An extremely
bizarre,
obscene and original musician from Scotland. Actually his one-man band is called Momus. The performer's name is
Nick Currie. The music in his songs can be interesting but is mostly less than exciting electronica (sometimes fast, sometimes slow) played on computers and
Moogs. The interesting part about his songs are the lyrics. His subject matter ranges all over, but some of his favorite topics are
sex, his
penis,
women, and
Japan. Some
choice song titles are "The Penis Song," "My Pervert
Doppleganger," and "Everyone I Have Ever Slept With." For a quick peek into his style I recommend "I Want You, But I Don't Need You" from
Ping Pong. Just don't try and play it on the
radio without listening to it first.
Possibly the most interesting concept album I've heard of is his Stars Forever release. He explains the idea on its last track- essentially he got in legal trouble for
libel and had to raise some money. His novel idea was to write songs about people and put them on his next album in exchange for US$1000 each. People were selected after they submitted brief
bios to him. Another half dozen songs on this album were contributed by people who wrote new lyrics to Momus's own
karaoke music released on the previous album, Little Red Songbook. Having been given a reprise from writing about himself with Stars Forever, his new album Folktronic returns to his traditional
font of material. In addition to the other 15 some-odd albums he's released about himself, he has also written songs for other
indie artists such as
Kahimi Karie.
I was lucky enough to catch him on tour
recently at T. T. The Bear's in
Cambridge,
MA where he played to a crowd of less than a hundred (it's a small
venue). He talks about his inability to become famous because of his "principled
shamelessness" in "How to Get -And Stay- Famous" on Ping Pong. During his performance he had two laptops on the floor which he used to play his music off of while he sang the lyrics into a microphone.
Dressed in tight fitting brown pants, a large collared
pastel shirt, a
tight sweater, and his customary black
eye patch he elaborated on his lyrics by dancing around the stage,
gesticulating at the audience and at one point
humping the microphone stand as it lay
prone on the stage. Quite a performance,
if you like that sort of thing.
Discography:
Not all of his albums are currently being
pressed, so you may have to dig around for the old ones.
- Folktronic (February, 2001, Le Grand Magistery)
- Stars Forever (August, 1999)
- Ping Pong (April, 1999) Personal favorite
- Little Red Songbook (1999, Le Grand Magistery)
- 20 Vodka Jellies (April, 1999, 1996)
- Slender Sherbert: Classic Songs Revisited (January 1995, Cherry Red)
- Philosophy of Momus (1995, Cherry Red) Never heard this one
- Ultra Conformist: Live Whilst Out of Fashion (1992, El/ 1994, Cherry Red) Or this one
- Voyager (1992)
- Timelord (1993)
- Hippopotamomus (1991)
- Monsters of Love (1990)
- Don't Stop The Night (1989) I'd never even heard of this one before I did this w/u
- Tender Pervert (1988)
- The Poison Boyfriend (1987)
- Circus Maximus (1989, 1986, Cherry Red)
References:
http://www.demon.co.uk/momus/index3.html
http://www.cdnow.com