The Icelandic experimental singer-songwriter Mugison is one of those rare people who makes music that does not sound like anything you have ever heard before. His music may be quiet, noisy, melodic, playful, beautiful, sad, strange… anything… still, you can hear that it is made by Mugison.

Mugison makes music out of the stuff he finds and what is relevant to the topic of the song at the moment. He borrows from others, he reinvents and he makes his own totally new creations.
On stage, it is said that anything can happen. This also seem to be the fact both in his music and when you talk to him in real life. Anything can happen.
When we did this e-mail interview with him, he had just come home from a nice holiday with his family. His family is important to him, and they are his main collaborators on his new album “Mugimama, is this monkeymusic”:

- “Mugimama is all about family and real friends. My girlfriend produced it with me, my best friend played and did 2 tracks with me, Murr Murr and Salt, his name is Petur, my other best friend mastered it and was always giving me advice. My grandfather did a track called Afi Minn which is the last track on the album and would translate as ‘my grandpa’. My friend sings a song with me called your funeral, my mum, sisters and father and lots of friends sing in a track called ‘hold on to happiness’. All helpers on Mugimama was people I love very much, very much, it’s my clan, I would kill or give my life for everyone on the album”.

And by now, you probably understand who Mugimama is… Mugison explains the title on his new album “Mugimama, is this monkeymusic?”:

- “My main lady is Mugimama, she’s my mama and my lover, teacher, nurse, priest, leutenant and friend. I’m the monkey cause i look like a monkey, i’ve got hair on my body, most parts of it, mugimusic is monkeymusic”

Who is the voice on “Salt”? A beautiful song!

- “That’s my 10 year old sister, Helga. She was staying with me and Mugimama so we got her to tell that story, she’s beautiful.”

Are you happy with the album and the way it sounded in the end?

- “yes, i’m happy with the album, I love it like a dog or a rat or bear”.

You have done quite a lot of different things in the time between these two albums, and you have gone from being a lonely, unknown and poor musician in London to being a well respected artist that is released in several countries, – do you feel this has changed your music in some way?

-” Yes, maybe, no – I don’t know, you should as someone else. I feel the same, I’ve got the same head on and most of my old fingers. My music is the same, just a little bit different between records, not shure how long that lasts, maybe soon I’ll do a record that’ll be my ‘back to the roots album’ which will be very boring and I’ll only be trying to sound like the hip and cool music currently running on BBC 1 but calling it my sound”.

- Your music is recorded mostly at home, right? Is this an advantage?

“Don’t know, the label can’t afford paying for studio or any help so I just do it on my lovely old computer and play on the stuff around me, would like to do a grand record with all the expensive gear, don’t know how that’ll work though, it’ll be a disaster, no wonderful, I don’t know. I’d like to get a studio near to my home, by the sea, in a sound proof tower, guarded by lions and snakes and half eaten whales”.

- The songs often have a sadness to it, and a the same time they are playful and takes unexpected turns. Do you agree? Does it reflect who Mugison is?

“I can be a funny boy, I can be a miserable boy, I can be many things, all songs are real, they are all feelings, I’m not pretending anything, this is me, not some actor, just me…”

- Between the two albums, you have done the soundtrack for Fridrik Thor Fridrikksonís film ‘Niceland’. Tell us how the soundtrack was made.

“Doing Niceland was very nice, i loved it. I borrowed a church in Sudavik, which is a very small town in the west part of Iceland, locked myself in there for 6 weeks and did the soundtrack, mist in the mountains of the west, ooohhhhh it was so good.”

- You are from Iceland, and you made your first album “Lonely mountain” while living in London. Where do you live now?

“I lived the last 2 years in Isafjordur in the west fjords in Iceland, just moved to Reykjavik, not shore if i like it, it’s ok, just you need a car if you life here and I’m afraid of cars, like the pest.”

- Icelandic artists are often sold to foreigners as something very exotic and strange, and when I read Nick Doherty’ biography on your website, I also got this impression. He says you come from Iceland, “a land of magic and wonder where life means seabirds on rugged cliffs, Arctic foxes in lairs and little fishing villages nestled in coves.” The same things are said about Múm and Björk (and then they put in the word “elf” in as well…) and probably a lot of other artists too. Do you feel comfortable about being presented as an exotic artist? Is this Iceland as you see it?

“- yes and no, I come from iceland and I’m a bit fucked up, but I’ve never really got into that elf business, I’m scared of ghosts though and lot’s of stuff, but I’m more the fishing village and seaman as opposed to elf and landscape. I think all humans are exotic, everybody is fucked up and everybody is special. I feel proud of my country but not to the state of Nazism.”

