clash magazine
boy scout recordings compilation - october 2008
seventeen tracks from an eye opening selection of the folk spectrum with tracks from, apparently tim's grandfather's group, the rural serenaders (beamed in from a twenties tea dance), the light latin grooves of the sargasso trio and the hobo country-blues of the excellent turner cody. also worthy of a mention is the electronic low-key glitch folk of canada's mossyrock, whose admirably long musical legs allow them a foot in two very distant camps. a maverick who consistently supplies the goods, tim 'love' lee again throws the spotlight on some uncommon but deserving gems.
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guardian gig guide pick of the week: rock & pop - april 2008
mossyrock
city screen basement bar, york, saturday
brooklyn duo tout fine indie folktronica cabaret. deliberately plinky plonky music that demands primary school percussion backing.
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encore magazine - encore staffwe fest music pick - may 2007
mossyrock
as "i know i'm not wrong" began at www.myspace.com/mossyrockmusic, i drifted somewhere back into the '80s. ethereal pop made up its sound: sweet and electronic, with rhythms iconic of new wave; yet, it was not devoid of depth. one listen made it clear that mossyrock had succeeded the '80s, as this band doesn't depend on simple pop beats to make their music fun. it's fun because of the variation they put into it, not relying on one genre to get their point across.
"take the chill off the cork" is a perfect example of a diddy that is folk-laden. in fact, the song's violin squeals in sweet harmony, while the mandolin backs it up to near perfection. i could listen to this song over and over again and never tire of it.
proving diversity can work in a band, "i want to eat your eyes" is another step away from the previous two sounds. it intertwines bass lines with horns, and the jangle of the tambourine gives it a sweeping movement that is undeniably sexy.
mossyrock will probably provide one of the more eclectic and fully entertaining sets on saturday at 10:30pm in the laundro lounge.
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ffwd- kenna burimamossyrock interview - July 2006
the lovely, electronic, indie mossyrock.
brooklyn group discovers life after house music with organic folktronica.
going from zero to one isn’t that big a step, but for brooklyn’s mossyrock, their latest album solidifies their move away from their four-on-the-floor club cut beginnings as intergalactic faerie funk to the subtler, pop-imbued sound found on their latest offering, the zero to one sessions.
multi-instrumentalists marc hug, dominica paige and peter spiers combine slinky, broken beats with laptops, guitars, mandolin, cello and vocals to create what might be described as "folktronica" reminiscent of glitch-pop heroes zero7 and fourtet. though they have a couple of remixes, singles and seven-inches under their belt, the zero to one sessions find mossyrock solidifying their sound and offering a perfect soundtrack to a lazy summer day.
"it was actually pretty amazing," admits guitarist, mandolin player and laptop operator marc hug. "we went to this huge gallery in kitchener (the zero to one gallery) with this ballroom. so we set up a bunch of fabric in a circle and didn’t leave for 10 days. we actually set up a tent and we’d sleep in the tent and then just wake up and make music. we’d sometimes stop for food, but we’d really just work until three in the morning and then do it all over again." so was born the zero to one sessions – a simultaneously organic and pre-programmed romp through textures, loops and beats. the magic of mossyrock lies in their ability to manipulate the sounds they create live. the most fundamental tool at their disposal is the ableton live program, a loop-based software music sequencer designed specifically to be as much an instrument for live performances as it is a tool for composing and arranging. everyone from blockhead and daft punk to mogwai and the crystal method use the program in their live shows. because of the performance aspect of the program, processing is done in real time, rather than the playback mode typical of most other sequencers and sample programs. this creates an interesting visual effect for the performer and the audience.
"there are definitely moments where i’ve been playing guitar onstage and the audience watching me will see me playing guitar but they can’t hear it," says hug. "i’ll be catching a loop of it and then i’ll stop playing and the loop will play. i’ve seen a couple people look really confused, but then some people do know and get it."
it’s a process that works well for the group both in the studio and performing live. "i’m not a very good guitar player," admits hug with a laugh. "but iwork out these pretty little lines and then loop them. then i’ll do another thing with the guitar and put it on top and blend the two together to create something that really can’t be played on guitar in real time. "all the sounds you’ll hear we’ve created ourselves and manipulated in some way. it’s a whole layering and building process where we’ll incorporate guitar, vocals and mandolin that we’ll catch in a loop. but at the same time we’re playing completely live."
