Mouse On Mars - Parastrophics

Over the course of their eleven album career, Mouse On Mars have inhabited a different musical vernacular for each release. Most recently, 2006’s ‘Varchaz’ was an industrial slab of noise, influencing their subsequent collaboration with Mark E. Smith on the following year’s ‘Von Sudenfed’ album. Five years on, the duo have assimilated their influences (and those they have influenced) on ‘Parastrophics’, a gleeful mishmash of restless, bleeping synths, glitch-infused histrionics and searing shards of white noise.

What’s most notable about ‘Parastrophics’ is the extensive use of vocal samples. If anything, this converts the album into a hip-hop collage, the gibbering and gurning nonsense exemplifying the London club night vibe. Of course, the danger with such a cacophony of styles is that Mouse On Mars themselves get lost amid the melee. Not so. ‘Metrotopy’ startles over skittering beats but is distinctively MOM while ‘Imatch’ is a hyperactive rush of euphoria which sees the German duo wresting back control of the hi-NRG techno gamepad from the likes of Rustie and co.

During the course of their six year hiatus, the barometers for electronic music have changed considerably – the ubiquity of the blogosphere has engineered a frighteningly rapid turnover for artists and genres. But with ‘Parastrophics’ coming out on the ultra-hip Monkeytown Records, Mouse On Mars are returning in triumphant and rapturous fashion, both sealing their reputation as relentless innovators while basking in the glory as beacons of inspiration.