As he said, Mugison relates to fishing villages and the seaman. He was once a sailor himself, and we asks him if he has heard about one of our other favourite musician sailors, the swede Patrik Torsson of the häpna-label:

- Never heard of Patrik Torsson. Came across a Swedish gangster called Patrik, he lived around here for a while, think he killed someone! People told me he drives very fast, think people should drive slower.

- Tell us how your process of making music usually is…

“Wake up arround 07:00, go walking, think about music, arround 10:00 I’ll turn on the computer do some e-mails and listen to music, then arround 11:00 I’ll try to do some new stuff, or think about doing some stuff. Arround 13:00 I’ll be playing the guitar and recording it.. On a very good day I won’t stop until 18:00 and then eat. 19:00 I’ll eat again, 20:00 I’ll go rent a movie, see a friend or snog mugimama.”

Mugison’s day seem well organized and structured. Is there a structure and a plan to his music too, or does it always happen in the moment?

-”Most of the time.. sometimes I think a lot, would not call it planning, would more call it preparing or warming up”.

Mugison is sometimes called a musical junk shop man, – he creates music from whatever he finds natural at the moment and uses whatever he feels that the song need. His label is called “Accidental sounds” and this is also an expression that Mugison has used on the sounds he adds to his music to make them more personal. He can record the sound of him making coffee or other “accidental sounds” in his surroundings. We asked if he considers these sounds an important part of his music?

“Yes important, makes your music more personal, what makes people and music interesting is the mistakes and funny habits, very important not to clan that away.”

- You are on Matthew Herbert’s label Accidental. To me, he seems to follow his own mind and be open to every possibility. Do you feel related to his way of thinking music?

“Yes in some ways I relate to him, he’s got a big heart and a big head, I like him.“

- Do you feel free as a musician, or are there something that you could never do in your music?

“I don’t feel free, don’t know what that word stands for, think it’s the most over-rated word and misused in current times, something for hippies and part time demonstrators”.

- What inspires you?

“- love and hate.”

- What’s next for Mugison?

“- Don’t know, maybe I’ll stop making music and just disappear, i’m a bit tired of this, everybody are so rattlebrained in the business, me to, dont like it, everybody are so much trying to be bigger than life, a true something. It’s all false and they are displaying something inhuman all the time, and repeating things to much.. aahhh I’m tired of the music baloney, love music, hate the things around it.“

Mugison recently played live in Great Brittain, and in the coming months he will be playing live both in Iceland and other countries, – if he doesn’t decide to stop making music and disappear… We asked how he feels about playing live:

“- Most of the time I enjoy playing live, if people are there to listen and having fun, I like it more, sometimes it’s very boring but most of the times these days it a whole lot of fun.”

Mugison’s top 5 ?

“- love
- good sex
- good coffee
- good weather
- good health.”

- And, by the way, is Mugison your real name?

“- it’s my nickname, My father’s karaoke nickname is Muggi, that’s how I got to be called Mugison.“

Learn more about Mugison at his own mugi-web, it’s his blog, actually… Also some info on the accidental label’s artistpage: http://www.magicandaccident.com/mugison.htm

More on Icelandic music in this eardrums special. Mugison released “Mugimama, Is this monkeymusic?” on Matthew Herbert’s Accidental-label late in april this year.

While you read, listen to Caribou: Barnowl (from domino records, USA)

Caribou is the French-Canadian name for a large North American deer with large antlers, a subspecies of the Reindeer. Caribou is the ninth album by British singer/songwriter Elton John. Caribou is a city in the canadian province of Manitoba.

Caribou is also the new stage name of Dan Snaith, a 26 year old canadian who earlier this month released his third full-length album, “The milk of human kindness“.

Snaith was formerly known as Manitoba, but had to change his name after being threatened with litigation by Handsome Dick Manitoba of ’70s New York pre-punks the Dictators. Handsome Dick has never released an album under the name Manitoba, but he probably needed some attention, I guess.

The reason why he chose Caribou is the same as why he chose Manitoba: He wanted a name that represented something canadian.

In Manitoba/Caribou, Snaith has taken electronic music to a new dimension. His music is often based on the contrasts between chaos and order, – between noise and silence.

The first album, “Start breaking my heart” from 2001 was intelligent, melodic electronica with a lush, jazzy feel. It can be compared to the music of Boards of Canada and Four Tet.
The next album, “Up in flames” represented something completely new, both comparing to his previous album and to the electronica world in general. Snaith moved away from the traditional electronic sound, and started to experiment with traditional instruments, vocals, and layers of different samples and noises put on top of eachother. The result was an amazing album with chaotic walls of sound, but with complex structures and layers of beautiful melodies underneath. Chaos and calmness contrasting eacother. The press compared the music to the 90′s shoegazer-scene or psychedelic rock, and bands like My Bloody Valentine and Spiritualized were mentioned.
Snaith’s new album, “the milk of human kindness”, now as Caribou, gives us a further developement of this style, – another masterpiece – probably more psychedelic, melodic and focused than “Up in flames”.