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beatroute - mike pathosmossyrock article- july 2006
mossyrock.
it's on a roll.
marc hug is on the move. i've caught him shortly before leaving brooklyn to begin the north american tour with his bands mossyrock (with vocalist dominica paige, and peter spiers) and intergalactic faerie funk (IFF).
the industrial noise i hear in the background to our conversation seems worlds away from the organic sounds of the mossyrock universe, where guitars are guitars, mandolins are mandolins, and violas are violas - or are they?
on their first EP released last fall, mossyrock marries the old soul of american folk styles to the uptempo heartbeat of electro. it's a long way from being blown away by 808 state's 'pacific' as a young guy in toronto. but not as far from the quirky style of lullaby baxter, occasional calgarian and perennial musical eccentric. "when i was in ottawa i heard lullaby baxter on the radio and have been a huge fan ever since," hug exclaims. it was such influences, plus meeting the rest of what would become mossyrock in philadephia, that led to hug's technicolour revolution from the more monochrome explorations of dark house music in his older and ongoing solo project, intergalactic faerie funk (who recently got mix/remix treatment from house pioneer jesse saunders). live IFF is "playing improvised versions of the recorded tracks. very electronic. maybe a bass player, but it is very different," from the full, frequent and freaky folky use of live instrumentation in mossyrock.
which brings us to this most brillian of band names - how did 'mossyrock' come to be called
"mossyrock"? marc tells all: "mossyrock is the name of a small town in washington state where i found myself after burning man in 1998. it was a really wonderfully beautiful place and we were in some shitty little diner having wonderful conversations. the name of the place just really stuck with me. i always knew
that i wanted to do something with it and so finally - we did.
marc writes most of the music and then passes it along to dominica who "adds her layer to it by coming up with some vocals and melodies and cello and viola. the third person we work with has the most amazing patience for mastering and eqing and taking care of that side of things". which only goes to show: every good electronic band needs at least one good knob twiddler. even if said knobs are more likely to be virtual these days: according to marc, "making electronic music has definitely gotton easier. i used to use an emu sampler and a groovebox to sequence it and while i made some pretty bizarre samples it would take hours and hours and hours." using ableton live both in the studio and on stage now, the whole process has becom more natural - more mossy(rock), even? "that natural sound is kinda wonderful - not coming back in a huge way but maybe a bit more popular now, again." it's almost like now we have all this technology people were in such a rush to get in the twentieth century, people aren't so happy and want to go back to a simpler technological time. "i don't know if i want to go back, but i'm definitely enjoying using elements of it".
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the stranger - critic picks
recommended - july 6 2006
recommended critics pick:
mossyrock at the jewel box theatre. 2322 2nd ave. $5. with: the feverfew,
marshall watson.
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las vegas citylife - jeff inman
music pick - may 2006
stranger danger
mossyrock mastermind marc hug seems to attract
all the wrong things
Standing next to Marc Hug can get you killed. The guy attracts violence.
It's his oddball superpower, like he's got some radioactively-induced
compass that inadvertently points him towards massive brawls and drive-bys.
Granted, part of the Mossyrock leader's problem is proximity; he and
his wife, cello player and vocalist Dominica Paige, live in the borderlands
of Brooklyn, that narrow stretch between the tony townhouses of Brooklyn
Heights and what the Wu Tang Clan long ago dubbed Crooklyn. So odds
are he's going to bump into something shady on occasion. But only someone
with mutant abilities gets to witness a knife fight during his CD release
party -- at a Chuck E. Cheese. Yet last fall Hug and his friends stood
in shock while two families, presumably at the kiddie palace to enjoy
the bad pizza, Skee-Ball and ear-shattering noise of 6-year-olds screaming,
started going after each other. "They were attacking each other
with bread knives or something," remembers Hug. "I've never
seen anything like it before."
