Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma have a long history together. The two men formed the Berlin-base techno duo Mouse on Mars 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 Signature Style. Their whimsical sound was once described by Spin Magazine as "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.
Prior to their debut album, Vulvaland, they also made up the techno trio Yamo with Wolfgang Flür, formerly of 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 Stereolab's 1997 release Dots And Loops.
Discography:
- 1994 Vulvaland
- 1995 Iaora Tahiti
- 1997 Autoditacker
- 1997 Instrumentals
- 1998 Glam
- 1999 Niun Niggung (or 2000, for the US edition)
- 2001 Idiology
- 2004 Radical Connector
- 2006 Varcharz
- 2012 Parastrophics
Examples:
- Darker and Edgier: 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.
- Electronic Music: Specifically, IDM with some other genres thrown into the mix.
- Genre Mashup: Mouse on Mars combine IDM with ambient, krautrock, disco, ska and indie music.
- Genre Shift: 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.
- Instrumentals: Most of their songs, except those on Idiology and Radical Connector
- 'Stereomission' on Iaora Tahiti is mostly instrumental, but has a lengthy sample of a Japanese woman talking about stereo equipment.
- New Sound Album: Niun Niggung (1999) marked a move away from the former warm ambient techno sound to a more organic and indie based sound.
- Nonappearing Title: None of their songs share a name with an album, though there is a track on Glam called 'Glim'.
- Pun: Niun Niggung has a song tiled "Pinwheel Herman". There's also "X-Flies" from Audiotacker.
- Sampling: Rare, though there are a few examples:
- 'Die Seele von Brian Wilson' samples 'Windchimes' by none other than the Beach Boy himself.
- The backing music of "Stereomission" is sampled from the earlier Yamo track "Stereomatic (Stereomagic)". The vocalist of that song is replaced here by a Japanese woman talking about stereo equipment.
- Silly Simian: 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 Signature Style in general), it's very fitting.
- Word Purée Title: 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).
- Von Südenfed, their project with 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".
