you may have heard of Unknown Mortal Orchestra aka UMO...
psychedelic guitar whiz and indie pop maestro ruban nielson moves from new zealand to portland, makes music, his song "ffunny friends" becomes a viral hit, unknown mortal orchestra emerges as a three-piece, album & tour, notable cmj 2011 appearance(s)...
their music is.... psychedelic indie pop, with some riffs that wouldn't be out of place in a soul or motown song ("how can u luv me" sounds like it could be michael jackson covering prince), but then there's that wild rock guitar coming in from out of the blue...
How can you love me, when you don’t like me, baby?
How can you look at me and not see
the lonely tears?
And I don’t know what went wrong.
Or why this feeling's gone.
Lonely tears are not better.
Little blue houses
Sitting high on the mountainside
Little blue houses
Sitting high on the mountainside
Oh, to be high on the mountainside...
Oh, to be high on the mountainside...
Maybe all the wolves could lose my scent
and I could stay here for a while
Little safe houses
Sitting high on the mountainside
Little safe houses
Sitting high on the mountainside
Oh, to be safe on the mountainside...
Oh, to be safe on the mountainside...
saw them a few months back at Doug Fir, opening up for yuck. i thought they blew yuck off the stage.
at the doug fir, they played entirely in the dark (because they're mysterious, don't you know...). here, they weren't much more lit up, and perhaps these videos are not so fascinating visually, but i post them because sonically they are so unique... what a sound! you hear on record, but live their sounds really comes alive... especially with the guitar improvisation...
also, gotta like a guy who starts the show by lighting a watermelon bong and smoking it while sitting on the front of the stage... then passing it around... later asking if anyone had refilled it... oh those friendly Kiwis...
They ended with the single "How Can U Luv Me" and did a cover of "Vitamin C" by Can for the encore.
Blurry photos and dark videos by me, Michael Donnelly (mikedx1 on YouTube) for ThisSmallPlanet/NewMusicToday
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