At least until three weeks ago when, out getting some juice, Hug rounded
a corner just in time to witness a funeral turn into a gun battle. "There
were 40 people fighting. There were gunshots. We could smell the gunpowder
wafting through our apartment," says Hug. "The cops eventually
showed up and cleared everyone out, but that night, when the police
were gone, these roving gangs were out walking the streets. It was a
scary situation."
The thing that makes Hug's odd power even more bizarre is he's as mild
mannered as a sleepy puppy. He talks quietly. He looks as threatening
as a group hug. And his music is the kind of stuff a diehard clubber
would listen to while hanging out with his shoegazer friends -- hushed,
mellow and melodic electro-indie rock that floats by your ear like bubbles
of sound.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that Hug was once a trifle more aggressive,
though just in his desire to have fun. The Canadian transplant was once
-- and on rare occasions, still is -- at the heart of the Intergalactic
Faerie Funk, a band/collective that pumped out haunting house music
with the efficiency and killing power of an M-16. The band's first full-length,
The Intergalactic Faerie Funk Debut, gurgled and bounced like a club
vixen with the hiccups. But its second disc, The Happy Ending Massage,
was decidedly mellower, a lounge-ready experiment in chilled beats and
binary code that both opened doors for the band and drove original fans
nuts. Reviews were positive. Hug was happy with the music. And while
some party offers dried up, the group started getting more gigs, though
not in the South. "They didn't like the word 'faerie' much,"
he laughs. So a name change later, Mossyrock -- and potentially Hug's
magnetic pull -- was formed.
"We never intended to be a house band," says Hug. "We
just did this house set at a party and that got the ball rolling. We
never thought about being pigeonholed. We were just having fun. We wanted
to play everything."
And Mossyrock now gives Hug the opportunity to do that. Built around
intertwining loops of sound -- from acoustic guitar to horns, computerized
noise to Paige's delicate warbling -- Mossyrock is capable of doing
anything Hug feels like, from the beautiful, indie-rock-inspired "I
Want to Eat Your Eyes" to "Whiskey is the Devil," a track
that vaguely sounds like giants dancing during a digitized drizzle.
Jazzy bass lines often snuggle up to molasses-coated funk beats. Bits
of melody crackle in like someone else's phone conversation. Noise somehow
sucked from the depths of space hovers in the background, giving a song
like "Lips the Hurt" an otherworldly feel, even as it descends
into a drum circle breakdown.
"When I sit down to write I definitely have these ideas of what
I want something to sound like," says Hug, "but it doesn't
ever quite happen that way. Sometimes something better does. These songs
get built up so much, with layers of loops and sound, and I just love
it when that happens. The only problem is when we have to re-learn how
to play them live so people don't think there's a laptop on stage playing
an MP3, but it's definitely worth it."
Even when the bread knives come out.
Mossyrock (with Toof) - Wed., May 17, 10 pm - Divebar - 3035 E. Tropicana
Ave.
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salt lake city weekly - jamie gadette
music pick - may 2006
Come on down.
You could label mossyrock as electronic indie artists, but that description
might lend comparisons to Bjork, Sigur Ros, or some other transcendent
Icelandic band. and while the Brooklyn-based group has ties to Intergalactic
Faerie Funk, their sound is not so mythical but rather grounded in real-world
bossa nova and down-tempo lounge with the occasional shredding guitar
thrown in for good measure.
This is what happens when the price is right theme song is recycled
through drum machines, synthesizers and a magical tape loop. Listen
closely. It's in there.
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amarillo globe news - get out!
trent benson - mossyrock article - may 2006
Mossyrock, Toof To Electronify Audience
Electronic music falls under a large umbrella.
