UMO has been touring since the start of the New Year, and the last of their North American tour dates are strategically scattered around the Pacific Northwest.
There was a grim irony to the demise of The Stool Pigeon earlier on in the year, such was the hyperbolic doom mongering assumed to speak of the then lingering uncertainties over the future of All Tomorrow's Parties – a once in a lifetime kinda festival held in dilapidated holiday camps across Southern England, if you've not yet been. That is to say that mercifully, though the 'Pigeon may have croaked it, organisers Barry Hogan and Deborah Kee Higgins live on to call upon variegated curators once more, thus making ATP so much more than an in every respect one-time [...]
Toronto's Wrong Bar was thrumming with hipsters by the time we arrived. Sadly missing first-band-on-the-bill Wampire, we fought through the beards, thick-framed glasses and girls who were born in 1993 to the sidestage, for what they call a "buzzband". Enter Brooklyn's Foxygen , channeling swagger and psychedelia, and aping Rolling Stones circa '71. I like Foxygen's classic rock enough, in the way I also really dig my folks' record collection. It's comforting, and live, the kids - Foxygen are a duo with three others for the tour - are alright. Between all the ace Sticky Fingering, [...]
"Takes me back to the place that I know, down on the beach." So sung Chris Rea back in the summer of '86, and on a given weekend of May 2013 the melodies perfuming the littoral airs of Brighton are sure to be that bit more dulcet still. The first wave of acts announced to play this year's edition of what is – at least to our ears – the UK's finest metropolitan festival, The Great Escape , caused something of a tempestuous stir as the likes of Darkstar , [...]
Photos by G. Foxygen The last night of February 2013 was a night of great music at New York's Bowery Ballroom as we were treated to the sounds of Foxygen and Unknown Mortal Orchestra at a sold out show at the legendary New York venue. There must be something about having the word Foxy in the name of your band (see Foxy Shazam) that has a requirement of the lead singer acting completely nuts on stage. The 5 piece indie rock band from Agoura Hills (shout [...]
Psychedelia and Other Drugs: Unknown Mortal Orchestra resides squarely in the neighborhood of mind-altered rock n' roll taken from the 60s and warped through time to stop, drop, and roll through fields of flowers and bees with kaleidoscopic inertia. On their second full-length, the simply-named II , the American-New Zealand hybrid band finds its rhythm by ramping up the woozy guitars and the bubbling bass lines, coming out with something much more expansive and satisfying than their self-titled debut album. Singer-guitarist and band leader Ruban Nielson has elevated his [...]
In typically Shoreditch, and thereby standoffish fashion there's a gaping abyss dislocating Southampton lo-fi pop practitioner Luke Donovan, aka Spectral Park , from the not insubstantial few huddled beneath a Cargo arch. Tonight sold out long ago, though there's a rather more considerable gaggle elsewhere, as something of a London underground who's who hoo-ha takes place at the bar next door. Steadily however, the flock drifts northwards from one cavern to another to coagulate in the dark, as Antipodean twangs abound. Then, from the gloom stealthily emerges a silhouette – an effete being with a [...]
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I like Portland. I liked the Mint Chicks . I love New Zealand. I dig noisy pop music. But as much as I like these things it doesn't necessarily mean I'd like Unknown Mortal Orchestra. I'm easy, but I'm not that easy. But I do like Unknown Mortal Orchestra . That's because Ruban Nielson writes good songs. The PDX by way of NZ musician surprised a lot of people (including himself) in 2010 when he posted the song "Ffunny Ffriends" on his Bandcamp page. Blogs ate it up before they [...]
Unknown Mortal Orchestra waltzed on the national stage from anonymity in 2011 to release one of the year's most critically acclaimed albums. As Scott McDonald wrote for Aquarium Drunkard at the time, "every sound falls right out of the sky." In 2011, critics spent more time discussing the shroud of mystery that cloaked the NYC-based trio of Ruban Nielson, Jacob Portrait and Gregory Rogove than they did wrestling with the sounds that made the act so compelling. Those that addressed the album itself spoke mostly of its cohesive, hook-driven aesthetic and the band's effective use of distortion [...]
