News, reviews, and an interview:
It's Very Internet to see new music appreciated less than pictures of the equipment used to make the music.
Thinking about originality. I am always going on about how angry it makes me to see people championing people that aren't doing anything new (or are basically a tribute act with a different name, and slightly different lyrics). And are you ready for everyone and their neighbour to start forming Shoegaze bands any minute now?
I'm often told 'but if you do something totally original no one will understand it.' And I used to agree with that. But now I'm not so sure. Because ever since I was a kid I have always been on the look out for music that sounds like it's from another planet. I want to be shocked by music. I want to listen to something and have no idea how the sounds were made. That's why I was so excited about people like Jon Hassell, Techno Animal, Autechre, Coil, drone-music etc. Music that was clearly coming from a very adventurous, other-worldly space. Gotta keep that in mind in future.
Organic + Mekanic
So, we managed to survive another year. Wow. And what a f*cking year it was: weird, scary, productive, fun, and unpref*ckingdictable to the last.
The rising tide of vile Right Wing Extremism in Europe and the UK was a constant source of genuine fear and concern. How the hell has it come to this? You don't have to be a Loony Lefty to see that the far right has never done anything but destroy. Xenophobia and hatred do nothing but sap energy and insight violence, fear and confusion in the hearts and minds of people. F*ck that.
The people with all the power laying blame on those with none: politicians demonizing the most humble, vulnerable and powerless members of society is just incredibly devious, cruel and unjust. Evil exists, running through the veins of blinkered, power - money greedy people with no regard for the consequences of their random, ignorant reasoning.
On a more positive note, we had a pretty damn productive year noise-wise. With the last couple of releases I think we've really realized our sound, and found more of a balance between the electronic and organic ingredients.
It's also been great for me to have more input from people like Arthur and Chucky. The great thing about collaboration is you get to be surprised. The end results are bigger than you and it's easier to be objective about them.
https://themekanoset.bandcamp.com/album/pareidolia
There will also hopefully be some juicy remixes from the likes of Hollow Press, Blindness, Mutate and Meatbreak coming soon. Oh yes! We've also reduced the prices of everything on our badcamp site in celebration of the new year!
A review of Pareidolia by Intravenous Magazine: http://www.intravenousmag.co.uk/2015/01/review-mekano-set-pareidolia.html
And check out an interview with us from The Devil Has The Best Tuna from last week: http://besttuna.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/TheMekanoSet.html
You can find daily updates from us via twitter and facebook.
The exploits of our assistant S.W. Tucker also make for fun (not informative) reading:
The Matchmaker, a play in one act by The Mekano Set.
Featuring:
Arthur Habsburg as a smooth-talking purveyor of mail-order brides
Milk M Taylor singing a chorus he doesn't know the words to
Sandra Tsch with the lil' faraway sighs
Arthur Habsburg as a smooth-talking purveyor of mail-order brides
Milk M Taylor singing a chorus he doesn't know the words to
Sandra Tsch with the lil' faraway sighs
"Meanwhile tell me, how young is your mother?"
https://twitter.com/mekanosetpress
Have joy!
The Mekano Set
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