You know this firsthand if you've ever experienced the frustration of
browsing through your local CD store's electronic/techno music section
only to find all the good stuff shrouded by musical embarrassments such
as Right Said Fred, Aqua and Culture Beat. Basically anyone who uses
a drum machine falls into the category of electronic/techno. So, like
a puzzled biologist who has just discovered a new species, we try to
label bands like Mossyrock and Toof - two bands set to play Sunday night
at The Nat Ballroom, 604 S. Georgia St. Doors for the show will open
at 8 p.m. Opening the bill for the evening will be the Amarillo native
band Pickin' Dookies.
Both Mossyrock and Toof use drum machines for their percussions but
aren't purely electronic. "There's sort of a group of people that
I really like," said Marc Hug of Mossyrock. "And I feel like
a part of that world that doesn't have an easily accessible name. There
are some who call it electroacoustic. Folktronic. One name I heard mentioned
was electronic indie folk." Mossyrock - a trio consisting of Hug,
Dominica Paige and Jeffro Richards - combines an arsenal of samplers,
guitar, mandolin, viola/cello, keys, bass and vocals to generate creative
house vibes for their shows.
Mossyrock met Toof when they were on the same bill at a show in New
Orleans. "We instantly understood what (Toof) was doing,"
said Hug.
As the one-man band Toof, Trey D'Amico of Austin combines his musical
talents with a sharp, quick-witted humor to entertain audiences. His
lyrics are akin to the Flaming Lips, and his sound sits somewhere near
Aphex Twin and The Postal Service.
Regardless of how you want to categorize the music of Mossyrock and
Toof, the Sunday show at The Nat Ballroom is going to be something the
live music scene in Amarillo doesn't see very often.
Cover charge is $5.
"Music pays the bills," said D'Amico jokingly. "I'm actually
living out my dream of working at a grocery store."
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resonance magazine # 47 - kris kendall
mossyrock review - november 2005
disparate house Vibes
Planning on hosting a record-release party at the Chuck E. Cheese in
Brooklyn? Talk to mossyrock first. The self-described "dark and
lovely electronic indie rock" trio enjoyed their time at the arcade/pizzeria,
sure. But the group learned two days later that while celebrating their
debut lp the zero to one sessions, they'd narrowly avoided a violent
family feud. "We read about these families having a knife fight
inside the Chuck E. Cheese," says programmer/guitarist Marc Hug.
"There was some argument and one guy was slashed with a bread knife".
Hug, Dominica Paige (vocals, cello, samples) and Jeffro Richards (guitar,
bass, keys) have bounced around several cities, seperately and together
over the years, but now dance a strange tango with Brooklyn, mossyrock's
current base of operations. As Hug says, "Theres just nothing like
where we live in Brooklyn." Life on the border of two neighbourhoods
- one "historic and nice" the other "historically not
nice, " Hug says - plays out in the psychedelic tension in mossyrock's
music.
Squeezing sequenced house beats into territories normally reserved for
jazz, zero to one starts with gurgling beats that slowly gain momentum
with electric rythm guitar and keyboard noises that hint at melody.
But whenever mossyrock reaches full-on danceable mode, an acoustic guitar
loop is likely to cut a dry swath throught the funk. Even the distant
trumpet call in "i want to eat your eyes" seems to come from
the song next door - sounds from the real world invading a daydream.
Hug and his cohorts thrive in a live setting and are eagerly touring
in support of zero to one during the fall. But back at home, he cites
the films of David Lynch, Paiges love of "anything gorgeous and
wonderful" and the band's improvisations during their shows (captured
on Hug's laptop as they play) as contributions to the songwriting. "The
other day i heard someone say, 'i can't play accordion on the guitar,'"
says Hug. "and i totally have an idea for a song from that."
Perhaps that stabbing at Chuck E. Cheese will become a mossyrock tune
as well.
