Momus

Nick Currie (born February 11, 1960 in Paisley, Scotland), more popularly known under the artist name Momus (after the Greek god of mockery), is a songwriter, blogger and a journalist for Wired. Most of his songs are self-referential or postmodern. Image File history File links Momus, a. ... February 11 is the 42nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Paisley (Scottish Gaelic: ) is a town and former burgh located in the west central lowlands of Scotland. ... Motto: (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity(English) Wha daur meddle wi me? (Scots)[1] Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic, Scots[2] Government  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP  - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification    - by Kenneth I... A stage name or a screen name is a pseudonym used by performers (such as actors, comedians, clowns, and musicians). ... For the Scottish artist and singer see Momus (artist) Momus or Momos (μῶμος), in Greek mythology the god of satire, mockery, writers, poets, a spirit of evil-spirited blame and unfair criticism. ... The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the telling of stories created by the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the general, on the ancient Greek civilization. ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A sample of Wired covers. ... Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century...

For more than twenty years he has been releasing, to only marginal commercial and critical success, playful and transgressive albums on labels in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. In his lyrics and his other writing he makes seemingly random use of decontextualized pieces of continental (mostly French) philosophy, and has built up a personal world he says is "dominated by values like diversity, orientalism, and a respect for otherness." He is also known in certain circles outside the U.S. as a producer. He is fascinated by identity, Japan, the avant-garde, time travel and sex. For Orientalist Architecture, see Moorish Revival. ... Cultural identity is the (feeling of) identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as she/he is influenced by her/his belonging to a group or culture. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... Time travel is a concept that has long fascinated humanity—whether it is Merlin experiencing time backwards, or religious traditions like Mohammeds trip to Jerusalem and ascent to heaven, returning before a glass knocked over had spilt its contents. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

He wears a patch over his right eye because he lost use of it from contracting acanthamoeba keratitis from a contact lens case washed with Greek tap water. Acanthamoeba is a genus of amoebae, one of the most common protozoa in soil, and also frequently found in freshwater and other habitats. ...

Career

He began by recording post-punk material with various ex-members of Josef K in a group called The Happy Family in the early '80s, and was associated with the musicians around Postcard Records (although he never recorded for that label). His debut solo album "Circus Maximus" explored biblical themes in dark, almost gothic acoustic style, and his debt to the influence of Gallic pop was clear from a subsequent, sardonically self-referencing cover of Jacques Brel's "Jackie" and portraits of himself in the style of early 60s Serge Gainsbourg. In 1987, by which time he lived in London, he signed to Creation Records, and began to record the hyper-literate, quirky pop songs for which he is best known. A trio of albums, "The Poison Boyfriend", "Tender Pervert" and "Don't Stop The Night" blended accessible dance-pop with such heavy lyrical themes as paedophilia, necrophilia and adultery. The latter album almost yielded a hit in the UK with "The Hairstyle of the Devil". Subsequent albums on Creation included "Hippopotamomus", a scatological tribute to Gainsbourg, as Momus continued to push boundaries of acceptabability within accessible pop structures. By 1994, however, when Creation signed Oasis, his music started to sound out of place on the newer, more 'laddish' and commercial sounds Creation then started to produce, and he moved to Paris and signed to Cherry Red records. Since then he has lived in various countries and, whilst less popular in Britain, has had a reasonable level of commercial success in a number of countries, especially Japan, where he wrote and produced records for singer Kahimi Karie, including the hit single "Good Morning World". Post punk generally refers to the particularly fertile and creative period following the initial punk rock explosion. During the first wave of punk, roughly spanning 1976-1983, bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones and The Damned began to challenge the current styles and conventions of rock... Josef K was a Scottish post-punk band active in the early 1980s who released singles on legendary record label Postcard Records. ... Independent record label founded by Alan Horne in Glasgow, 1979. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... At least two different record labels called Creation Records have existed. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Oasis are an English rock band, formed in Manchester in 1991. ... Cherry Red is a London based independent record label. ...

He has been sued by Michelin UK, for the song "Michelin Man", which compared the mascot to a blow-up doll, on Hippopotamomus (1991); and by Wendy Carlos for the song "Walter Carlos" on The Little Red Songbook (1998). In response to the debt incurred from Carlos's lawsuit, which was settled by withdrawal of the song, agreement not to use Carlos's name for any purpose whatsoever and payment of damages and attorney's fees to Carlos, Momus wrote thirty songs about every person or group who commissioned a song at the price of $1,000, compiling Stars Forever (1999). Patrons include artist Jeff Koons, Japanese musician Cornelius, and three-year-old animator/superhero Noah Brill. Stars Forever also features the winners of a karaoke contest started on The Little Red Songbook (1998). Michelin (full name: Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin) (Euronext: ML) based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne région of France, is primarily a tire manufacturer. ... Wendy Carlos (November 14, 1939 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island) is an American composer and electronic musician. ... The album The Little Red Songbook (Le Grand Magistery 61665-60006). ... The album Stars Forever (Le Grand Magistery 61665-60010-2) (1999) was created by Momus partly as a way of raising money from his legal costs, the most recent lawsuit filed by Wendy Carlos but dismissed, and partly to further his exploration of postmodern music making, identity, and aesthetics. ... Jeff Koons (born January 21, 1955), is an American contemporary artist and sculptor. ... Cornelius (born Keigo Oyamada (小山田圭吾) January 27, 1969 in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese recording artist and producer. ... A Karaoke machine Karaoke 空 kara, empty or void, and オーケストラ ōkesutora, orchestra) pronounced [kärÄ•-ōkÄ•];   is a form of entertainment in which an amateur singer or singers sing along with recorded music on microphone. ...

