Concrete Cookie and the Maggot Farmer
The Maggot Farmer (AKA Jism, The Dog, former member of Alien race and Electronic Bubble Frog .the list goes on) has been producing sound collages since the early 1990.s, as well as playing in chill out rooms at legendary London parties such as VFM. After meeting Concrete Cookie (a classically trained pianist who abandoned playing to pursue architecture) in 1996, the duo took on a slightly different direction and in the early part of 2000 started putting on energetic parties with the LA based Candlelight crew; that included Deadly Buda and future members of Darkmatter Soundsystem. Soon after, with the help of a few good friends, they were putting on the KlangKlang parties in the dark sweaty punk venues of Los Angeles, melding together breaks, 4/4 and ambient sounds. This project shaped to become Mash Up Soundsystem, a collection of artists from around the globe, bound by the idea of not commodyfying art or sticking to a singular genre. In 2002 Concrete Cookie & the Maggot also founded the Mash Up imprint distributed through Underground Music in UK, where soundscapes, brutal industrial sounds, flamenco and comedy could co-exist on one vinyl. Mashup#5 is slated to come out later this year.
Releases on FON
Mondegreen
Mondegreen is distinctly a more reflective direction for the duo, as a follow up to Mash Up Soundsystem's "A Great Escape from Lunacy", released on Hive Records in 2006.
The artwork on this disc, once again beautifully merges Inga Dorosz's photography of surreal landscapes, familiar made unfamiliar, with Marco Pinsker's eye for the serious and the comedic. It's also the perfect accompaniment to the content of Mondegreen where, in the opening seconds the door locks behind the listener as one embarks on a slow descent into madness, entering yet another world. Time slows down as one is enveloped by textures and swells of sound. "A year in the life." of sorts, field recordings layered with digital and analogue sounds that become progressively unhinged. Each successive listen, opens up new meaning as new structures emerge. Sit back, close your eyes and disassociate yourself from your immediate environment.