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exclaim magazine - matthew hiscock
the zero to one sessions review - august 2005
mossyrock. zero to one.
if wendy/walter carlos had risen to fame for scoring ’70s pornography,
this album’s opening track is what it would have sounded like.
based in brooklyn but brought to us courtesy of canadian label nice+smooth,
mossyrock make up-tempo, instrumental break beats heavy on synths and
unusual effects - though that doesn’t really come close to describing
the spread of sounds here. in some parts (“whiskey is the devil”)
there is a funky latin flavour, while in others (“vino collapso”)
it sounds like a jimmy jam and terry lewis production circa rhythm nation
- until the acoustic guitars come out, that is.
so it’s hard to know where they’re going with all this,
but yet they pull it off. kind of like if tortoise decided to make a
“dance” album. how could that not be good?
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arizona night buzz - johnathan bond
music pick - may 2006
toof, mossyrock get electronic at counterculture may 19
On the bill at the Cafe is a band from Brooklyn called Mossyrock. They
are an experimental electronic trio that takes organic music they have
created and cuts it up in a way that would make ol' Burroughs proud.
They have a bunch of melted and stop-start beats that might trick even
the most adept fractured dancer, but there is also a lot of structure
to their loops.
They play live instruments as well as recorded and live samples and
loops at their shows, including a cello, which can't hurt. From what
I gathered, Mossyrock was born out of another project centered around
improvisation.
I sent Toof (stage name) and Mossyrock's Mark Hug (real name) questions
and they both had cool things to type.
AZNightBuzz: Are you located in Austin? How did you hook up with your
touring mate Mossyrock?
Toof: I live in Austin, but I hooked up with Mossyrock a couple of years
ago when we played a show together in New Orleans. I don't know if you
know this, but there was a hurricane there last year. Anyhoo, we kept
in touch and realized that we could do these little tours and get along
really well. I haven't seen my own self naked as much as I've seen Mossyrock's
naughty bits.
AZNB: How do you guys travel when you go on these long distance tours?
Toof: We usually rent a little car to save money on gas, then we all
like to complain about how small the car is for the entire tour. But
this time it's only three of us instead of four, and you would be surprised
at how luxurious a Ford Focus can be with only three people!
AZNB: How did Mossyrock get together?
Marc Hug: Mossyrock evolved out of another project that I am a part
of, called I.F.F., which is very much an improvised electronic dance
music project. There was a rotating collective of people and within
those people there were a couple of us interested in making some different
styles of music and creating more of a traditional band. Voila!
AZNB: Your work has a lot of loops and samples, where do you find your
source material?
MH: About 99 percent of the loops and samples are created by us. All
the guitars, mandolins, strings, et cetera, were played by us, then
chopped up and arranged and looped. The sounds we didn't create were
taken from answering machines or field recordings.
AZNB: Does everyone write or is there a principle songwriter?
MH: I write most of the music; I'm responsible for the framework of
the songs. Then Dominica will have a listen and add to it, and we'll
work on perfecting the arrangements. When we've got most of the work
down, Jeffro comes in and cleans it up.
AZNB: You are based in NYC and it seems Toof is based in Austin, yet
you have toured together before and are touring together this time.
How did you guys hook up?
MH: We met toof when we played with him in New Orleans a few years back.
We had a rather rowdy late night, sunrise-fleeing, alcohol-fueled adventure,
where we all promised one another that we would do it all again. He's
become one of our closest friends and certainly our favourite tour buddy.
He is also probably one of the funniest people I have ever known.
AZNB: Have you played Phoenix before?
MH: We played in Phoenix on our last go-round with Toof in March 2005.
AZNB: When you play live what is the musical set up, who plays what
etc.
MH: Dominica sings, plays cello, viola, toy piano, and keyboards. Sometimes
all at once. She's rather nimble. I play guitar and mandolin and also
run Ableton Live, which allows me to catch loops of what's being played
on the fly. I also use it to control all the drums and effects. Jeffro
plays guitar, bass, and keyboards.
AZNB: What percentage of your music is instrumental?
MH: I would say that right now about half of our live set is instrumental,
moving more towards one-third. We've been adding a lot more vocals to
our songs lately.
AZNB: If you had to describe your band's sound, what would you say?
MH: Lovely electronic indie rock from dirty, broken Brooklyn.
