Line #1 Music/MouseOnMars


1	Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma have a long history together. The two men formed the Berlin-base techno duo Mouse on Mars [[LongRunners in 1993]], but their friendship goes back even farther than that: they were born on the same day, in the same hospital, in the same room. Having been friends since the start of their childhood might explain the playful, warm nature that is their SignatureStyle. Their whimsical sound was once described by ''Spin Magazine'' as "Music/{{Squarepusher}} DJ-ing at Chuck-E-Cheese"; the magazine also called their album ''Niun Niggung'' "techno's first comedy album". This often wacky style combines elements of krautrock, disco, ska and other genres with IDM. Since ''Niun Niggung'', they have also incorporated live instrumentation into their music.
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3	Prior to their debut album, ''Vulvaland'', they also made up the techno trio Yamo with Wolfgang Flür, formerly of Music/{{Kraftwerk}}. Yamo released one album, 1993's ''Time Pie'', and a single, "I Was A Robot". They also did some of the engineering work on Music/{{Stereolab}}'s 1997 release ''Dots And Loops''.
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5	Discography:
6	* 1994 ''Vulvaland''
7	* 1995 ''Iaora Tahiti''
8	* 1997 ''Autoditacker''
9	* 1997 ''Instrumentals''
10	* 1998 ''Glam''
11	* 1999 ''Niun Niggung'' (or 2000, for the US edition)
12	* 2001 ''Idiology''
13	* 2004 ''Radical Connector''
14	* 2006 ''Varcharz''
15	* 2012 ''Parastrophics''
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17	!!Examples:
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19	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Glam'' is a lot less whimsical than is usual for the duo. It makes sense, however, when one realizes that ''Glam'' was meant to serve as the score to the 1997 drama of the same name.
20	* ElectronicMusic: Specifically, IDM with some other genres thrown into the mix.
21	* GenreMashup: Mouse on Mars combine IDM with ambient, krautrock, disco, ska and indie music.
22	* GenreShift: The first five albums are ambient, dubby techno. ''Niun Niggung'' and ''Idiology'' embrace a more indie sound, while ''Radical Connector'' is based on an electropop format. ''Varcharz'' is completely different again, being chaotic drum n bass.
23	* {{Instrumentals}}: Most of their songs, except those on ''Idiology'' and ''Radical Connector''
24	** 'Stereomission' on ''Iaora Tahiti'' is mostly instrumental, but has a lengthy sample of [[SpokenWordInMusic a Japanese woman talking about stereo equipment]].
25	* NewSoundAlbum: ''Niun Niggung'' (1999) marked a move away from the former warm ambient techno sound to a more organic and indie based sound.
26	* {{Nonappearing Title}}: None of their songs share a name with an album, though there is a track on ''Glam'' called 'Glim'.
27	* {{Pun}}: ''Niun Niggung'' has a song tiled [[Series/PeeweesPlayhouse "Pinwheel Herman"]]. There's also "[[Series/TheXFiles X-Flies]]" from ''Audiotacker''.
28	* {{Sampling}}: Rare, though there are a few examples:
29	** 'Die Seele von Brian Wilson' samples 'Windchimes' by none other than [[Music/BrianWilson the Beach Boy himself]].
30	** The backing music of "Stereomission" is sampled from the earlier Yamo track "Stereomatic (Stereomagic)". The vocalist of that song is replaced here by [[SpokenWordInMusic a Japanese woman talking about stereo equipment]].
31	* SillySimian: The original cover of ''Niun Niggung'' depicts a gibbon swinging from a branch. Given the upbeat, playful nature of the album (and the band's SignatureStyle in general), it's very fitting.
32	* WordPureeTitle: Most of their track names fall under this trope, such as "Twift Shoeblade", "Maggots Hell Wigs" (both from ''Audiotracker''), and "Download Sofist" (from ''Niun Niggung'').
33	** Von Südenfed, their project with [[Music/TheFallBand Mark E. Smith]] (who, fittingly, also seems to be fond of this trope), is basically a bilingual pun: "Von Süden" being German for "southern" (literally "from south") and Sudafed being an American brand name of decongestant. Their album is titled ''Tromatic Reflexxions'' and includes tracks called "Duckrog", "Chicken Yiamas" and "Jbak Lois Lane".

Context Music / MouseOnMars