21.1.2006
DecoyMusic.com

Rating: 4.0 RIYL: Captain Beefheart Kenna Self Millionaire Lovage

Iceland, home of rolling green prairies, Beastie Boys lovers (Quarashi), and some chick named Bjork, is not a place you think of when you think electro-boogie-folk. Then again, not many places are…

 

Enter one "Mugison," a man who knows life and knows how to use his somewhat limited voice. Throughout the record, it's almost constant that he plays a less upbeat Dave Matthews channeling Don Van Vliet (AKA Captain Beefheart). Combine this with found sounds, acoustic instrumentation, and the occasional noisy outburst and bass-heavy rocker, and you might think you have Mugison pegged. That's when he throws the curve. He lets his soulmate Runa introduce herself on many tracks. Her voice is soft and wistful, a beautiful combination of Jennifer Charles and Nina Persson. With Runa in tow, there's nothing that keeps Mugison down.

 

The beautiful arrangements he comes up with for tracks like "Two Birds," "Salt," and "What I Would Say at Your Funeral" are in sharp contrast to the noisy, bass-driven Millionaire-meets-That-1-Guy sung by Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam, with a guest appearance by Neon Blonde, of "Sad as a Truck" or the strangely enchanting and disarrayed "I Want You."

 

Frankly, Mugimama! Is This Monkey Music? lends itself almost equal air time to his more tender, thoughtful pieces and his more frantic, sonically explorative quests, throwing the listener off their guard on many an occasion. Also sprinkled throughout are some random interludes of about 40 seconds each that come out of nowhere and seem to serve no real purpose, except to continue to leave the listener guessing as to what was going to happen next.

 

It should be noted that I bought this album used. After all, in my first five attempts to listen to this album, I found myself hitting stop every time. This is definitely an album you'll have to force yourself to listen to in its entirety the first time or two. Eventually, you either love it, accept it, learn to deal with it, or send it back to wherever the hell it came from. It's definitely not for everybody and Mugison's voice also tends to leave a bit to be desired, although that is another aspect of his music that will grow on you if you give it a fair trial.

 

In answer to the question posed by this album's title, "Yes, flung feces and all." Mugison gives everything he has to give, including the kitchen sink (listen to "2 Birds"). Some would say this is a masterpiece. Others would say it's an absolute abomination. Therein lies its charm; therein lies the monkey business.

 

--Ben Rice

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