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arizona night buzz - johnathan bond
concert review - may 2006
i recently wrote about mossyrock and toof, two compact bands from out
of town that routinely get into a compact car and do compact little
tours of our fair land. the two bands, which both favor the fusion of
electronic and live instruments, recently paid a visit to the valley
friday, may 19, and i caught most of their sets at counterculture cafe.
first up was mossyrock, an electro-organic band from Brooklyn, which
singer/violinist/laptop operator Dominica Paige kept reminding the people
watching the show, is in New York. This time Mossyrock is touring as
a duo (Marc Hug makes up the other half), and the two with their gear
and assortment of instruments created a nice fractured, living musical
landscape. They would capture live sound and loop it, using some sampled
beats but for the most part creating the elements for their musical
pastiche on the fly. When I talked Hug previously, we talked about how
the band played guitar, mandolin and controlled some mystery machine
hidden behind a big black thing that glowed like the trunk in Repo Man.
I secretly suspect it was a laptop, but I will never knowÖ
Their fusion of quasi-classical elements with electronic dance with
live loops and subtle vocals made for a nice ear meal. Next up was Toof.
He was funny and good, and though electronic based stuff doesnít usually
do it for me, both the bands this night were enjoyable. This may have
something to do with the smart use of available technology, and using
it as an element of the composition and not the whole. Again I can imagine
Toof winning over an audience at a larger show, and might even be best
if a total surprise. The audience wasnít unfriendly, just sober, and
Toof might do better in a 21 and older venue with plenty of booze. I
wasnít sure what the group of five teenage girls were thinking when
every Toof song was opened with a rambling, funny monologue that eventually
ended with him muttering ìum, this song is aboutÖ aboutÖ buh, bu-ha,
bu-ha, BALLS!î
I sent some questions about the tour to weary travelers Mossyrock and
received some answers after the band arrived in Austin to end their
micro-tour. Hereís what Dominica Paige had to say:
AZNightBuzz: How has the tour been going?
Any strange tales from the road?
Dominica Page: The tour was quite successful, thanks. There are always
ups and downs, but this one was rather enjoyable overall. Mossyrock
got a lot of press and good reviews. Marc and I are partial to being
on the road; Iím fond of watching the world slip past at 80 miles per
hour. There is one bizarre story that sticks out. In Salt Lake City,
this Danish man named Flemming read about us in the weekly and came
to the show. He was a total blast, and we ended up staying in his hotel
room with him. Morning comes, and we awake to him standing in front
of us in his boxer-briefs with his plentiful package emphasized, and
heís holding up Toofís wallet. ìI do not know what is happening, but
this I found in the toilet.î Toof is completely delirious, trying to
process the information at hand.
A Danish man with a well-endowed package is standing in front of him
quizzically, holding up his urine-soaked wallet. Toof had apparently
dropped in it in the toilet during a midnight bathroom break. We all
had a big laugh at his expense.
AZNB: What was the best show on the tour (tell the truth)? Looks like
you guys are parting ways with Toof for now, how did this tour stack
up against others?
DP: Austin and Denver are my personal favorites. Great crowds, great
reactions. Juarez was surreal. Our first tour with Toof was probably
the most fun; being our first adventure together, we were in this constant
state of rowdiness. Last summer we did a northeast and Canadian tour
together, and that one was very draining. Iím still not certain if Iíve
recovered from it.
AZNB: How was Juarez this time? Please tell the readers about the first
Juarez show.
DP: Juarez was certainly more adventurous this time around. El Segundo
Piso, the venue where we were booked and where we played last year,
decided at the last minute that it was no longer going to be an all-ages
show, and many of the kids who came out were underage. We ended up moving
the show to another place a few minutes away down a mile-long dirt
road. Iíd be lying if I didnít say I felt a slight anxiousness on the
way there. It turned out great, though, in the end. Everyone was quite
sweet to us. All these little indie rock Mexican kids came they were
terribly adorable. They were totally into what we were doing clapping
along and singing the words and cheering, which is worlds away from
the too-cool-for-school attitudes of New Yorkers. They bought us strange
presents like lollipops and Spam and chocolate flavoured condoms. They
made us sign autographs and lined up
for handjobs from Marc.
