“Slimcea Girl” by Mono
In retrospect, “trip-hop” sure was one lameass genre name. But with all due respect to my friend Rob over at Pop That Rocks, I can’t cay that the more contemporary “chillwave” is any better. What’s doubly perplexing is the way those unfortunate descriptors absolutely nail the sounds they’re attached to.
Mono was a electronic pop duo from the UK in the mid-90s. Their recorded output consists mostly of a single album – 1997′s stunning, multi-single success Formica Blues – and some scattered remixes. Since they were based in London, used keyboards, and made downtempo music, people tripped over one another to label Mono “trip-hop.” There was never really a universally agreed definition of what the eff “trip-hop” was (even if we could agree that Massive Attack was the template, their work is kind of sprawling), but I’d argue that the duo’s sound stretched further; there were elements of French pop music, Wall of Sound production and classic soul, all of which are at play in “Slimcea Girl.” It’s the less famous of the album’s four singles (Wikipedia regards them as a one-hit wonder for the jam “Life in Mono”) but clearly the superior.
A DJ at Sunday night’s Julian Casablancas show dropped this in their pre-show set. I hadn’t listened to it since wearing my Life in Mono CD out somewhere around the turn of the century, and though I knew every chord change, every melodic lilt and most lyrics, my neural music archive couldn’t retrieve band name or album title (and mis-read the song title as “Slim City Girl”). Had to place a phonecall to my better half to straighten the mystery out after 30 straight minutes of racking my brain, and she fell right into the quagmire with me. Fortunately, the Internet was at her disposal, clearing the problem up for all parties.
Mono split in 2000; singer Siobhan de Maré currently plays in Violet Indiana with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins (more on another ex-Cocteau Twin later this week) and reportedly founded a music management company, programmer Martin Virgo went on to the less-notable rock act International Love Corporation.
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