Jan St. Werner

Review: Mouse on Mars at Village Underground (20th April 2012)

Published on April 23rd, 2012 | Jonny Abrams

Rocksucker’s admiration of Mouse on Mars is already pretty well documented – just check out our review of their latest album Parastrophics, our review of their recent Barbican show with musikFabrik, or indeed our interview with Jan St. Werner for evidence of that – so it was with a certain amount of excitement that we toddled along to Shoreditch venue Village Underground on Friday night to finally witness Parastrophics material in a live setting.

Andi Toma

While the presence of Dodo NKishi on live drums and occasional vocals was an entirely welcome one, it did serve perhaps to drown out some of these tracks’ more nuanced textures, which admittedly may or may not have been intended to be conveyed here. While this is a shame in terms of ensnaring the uninitiated, these clattering interpretations were thrilling to the obvious gaggle of fans gathered in this intimate, warehouse-like setting, dancing like animatronic punctuation marks amidst a sea – well, more of a lake – of intrigued and occasionally confused faces.

Dodo NKishi

St. Werner and Andi Toma, flanking NKishi imperiously onstage, both looked relaxed, thoroughly in control and even a little amused, the odd wry smile to each other probably not owing to an appreciation of how different this all was to their Barbican show, but it’s fun to imagine. Fun and imagination have always been two of Mouse on Mars’s staple watchwords, and it was again a pleasure to witness first-hand.

Rocksucker says: Four Quails out of Five!

a quail a quail a quail a quail

Parastrophics, the new album from Mouse on Mars, is out now on Monkeytown Records. For more information and a list of live dates, please visit www.mouseonmars.com

Artists: mouse on mars

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.