AZNB: Did Marc give any dollar handjobs?
DP: No, but he gave one for 11 pesos in Juarez.
AZNB: Do you really think people in Phoenix donít know Brooklyn is in
NY? Phoenix, for all itís strip malls and heat is the fifth largest
city in the countryÖ
DP: You mean yíall have maps in Phoenix? I thought everyone lived in
shanty towns, mined all day long, and raised cacti in their spare time.
Iím fairly certain people in Phoenix know where Brooklyn is thatís
just my dry humour. Still, with the American public education system
being what it is, one never can be sure.
AZNB: Explain again how you hook up your gear, how much is live and
how it all works.
DP: We run everything into a Mackie mixer which allows us to use the
auxillary sends to run sounds through our laptops. That way, we can
grab loops of the guitar, mandolin, cello, viola, and vocals and run
them through effects and build or create new loops off of them. Itís
all live, really. The drum loops were made by us and are sequenced live
using a program called Ableton Live. Everything is created for the moment.
AZNB: Will you be back in Arizona anytime?
DP: Eventually. During the winter months, certainly. Our tours used
to be quite long; weíd go on the road for the upwards of two months
at a time. With gas prices being what they are now, thatís a bit harder
to do, so we tend to split up the country into sections. Weíve a month-long
tour planned for the Pacific Northwest and Canada for July. Weíre going
to Europe mid-August, and then weíll do the East in the autumn. So,
my long-winded answer is yes, but not for some time.
AZNB: Just how tired are you?
DP: Iím in bed this very moment.
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all music guide
the zero to one sessions review - january 2006
toronto-based electronica label nice+smooth mostly seems to specialize
in a kind of electro-bossa
nova, which makes the decidedly northern hemisphere sound of mossyrock's
debut album something
of a surprise.
producer and multi-instrumentalist marc hug, a canadian residing in
new york, is the root of mossyrock, and hug favors a kind of d.i.y.
brand of indie electronica. the zero to one sessions isn't lo-fi or
slapdash, but there's a decidedly insular feel to these low-key, meandering
grooves, an appealing sense of playfulness that's quirky without being
forbidding or offputting. elements of jazz (particularly in the loungey
muted trumpet solos that decorate a few songs) and folk (the strummy
acoustic guitars that propel several rythms) are present and accounted
for, but for the most part, the zero to one sessions explores what happens
when a songwriter/producer happens upon a cool drum machine or synth
rhythm, loops it, and sees what happens from there.
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mosoul uk - jon freer
the zero to one sessions review - september 2005
the oddly named mossyrock make fun cruising guitar and silly electronix
based compositions, whose track titles are only marginally more bizarre
than the music itself. from the shape of their grooves, one might expect
them to hail from the west coast, but the group actually formed in philly
and currently reside in brooklyn.
"according to the language fossils" suggests they were frozen
in time at an age when stringy guitars and visionary synths ruled the
world. the charmingly titled "pissjug" throws electrified
keys and synth gurgles against sticky beats and bass nastiness. "stress
kid" takes its energy from almost d&b styled percussion, which
rattles along under wobbly synths and feeling blue keys. strangely endearing.
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tbtmo - rob mall
mossyrock review - may 2005
mossyrock is a new project from the intergalactic faerie funk front
man marc hug, a former philadelphian (now in brooklyn) who was actually
born canadian.
while the IFF sound focused mainly on chugging dark house grooves flavored
with live instrumentation; mossyrock creates glistening pop loop gems
by layering looped beats with textures, acoustic guitars, cellos, and
haunting vocals.
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eye weekly - denise benson
mossyrock review - august 2005
the boys at nice+smooth ultramedia have bumped up the volume of late
-- not only are they treating us to the sounds of sol azul and the breezy
beats collection, they've also gotten behind the hooky, house-y, indie-psych
instrumentals of mossyrock. a project of global wanderer marc hug --
also the founder of ever-evolving project intergalactic faerie funk
and no stranger to fans of festivals such as om -- mossyrock ups the
artist's fun(k) quotient on the new zero to one sessions.