Other Momus activities include writing for Wired.com [1], Vice Magazine [2], Index Magazine [3], AIGA Voice [4], and Design Observer [5]. Momus has also been a kind of guest instructor working on sound-art projects with students first at Future University [6] in Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan during the early months of 2005, and then again in September at Fabrica [7], the Benetton "research centre" near Venice, Italy. In 2006 he was a featured artist in the Whitney Biennial [8] in New York City, serving as an "unreliable tour guide" to visitors of the exhibition. Wired is a full-color monthly magazine and on-line periodical published in San Francisco, California since March 1993. ... Vice is a Canadian magazine, founded in Montreal by Suroosh Alvi, Shane Smith and Gavin McInnes. ... Index Magazine is a prominent New York City based publication for art and culture. ... View of Hakodate from Mountain Hakodate (函館市; -shi) is a city and port located in Oshima, Hokkaido, Japan. ... Hokkaidō   (北海道, literal meaning: North Sea Route, Ainu: Mosir), formerly known as Ezo and Yesso, is the second largest island and largest prefecture of Japan. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... FABRICA, is a barrio (now called barangay)in the province of Negros Occidental, Republic of the Philippines. ... Benetton Group S.p. ... Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venezsia) is the capital of region Veneto, and has a population of 271,663 (census estimate January 1, 2004). ... The banner of the 2006 Whitney Biennial: Day For Night in front of the Whitney Museum of American Art. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC, City That Never Sleeps, The Concrete Jungle, The City So Nice They Named It Twice Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1676 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area...

The Fotolog.Book [9] with texts by Momus on photoblogging published in April 2006 by British publishers Thames & Hudson [10]. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Thames & Hudson (also Thames and Hudson and sometimes T&H for brevity) are a publisher, especially of art and illustrated books, founded in 1949 by Walter and Eva Neurath. ...

He is a cousin of musician Justin Currie, the lead singer and songwriter of Del Amitri, although Momus has been critical of his musical output at times. Justin Currie on stage with Del Amitri at the Guildhall in Southampton, May 16, 2002 Justin Currie (born December 11, 1964 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK) is a British singer and songwriter, best known as the founder member of the successful band Del Amitri and - along with Iain Harvie - is one... The original Del Amitri line-up as seen on the cover of Melody Maker magazine in February 1985 Del Amitri are a British pop-rock guitar band, formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1982. ...

Quotes

"I was at a party last year and a little girl drew a picture of all the guests round the table except me. I pretended to be offended and drew myself into her picture, but she ran away screaming and bawling. I had to erase my self-portrait before she'd calm down. That says it all. Our little pictures and our little songs are more important to us than the life they occasionally portray. The world in the end is beyond our control and doesn't care about us. But in our pictures we have the illusion of making sense of the world, improving the world, taking control of it. And suddenly it's no longer either the world or our vision of it, it's a new world, a thing in itself. The drawing comes to mean more to us than the scene it depicts."

"I've always been accused of being the most literary of songwriters. In fact I started off doing lots of experiments with guitars, bottles, tissue paper, smashed pianos and tape distortion which, eventually, out of sheer laziness, I stuck some words on top of. They were out of a book of Brecht poetry, usually, or a hasty pastiche of Brian Eno. For years I searched my guitar for the 'missing chord' that would stop time or make the whole world weep. Now I scroll through a thousand types of digital delay to find the one that will switch the world into slow motion. It's music that really fascinates me. Words come easy, I have a facility with them, I can 'do' words." This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Brian Eno (born Brian Peter George St. ...

"Ultraconformist, voyager, timelord, tennis and ping pong champion, tender pervert, poison boyfriend, hippopotamus, philosopher, folk singer, star forever." —Momus' self-description from his LiveJournal Doctor Who. ... LiveJournal (often abbreviated LJ) is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. ...

Albums

• Circus Maximus (1986)
• The Poison Boyfriend (1987)
• Tender Pervert (1988)
• Don’t Stop The Night (1989)
• Monsters Of Love (1990)
• Hippopotamomus (1991)
• The Ultraconformist (Live Whilst Out Of Fashion) (1992)
• Voyager (1992)
• Timelord (1993)
• Slender Sherbert (1995)
• The Philosophy of Momus (1995)
• Twenty Vodka Jellies (1996)
• Ping Pong (1997)
• The Little Red Songbook (1998)
• Stars Forever (1999)
• Folktronic (2001)
• Oskar Tennis Champion (2003)
• Summerisle, a collaboration with Anne Laplantine (2004)
• Otto Spooky (2005)
• Ocky Milk (2006)

The album The Little Red Songbook (Le Grand Magistery 61665-60006). ... The album Stars Forever (Le Grand Magistery 61665-60010-2) (1999) was created by Momus partly as a way of raising money from his legal costs, the most recent lawsuit filed by Wendy Carlos but dismissed, and partly to further his exploration of postmodern music making, identity, and aesthetics. ...

External links

• Momus's Official Site
• Click Opera (Momus's LiveJournal blog)
• Whitney Biennial 2006: Day For Night
• A MySpace page falsely claiming to be Momus's, and his Wired article explaining it
• Interview (2003)
• Interview (04/2003)
• Interview (2002)
• Interview (1998)

LiveJournal (often abbreviated LJ) is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. ...

Listening

• UbuWeb: Momus and Anne Laplantine featuring the song Summerisle Horspiel