mouse On Mars - the beach stop /// Monkeytown 2012

Mouse On Mars - chordblocker, cinnamon toasted feat. Steven Jo /// Monkeytown 2012

Mouse On Mars - metrotopy feat. Dodo Nkishi /// Monkeytown 2012

Mouse On Mars - wienuss /// Monkeytown 2012

Mouse On Mars - they know your name feat. Dodo Nkishi /// Monkeytown 2012

Mouse On Mars - Chagrin /// Too Pure, Rough Trade, American Recordings 1994

Selection of tracks taken from our debut album back in 1994!

Full track list from the album... 
1 Frosch 
2 Elli Im Wunderland 
3 Uah 
4 Chagrin 
5 Future Dub 
6 Die Seele Von Brian Wilson 
7.1 Katang	
7.2 Untitled 
7.3 Untitled

www.facebook.com/mouseonmars

Mouse On Mars - Future Dub /// Too Pure, Rough Trade, American Recordings 1994

The period leading up to the release of Parastrophics was one of uncharacteristic silence for Mouse On Mars. Their 10th studio album was 5 years in the making - and the record, for all its deftness and dizzying unpredictability, was notable for the resulting sense of gravitas. WOW is the exact opposite, a spontaneous reaction to all those hours of studio labour, created from scratch in a matter of weeks, and released just 9 months after its predecessor.

You can almost feel the tension being released. WOW is an exuberant, immediate and club-orientated counterpoint to Parastrophics, with Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma aiming their considerable technical finesse firmly in the direction of the dancefloor. There are no prizes for guessing the 303 delights that a track called “ACD” might have to offer; others, like “DOG”, “HYM” and the closing “SUN” deliver serious bass punch and genuine hands-in-the-air euphoria alongside Mouse On Mars’s trademark twists and turns.

The vocal presence tying the whole mini-album together is Dao Anh Khanh, whom the band met during their tour of Asia 2010. Dao is a performer and sculptor from Vietnam, who invented a fantasy language which the band recorded together with him in an arcane Hanoi studio. Further contributions come from the Argentinian girl punk band Las Kellies and Eric D. Clarke. Thrown together, these disparate elements come together to make a whole which is epic, abstract, intense and ridiculous at the same time. WOW is Mouse on Mars' bass theatre.

The record also makes much use of the wretchup, an iphone app which was invented by Mouse on Mars during preparations for their orchestral work Paeanumnion. The band went on to use wretchup effects on Parastrophics and on stage during their 2012 album tour – now they plan to make it available, via itunes, around the time of the release of WOW.

Mouse On Mars - HYM /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Mouse On Mars - PUN /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Mouse On Mars - DOG /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Mouse On Mars - SUN /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Mouse On Mars - CAN /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Mouse On Mars - VAX /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Mouse On Mars - ESO /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Mouse On Mars - ACD /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Mouse On Mars - APE /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Mouse On Mars - SOS /// Monkeytown Records 2012

Iaora Tahiti album by Mouse On Mars was released Mar 10, 1998 on the Too Pure label. Iaora Tahiti, the follow-up to Mouse On Mars’s 1994 debut Vulvaland, finds the band’s multi-textured techno-pop refined to a high art. Iaora Tahiti music CDs The German-based duo takes its cue from its Krautrock forebears, using spacey, insistent beats and grooves as an anchor for its smooth analogue language and digital chittering. Iaora Tahiti songs The first two tracks, “Stereomission” and “Kompod,” are expansive, loping compositions founded on fluid, burbling basslines. “Achunkel” sounds like ghosts playing drums in a cybernetic junkyard Iaora Tahiti album. “Bib” plows a swirling ambient vortex with pulse-quickening techno rhythms. The morphing bubble-scape of “Papa, Antoine” suggests a breeding ground alive with emergent microorganisms. These are dense, abstract sound collages of the first order, cerebral, intriguing, and challenging, without sacrificing rhythmic accessibility or the occasional melodic fragment. It might be said that Iaora Tahiti is one of the finest releases of its kind, were it not so strikingly unique.

Mouse On Mars - Hallo /// Too Pure 1995

Mouse On Mars - Papa, Antoine /// Too Pure 1995

Mouse On Mars - Omnibuzz /// Too Pure 1995

Over the course of eleven albums - not to mention an avalanche of side projects, remixes and collaborations - Jan St Werner and Andi Toma of Mouse on Mars established themselves as two of the most inventive and unpredictable artists in electronic music.