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disquiet - marc weidenbaum
zero to one sessions review - september 2005
mossyrock 's 'the zero to one sessions' mix loungey, often herb alpert-ish
folk-pop with electronic touches.
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studio distribution
zero to one sessions review - september 2005
currently one of the hardest working bands in america’s burgeoning
indie-rock / electronic crossover scene, mossyrock’s debut CD
for toronto’s nice+smooth label entitled, the zero to one sessions,
is a floating, textural romp fusing elements of their past electronic
bent with their current indie rock leanings. recent comparisons to current
american peers such as the books, octopus project and toof are appropriate,
as are the references and nods to the otherworldly yet highly nod-worthy
sounds of the orb, a twist of lemon jelly and even the slyer moods of
matthew herbert.
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Eye Weekly - Elizabeth Mitkos
artist spotlight - November 2005
who: Brooklyn-based mossyrock
(Marc Hug, Dominica Paige, Jeffro Richards) have been incessantly playing
their broken beats in dark, dirty bars across the U.S. and Canada. Currently
touring their debut album, 'the zero to one sessions' (on toronto imprint
nice+smooth), these "modern musical gypsies" are also finishing
an ep titled 'lizards are still silent'.
what: Lovely electronic indie-rock.
"Something reminiscent of a strip club in reno" says Paige.
Inspired by bluegrass, folk, indie-rock and tech house, mossyrock fuse
melodies, harmonies, violin, banjo, mandolin and accordion. Says Marc,
"At times we're like a cross between the books and lemon jelly,
or so we've been told."
where: Saturday (Nov. 26) at the
Hooch (817 Queen West). "We play in New York City frequently,"
Paige says. "as it is so enormous, I'm fairly certain we could
play every night of the year and not hit the same venue twice."
favourite record of all time:
Marc - Camper Van Beethoven's 'Key Lime Pie' and My Bloody Valentine's
'Loveless'; Dominica - Belle & Sebastian's 'If You're Feeling Sinister'
and the smiths' 'the queen is dead'.
favourite record right now: Marc - Langhorne Slim's 'When The Sun's Gone Down'; Dominica - "I've
been on a big Blur kick lately, peppered with the Minders."
favourite non music activity: "Riding bikes, knitting, and colt 45."
favourite after-party pastime: "If
we're lucky enough to find ourselves in Toronto, it's eating as many
topping-drenched veggie dogs from the vendors at Queen and Spadina as
the laws of physics will allow."
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KSCR review - nathan punwar
d.i.y. bedroom songwriting gets tangled up with some fuzzy yarn and
some electronics, and the result is mossyrock. it’s not that the
quality of these tracks is lo-fi (they aren’t), but that the music
is insular and breathy. many songs have a folk-y feel, with gentle acoustic
guitars driving the rhythm. others have just a touch of jazz and lounge,
allowing the music to be a bit playful without going to far. this varied
approach keeps things fresh and interesting throughout the disc, making
this album more than just a curious bedroom experiment.
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rezension - dj finn
was für ein percussives und analoges soundfeuerwerk, elektronisch
und akustisch zugleich! dubbig, elektronisch voll korrekt, präsentiert
sich hier "the zero to one session" auf dem label von nice
& smooth von mossy rock. experimentell gewagt, steigen sie in ganz
andere dimensionen ein. nicht das ich sie mit mouse on mars vergleichen
will, oder mit den kraftwerks von 2006, wegen den elektro-artigen einflüssen,
die zwischendurch mal hervorkommen - nein, es sind die feinheiten in
der produktion, die diese cd zu dem werden lassen, was sie interessant
macht: ein soundfeuerwerk auf akustisch, elektronsiche und percussive
art!
ein muss für jeden der sich dem chillout, dem jazz und dem funk
verschrieben hat!
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