Indulging in the retrograde pastime that is the immaculate indie scurry of The Beatles' back catalogue is easier flippantly disregarded than it is done over the www. though momentarily, something or other will come up on SoundCloud before it's snappily hauled back down again. And since the inauguration of the newfangled site's newly injected and seemingly random continuous play feature, there have been a couple instances of late in which I've done some proverbial rubbing of disbelieving ears at there being something as winsomely refined as a jaunty '60s Scouse ditty out there, only to find it to have in [...]
Ruban Nielson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, performs an acoustic version of "Swim And Sleep (Like Shark Does)." The video was made for The Fly Sessions curated by The Fly, a popular UK Magazine. Stream the forthcoming UMO album, II .
The notion of Ruban Nielson's Unknown Mortal Orchestra being impeccable emulators of R&B is one that's never quite sat right with my ears. Needless to say there's no doubting the effervescent, and with that consistently excellent output from Nielson et al. over these past few years (whether the Velveteen jangle of Ffunny Ffrends, or the angular jaunt down the soulful slant of How Can U Luv Me, or the snappy pop hooks of Swim and Sleep (Like A Shark) which were recently adroitly recomposed by none other than Little Dragon ) though the R&B terminology never quite [...]
Favorites Unknown Mortal Orchestra just debuted a bluesy new track from their forthcoming album II . The relaxing single, "So Good at Being in Trouble," features a soulful melody and heartbreaking vocals by Ruban Nielson. So good at being in trouble, so bad at being in love. Click here to view the embedded video. Unknown Mortal Orchestra's first single "Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark)" also received the remix treatment by electro-pop masters Little Dragon . Listen below: [...]
Towards the end of the third of four 2012 quartiles Portland, Oregon scuzz extraordinaires Unknown Mortal Orchestra unleashed Swim and Sleep (Like A Shark) – a preliminary peep into their now rather more imminent sophomore full-length, II . It was an ever airy, ramshackle amble of exemplary trashcan pop; a seamless continuation therefore of the eponymous début from the project concentratedly focussed about elusive NZ expat, Ruban Nielson. Here, though, it's the turn of Swede electropop sensations Little Dragon to give the single a thorough slick and span. Their very own point of [...]
This video and track popped in the early 2012 but its so awesome that totally deserves a post. Opossum is New Zealander Ruban Nielson brother from Unknown Mortal Orchestra Kody Nielson, the track sounds like a poppy space jam with undercover drum n bass beats and with the tripy space oddity style video "Getaway Tonight" just gets better and better. Taken from the debut LP Electric Hawaii.
UNKOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA has been pretty quiet since the release of their self-titled debut album in 2011. The band fronted by Ruban Nielson an ex- Mint Chick, has been pretty much off the radar for most of 2012, until now that is. The band will be releasing their second LP in early 2013 through their new label Jagjaguwar . The album is untitled at the moment, but I’m sure no matter what it’s called, the album will be brilliant. UNKOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA haven’t told us much [...]
Unknown Mortal Orchestra's 2011 Fat Possum debut is one of those albums that sort of blindsides: Every song is a different texture, soul, hip-hop, funk and psych layered for maximum gonzo appeal... Continue reading "Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Ruban Nielson on Nerve Damage, Howlin' Wolf and Flying Nun" >
![[Review/Listen] – Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “Unknown Mortal Orchestra”](http://cdn.elbo.ws/posts/3895851_lg.jpg)
Tweet Buy the album: Amazon | iTunes | UMO Store Psychedelic rock can get a bad name for being too freaky, while lacking the musical substance to justify itself. Unknown Mortal Orchestra is psychedelic, but it has character and complexity beyond that label. It's poppy and accessible while still distinctive and unhesitant, and the production quality of the band's eponymous debut album exceeds the expectations of a typical small-scale first effort, with intricacy, balance, and an identifiable perspective. [...]
What’s next for UMO? We start our first headline tour straight after our tour with Toro. Then we go to the UK to tour with Foster the People and then play some dates in Spain and France, then straight to Australia and New Zealand for festivals. That will take us to February when I’ll record my second album. After that we’ll get back on the road.
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Holy Ghost! "Dumb Disco Ideas"
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Weekly Mix Vol. I
