brothers on the side…moodmat

June 27, 2008

Moodmat are an awesome collection that know their wheat from their chaff. Regular updates from across the musical spectrum, backed with intelligent writing and thoughtful reviews. Hey, and they blogged one of my mixes once so, you know, it’s all good. Not that I’m biased…I am very delighted they agreed to be my Brother.

Read on and join their world of merry music…

BACK TO BASICS
BLOG NAME:

moodmat

CONTRIBUTORS:

Dave Walker, Dan Sicko, Aran Parillo, Matt MacQueen, Rob Theakston

DATE OF FIRST POST?

May 18, 2006

HOW OFTEN DO YOU POST?

RT: I would say we post several times a week sporadically.
DS: Lately, it’s more like once a day.
DW: It all depends on that first cup of coffee.
MM: Not as often as the rest, only when something moves me.
AP: Ditto.

WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU STOP THE BLOG?

RT: If Alan Oldham came on board.
AP: Don’t stop till you get enough.
DS: Freeform radio everywhere.
DW: Deafness.
MM: If the rest of these guys stopped showing this crazy enthusiasm I feed on.

HYPE MACHINE OR EL.BOWS?

RT: record time
AP: hypem if you gotm
DS: Google
DW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_syndication
MM: HypeMachine, MOG, sneakernet, 4GB USB Jump drives, aggregations of the aggregators

BLOGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE
WHAT IS BEHIND YOUR BLOG NAME?

AP: Mojo!
DS: More specifically, The Electrifying Mojo’s freeform approach to late night radio. He refused to follow format and nicknamed his approach “moodmats.” That pretty much says it all.

THE BLOG IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN?

RT: myself. There is no “I” in team, nor is there one in “Matt”, “Dan”, “Dave” or “Teep”.
MM: those CD players with pitch control
AP: grammar
DS: Sleep, apparently.
DW: Working.

THE BLOG IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN?

AP: mixing records
DS: discovering music your own damn self.
RT: The Black Eyed Peas. Absolutely nothing trumps their importance.
DW: Listening.
MM: Diggin’

A POST YOU ARE DAMN PROUD OF?

AP: Pain In My Heart it’s a words and music thing
DS: Label-Based Listening deserved some more readers I think, and then the iTunes store collab with d.w.
RT: The one that hasn’t been written yet.
DW: The track review of Ilkae’s “Ampersand”

WHY MP3S, AND WHY NOW?

AP: Because size matters.
DS: The turntable in my car is broken.
RT: Because Steve Jobs said so.
DW: Because the big labels killed the single, and the people brought it back, on their own terms.
MM: The people push the good ones harder and better than the labels!

WHAT BAND OR PRODUCER IS REALLY DOING IT FOR YOU RIGHT NOW?

RT: There are two artists from Detroit right now who are making excellent tracks by the name of Jared Wilson and Todd Osborn. I’m really into their music at the moment. Other than that, I’m re-discovering my love for the guitar playing of Taku Sugimoto and Frank Zappa, and I’ve been really into another group by the name of Caboladies.
AP: Two friends from Bavaria as Black Spider Clan, Two strangers from The Big Apple as Salem
DS: Battles, Holy Fuck, Ben Benjamin, James Pants, Nu:Tone, Minotaur, Burial and the new Recloose I can’t get my hands on yet!
DW: Deerhunter/Atlas Sound, Ilkae, Kode9, Statuesque, also rediscovering early 70s Moog-y stuff (Wendy Carlos, Isao Tomita)
MM: Thinking in labels… Hyperdub, Basic Replay, Curtom, HotFlush, ~scape, Nu Groove, Trax, SAM, Environ…

OTHER THAN LIKING THEIR TRACK WHAT WOULD A BAND OR LABEL HAVE TO GIVE YOU TO MAKE YOU POST ON THEM?

RT: Sincerity.
MM: They only have to be doing something interesting.
AP: Just give me some of that good ole hype shit
DS: Anything that makes other writers overuse the phrase “defies categorization.”
DW: I want to believe. Just make me believe.

