Idiology

Even when it all threatens to implode, MOM's restless imagination provides the necessary ballast. [18 May 2001, p.81]

The new Idiology takes the acoustic experiments of Niun Niggung even further, and it's this combination of electronic and "traditional" music -- melding keyboards and synthesizers with french horns and guitars and trumpets into a seamless whole -- that points the way through the dead-ends of most electronica.

As one MOJO staffer commented, "This sounds like I'm trapped inside a damaged mechanical brain." Yes, it's that good. [May 2001, p.116]

There are more layers here than on Mouse on Mars' last album, 2000's critically acclaimed Niun Niggung, and everything is more intricately detailed, each sound given plenty of space in the mix.

Academics and readers of The Wire may sniff that "Idiology" marks a step backward for this duo, but for my money this is the best thing they've done since 19997's "Autoditacker."

It's also pleasing to see that Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner want to expand their sound beyond the clicks, pops, squelches, hisses and squiggles that have become their trademark.

The record spans time and genre, reinterpreting everything from ska to country-tinged folk as if it were the product of a whimsically inaccurate translation device from another planet, and in the process creates a new musical language altogether.

Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner continue to create soundscapes that blur the line between programming and live musicianship, and sometimes between Earth and outer space.

For in the Düsseldorf duo's continuing remit to bewilder and dazzle, conformity is the enemy. Sick of being billeted as d'n'b smugsters, 'Idiology' is a post-everything record - it's the sound of music being carefully shredded in the hope of finding something new and better.

The first Mouse On Mars album to truly surprise.

Does it work? It depends on your idea of "flow": If you don't mind sandwiching the Trent Reznorish "Introduce" and the Squarepusher-on-crank mess of "First : Break" between the opulent epics that comprise the middle and the end of the album, Idiology comes off as an inspired collection of irreverent hackery and emotional depth. [Jul 2001, p.79]

This record isn't as masterful as the last, partially because they're trying out new things, many of which -- horns, vocals, ska(!) -- are old things. [Jul 2001, p.134]