MoHa! - Meiningslaust Oppgulp (a singles compilation)

(Rune Grammofon, 2011)

I'm a bad fan, apparently, of all my favorite bands.  First The Goslings and now MoHa!!  I'm really slipping folks.  Rune Grammofon, a year ago this month, released this limited edition MoHa! singles collection (makes me smile to imply the pop-music understanding of 'singles' to MoHa!) culled from their vinyl-only output between 2008 and when it was released.  I have a couple of those records--a 7" and split 10"--but not all of them, and I don't get to my vinyl nearly as often as I'd like, so this is a godsend.  And, just like with The Goslings, I'm ripe for the pummeling monstrosity of machine gun-strength/tempo noise that MoHa! is the grand standing masters of.  The duo's simply the best when it comes to breakneck free jazz crippled with electronic squalor then catapulted with wry punk abandon.  And it doesn't matter that Meiningslaust Oppgulp is a "singles compilation," the tracks here (ranging from 3 to 13 minutes) coalesce perfectly into this album length format they've been collected into.  Listening to them--Anders Hana and Morten J. Olsen--work through each of these tracks is like listening to an giant infinite-tentacled beast dismantling entire cities to a stop watch.  Utterly exhilarating, spastic and, occasionally, when locking into some sickly groove, unexpectedly coherent.  The compilation is a perfect example why MoHa! is one of my very favorite bands.  And, in terms of retroactive re-organization, listmaking, all that stuff--flippant and overt valuation--in case you're curious, this would likely plant itself right behind Amateur Doubles (that's spot no. 2) on my 2011 year end list.  Which means, if you hadn't gathered as much already, that it's essential listening.  (Also, listmaking is bad for your health.)

Flisespikking/ Lyd med Tenner/ Mjøl di eiga kake by MoHa!

Gaffer Records!!!

If you have any inclination towards frantic, juggernaut-style noise or seizure-induced buffalo stampedes parading as free jazz or, simply, the best of the best avant garde, meet Gaffer Records.

Click here to read an interview I conducted with Gaffer Records label-head, Frank Garcia, AKA, Sheik Anorak, over at Foxy Digitalis.

But first, check out this label sampler featuring 6 label-spanning tracks (all notable, but if you're in a hurry, don't miss the MoHa! track, "Eg blei sogen av ein atterganger," it's insane...):

Should've

These are the incredible albums that I cannot deny knowing about and still, by some force I have not yet identified, neglected to list among my favourite albums for this past decade. If I did it all over again, each of these would find a spot on the list, without question. Essentially: my bad.


MoHa!
One-Way Ticket to Candyland
(Rune Grammofon, 2008)

What I feel was my largest omission, the biggest hole in my ragged end-of-decade list, was the masterwork of noise and confusion that is MoHa!’s One-Way Ticket to Candyland. Corralling their freejazz noise splatter into tighter, more structured bursts of hardcore punk fury, this album should have sunk deep into the top 50 of my list. I know that I thought of it during my deliberations. The band’s tonal attack must have dislodged a memory circuit or something. They'll do that.


El-P
Fantastic Damage
(Def Jux, 2002)

With production as crumbled and noisy and paranoid as anything on The Cold Vein (of course, you already knew that those are his fingerprints on them beats too, right?) and with a thick cadence and lyricism that constantly informs any attempts I make at poetry/lyrical-fiction, how could I throw Fantastic Damage under the bus? Forever repentant.


Interpol
Antics
(Matador, 2004)

I like Interpol better than Joy Division and I like Antics better than Turn On The Bright Lights (which is a fairly recent development). Sue me. Then sue me again for not listing this the first go around.




Skeletons
Money
(Tomlab, 2008)

An underappreciated (even by me, apparently) avant funk trip, Money is a crowning achievement of hybrid indie rock aesthetics. Jazzy, rocking, bluesy and all that. Skeletons, as the constantly shifting moniker of genius musician Matt Mehlan and his cronies, has never been more vibrant, colorful, dark and enveloping as on this album. That the group will find commonalities with The Dirty Projectors doesn’t mean that they aren’t unique; also, Money is way better than Bitte Orca (IMHO).

-Thistle

MoHa! - One-Way Ticket to Candyland

MoHa!
One-Way Ticket To Candyland
(10.2008, Rune Grammofon)
Verdict = More Focused and More Potent

MoHa! are back with their third full length release in three years and despite adding another unsavory album cover to a year that has been filled with them, the release is more than a welcome addition to the band’s discography. It's really not too surprising that this Norwegian duo is able to release something substantial, new and inventive on a yearly basis; the vigorous pace of their grizzled onslaught almost requires it. It’s a self imposed world of evolve or die. On One-Way Ticket To Candyland MoHa! has evolved. While this release is still every bit as identifiable in terms free jazz noise rock, MoHa! has added an enhanced electronic edge to their standard guitar/drums ruckus. In addition to the electronics is a newfound sense of repetition and control, however fleeting the ideas might be. One-Way Ticket To Candyland is every bit as convulsive, adrenaline raddled and exciting as its predecessors, yet with a new penchant for intermittent rhythms and a bursting sense of structure, MoHa! have left something for us to grab hold of so as not to get lost amongst the clatter. The results steer the band’s violently spastic attack into Lightning Bolt territory, that is, if territory Lightning Bolt inhabited was under attack by waves of malfunctioning robot suicide bombers. Not a bad place to inhabit and, as the album title suggests, one filled with delicious moments throughout.

-Mr. Thistle

MoHa! on Myspace

MoHa! - Norwegianism

MoHa!

Norwegianism

(06.2007, Rune Grammaphon)

9.0/10.0

Have you ever been attacked by an innumerable amount of deranged robotic humming birds? Well, the experience could probably be equated to MoHa!'s sophomore album Norwegianism. Bearing their citizenship proudly, one of the first things I noticed in Norwegianism’s obligatory production credits was the albums sponsorship by the Council of Arts Norway. Makes me want to move to Norway. MoHa! Spare no time in bursting through their first few tracks on Norwegianism. Before you even have time to recognize your jaw on the floor the zombie infected, jazz duo is already on track 5 and waits until track 10 to come up for air and begin steady breathing. Norwegianism is a compact field of cringing skree and agile drumming likely inspired by imaginations of dozens of trained monkey drummers on Ritalin. Think Lightning Bolt gone handicap and hopped up on Jolt Cola or a lighter, more acrobatic Aufgehoben. It's an abstract comparison but in line with Forest Gospel's dedication to constantly compare bands to other bands, resulting in their undoubted infuriation. Ah well, what can I say? It is supposed to be a compliment. MoHa! Are definitely in league with the formerly mentioned statesmen of experimental noise rock & and are well on their way to my top ten of 2007!

-Mr. Thistle

MoHa! on myspace