IF YOU COULD GET ANY WRITER OR MUSIC EVENT EXCLUSIVE FOR YOUR BLOG, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

RT: Paul Morley.
MM: Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton, and maybe Irvine Welsh.
AP: Catch some waves with Rich James off the coast of Cornwall.
DS: Haruki Murakami talking about his record collection.
DW: Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone interview.

THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
3 BLOGS THAT YOU RECOMMEND / INSPIRED YOU TO START:

AP: aquabahn, sonicsunset, and hyperreal
DS: 3hive, Beware of the Blog and Russell Davies
RT: Talking Points Memo and 1115.org showed me just how powerful blogs can be back in the days when John Kerry waffled his way to a loss in the Presidential election.
DW: Sam Ruby’s Intertwingly (the techie’s techie), Little Hits, Glenn McDonald’s old War Against Silence reviews.
MM: Reverb (okay, it was a diskette), and the whole DJHistory forums tipped me to so much content.

3 DESERT ISLAND BOOKS:

RT: A.I.A. Guide To Detroit, Miles: The Autobiography and The Real Frank Zappa Book
AP: Moby Dick, The Lotus Sutra, and Techno Rebels of course!
DS: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, Word Freak, Guru: My Days with Del Close
DW: V, The Sound and the Fury, and Neuromancer

3 DESERT ISLAND RECORDS:

RT: Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, Revolver by The Beatles and Claude Young DJ Kicks.
AP: Axis Bold As Love - Jimi Hendrix, Selected Ambient Works - Aphex Twin, and I’ll borrow Rob’s copy of Revolver and stash the cassette copy of Standing On The Beach in my pocket.
DS: Daniel Bell - The Button Down Mind Strikes Back, Fila Brazillia - Luck be a Weirdo Tonight, Prince - Controversy.
DW: Pet Sounds, Lush - Gala, Various Artists - Decay Product.
MM: Prince - Sign O’ The Times, Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique, Rhythm & Sound.

3 PEOPLE YOU REALLY HOPE WILL READ YOUR BLOG:

RT: anyone willing to throw sinful amounts of money at us to start Moodmat Digital Consulting International.
AP: the 3 people who tune into the radio shows I do
DS: Ginnifer Goodwin, Chloë Sevigny and Jeanne Tripplehorn
MM: SonicSunset.com listeners
DW: people who gave up buying records years ago

3 PEOPLE YOU HOPE WILL NEVER READ YOUR BLOG:

RT: Dave Eggers, My boss, My boss’ boss
AP: No Comment [laughing]
DS: George Bush III, George Bush IV, George Bush V
MM: all the hack DJs I had to open up for when I was getting started
DW: lifestyle consultants

AND FINALLY
A TRACK FOR THE READERS OF INNERSOUNDS…

RT: Frank Zappa- Sleep Dirt: A lot of people know him as the really weird guy with the mustache, but in between all of the novelty and serious music he was known for he also made several quiet, extremely introspective tunes. This one in particular is a rare acoustic improvisation around a deceptively simple chord progression. I like this one on rainy fall Sunday at night, with Monday looming ever so slowly in the background waiting to pounce.
DW: The Left Banke - Pretty Ballerina: Amazingly inconsistent band, but they hit a couple of singles (this and “Walk Away Renee”) out of the park.
AP: Mu-Ziq - The Sonic Fox: I have owned 3 copies of the Tango N’ Vectif 2×12″ through the years (I wear out the grooves) and have it in CD format as well. Suffice to say I quite like it. This song is simply an example of the type of music that inspires words in my head.
DS: Orbit - The Beat Goes On: This is a Sonny & Cher cover (of all things), whipped up by Don Was of Was (Not Was) and mixed by Ken Collier to compete with (or more likely ride the success of) Kraftwerk’s “Tour De France.” A wonderfully weird and convoluted tribute.

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