Pithy mouse, contrary mouse

>> Jan St. Werner of Mouse on Mars digs his own hole

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Ya'll remember the fable of the city mouse and the country mouse? They visited each other and couldn't hack each other's vibe? You know, the "agree to disagree" theme?

I see a parallel, talking to Jan St. Werner of German electronic duo Mouse on Mars. MoM's tuneography, you see, manages to stand entirely outside the parameters of "mainstream" music (techno, pop etc.), while at the same time avoiding the "difficult listening" pitfalls of the reactionary underground--their latest disc Niun Niggung, like the sounds found on the recent first comp from their own Sonig label, softens the sounds of science to create a comfy if entirely extra-human experience.

"The underground is interfering with the mainstream, and there is an exchange," observes St. Werner. "People look at what's going on in pop culture and make a statement against that, even if they say otherwise. On the other hand, the mainstream takes inspiration from the underground. The borders have become so loose, so you have to remember you're never safe."

That's what MoM have been letting other musicians know, with their adorable bastardizations of everything from jazz to jungle to tiki-tronic exotica. There's a message to their madness, so I can't resist teasing the mouse by suggesting that a message is perhaps most effective in a mainstream context. Talk about the mouse that roared!

"How does this message get transmitted, and how much gets compromised in the process? Your statement is dependent on your audience, so do you present that statement in such a way that you can print it on T-shirts, so that any idiot can grasp it? What gets made out of that statement by the idiots? And when it comes back to you, how much of an idiot have you become? If you have to explain yourself to idiots all the time, when does your idea become an idea of idiots? How much do you become an idiot who has to communicate so that idiots can understand?"

Sounds to me like this contrary mouse will be staying underground, thank you very much. :

With Wig and Luv at cabaret on Tuesday, May 2, 8pm, $12.50