Mouse on Mars

When French post-modernist Gilles Deleuze wrote "The abstract does not explain, but must itself be explained," he had no clue his ideas would inspire a German avant-electronic duo named Mouse on Mars. The group's penchant for Deleuze has already been documented by its contributions to Folds and Rhizomes and In...

By Jason Heller

September 23, 2004

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When French post-modernist Gilles Deleuze wrote "The abstract does not explain, but must itself be explained," he had no clue his ideas would inspire a German avant-electronic duo named Mouse on Mars. The group's penchant for Deleuze has already been documented by its contributions to Folds and Rhizomes and In Memoriam, two sonic tributes to the philosopher, but Radical Connector is MOM's most realized work of lush and mysterious entrancement. Teeming with crystallized voices, fractured guitar breaks and falsetto funk, Connector is the outfit's catchiest hybridization of tweaked-techno ethos and pop appeal since it began navigating the frontiers of glitch and post-rock over a decade ago. Like Andrew Weatherall conducting Malcolm McLaren through a recital of TV on the Radio's Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, the disc theorizes beats and melodies to their coldest intellectual extremes, coaxing hidden hooks and subsurface rhythms out of the most icy digital ambience. Like all works of abstraction, Radical Connector may take some thawing to fully fathom -- but its aesthetic thrills are warm and immediate.

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