múmia

with a series of teen plant shows coming up, what better way to get into the proper “frame of mind” than by “chillaxing” at a múm show at the somerville theater? i can think of a literally infinite number of ways.

1. well-organized, comprehensive rehearsals
2. eating healthy foods
3. sneaking up on the cat in the middle of the afternoon when it is asleep and deftly placing its paw in a cup of warm water to see if it starts peeing, and then when it does, shrieking and throwing the cat bodily across the room
4. exercise

múm is an icelandic electronica band that matt got us all tickets for, although dave couldn’t make it, which is just as well, because iceland fills dave with rage. we showed up late, thank god. the first opening act was a pianist who had attached bells and other clicking jingling shit to the strings of his piano, and we sat indulgently through that without making a single farting noise with our armpits. then came tom brosseau, a singer-songwriter from north dakota. i don’t want to sound overly negative, so i will say absolutely nothing about this person.*

i like múm’s recordings a lot, and i was very curious to hear their live performance–their albums are super programmed and produced, of course, and i figured those effects would be hard to reproduce in person. they use lots of fun little music-box sounds and bleeps and bloops and things that sound like jingling keys and tiny mutant birds and wooden marbles falling down the stairs.

here is what they sounded like live:

LA! LA LA LA LA LA!
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA.
DOO DOO DOO DE DOO
LAAAAARGGH

there was some electronica, but not much. mainly, it was two small and bouncy icelandic women singing very, very high-pitched melodies, doubled by melodica and trumpet and occasionally also the voice of a predictably thin and worried-looking icelandic man with a beard. underneath, the drums and bass were, to put it kindly, over-miked. at times, the effect was transfixing and really lovely; at other times, i felt like my head was being stomped on by giants. pixieish, ethereal giants, yes, but still.

we have resolved that reykjavik must burn.**, ***

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expect an announcement about our album soon–we need a version ready by the 9th, in any event, to audition for sxsw. thus far in the mixing process, we are pleased. we sound pretty kick-ass. copies will almost definitely be available for purchase at our shows, which are the next three saturdays at the lily pad. in fact, here’s the information again.

TEEN PLANT LIVE AT THE LILY PAD
Nov 10, 17, 24 : 7:30pm
Lily Pad : 1353 Cambridge St : http://www.lily-pad.net/
$10 ($8 on the 10th)
All ages : no dress code
RSVP welcome but not necessary : http://harvard.facebook.com/event.php?eid=6984591974

great. we’ll see you there then. our friendship is on the line, you understand.
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*except that his performance was the worst thing that has ever happened to me, and i have been hit by a bus four times
**with the burning passionate fire of HUGE GUITAR SOLOS
***also literally with real fire