Eardrums have interviewed Dan Snaith about the new album, his way of making music and the future of Caribou. Here is our Q/A interview with CARIBOU:

Eardrums:
- Congratulations on your new release, “the milk of human kindness”! Are you satisfied with the recording process and the result?

Dan Snaith:
- thanks. yeah – i’m really really happy with it and really excited. i think it’s my best one so far.

- What’s the main difference in the sound and the making of this one compared to your last album, “up in flames”?

DS:
- I made them in exactly the same way – half samples and half me playing loops over top. i guess this one sounds more focussed. i thought more about each individual sound and where it was it in the mix rather than up in flames which was more of a kaleidoscopic blur.

- The title, – what’s the thought behind? It’s originally a Shakespeare-quote from Macbeth, isn’t it?

- I read it off the back of a milk truck! It is from macbeth – that pretty much guarantees that it’s a well coined phrase. i also like the fact that people could see it as being sarcastic and bitter (a comment about the lawsuit) or as being straightforward and optimistic (a comment about how affirming it’s been to move on and have a fresh new start in a sense).

- Can you give us an idea on how a Caribou track is born? How do you write your songs? What inspires you?

- I build all my tracks out of loops. I usually start with a sample or a melody that I play in from an instrument and then add loops on top until i’ve got enough material (or usually way too much material) and then spread it out into a track at the end. I’m only really inspired by other music. I’m a big record nerd so I’m always looking for old records that sound different as well as keeping up on as much of a crossection of music that’s coming out now.

- Do you include other musicians in you music?

- I work entirely on my own.

- Caribou was Manitoba. How do you feel about the namechange now that your first release under that name is out? How has the fans reactions to the new name been?

- To be honest, once we agreed to change the name and put all the arguing with Dick behind us it’s been far less of a big deal than I anticipated. I thought I’d kind of be starting again but it definitely feels like a big step forward rather than a big step back. The fans’ reactions have been amazingly positive and affirming. There are definitely some people who prefer the old name (as well as the other way around) but they all understand the position I’m in and have been really supportive.

- When you listen to the albums of Manitoba/ Caribou as a whole, it is impossible not to notice the often drastic changes from album to album. Is it important for you to move around musically, or does these things “just happen”?

- It just happens, but I think I’d just be really bored if I made the same album over and over again like a lot of people seem content to do. The primary reason I make music is definitely as a challenge to myself. I’m always trying to out do myself and come up with something I’m happier with than before. I wouldn’t be happy if I felt I was just going over the same ground over and over again.

Do you have a plan with it all?

- I definitely never have any plans when I start making music. It’s far more a process of trial and error and just messing around and enjoying it rather than doing anything conceptual and planned out.

What, if any, do you think is the similarity- factor between “Start breaking my heart”, “up in flames” and “the milk of human kindness”?

- I think there’s a melodic sensibility that ties all three of the albums together.

- We first learned to know you as an electronica artist, but on your later recordings it is more difficult to point out exactly what musical style you belong in. What kind of music is closest to your heart, and if you have to: how would you describe Caribou musically?

- I’ll always feel my musical taste is represented best by spiritual free jazz like Pharoah Sanders, Albert Ayler, Alice Coltrane, etc. although that’s not what my music sounds like. I love the combination of good melody and mad production and instrumentation. I suppose it’s pretty safe to say that my last two albums have been ‘psychedelic‘ in some sense.

- Your later recordings have had more of a alternative rock feel with guitars, drums, flutes, vocals + + + (of course still combined with electronics). Do you play a lot of “traditional rock instruments” yourself, or is the sampler still a handy tool?

- I play guitars, keyboards, drums myself, but some of that stuff is also samples on the records. the sampler is definitely a handy tool. I’m always happiest with my music that’s a combination of samples and playing stuff myself.

- Now that your new album is released, and after the promotion-bit and touring is finished, – what would you like to do next?

- Get back to making more music immediately. I start losing my mind if I don’t make music for a while. This is gonna be the first time that I’m not in school at the same time so I’m looking forward to having more time to work on music.

- You still do some DJ-sets in clubs. What’s on your top 3 playlist at the
moment?

- I only dj sometimes. my farouvite shit at the moment is:

1.) daft punk – make love
2.) kieran hebden and steve reid sessions LP
3.) madvillain – strange ways (koushik mix)

- You play live a lot. How is Caribou live?

- a hell of a lot. We’ll probably do 150 shows following this album. We’re in the midst of a 45 date tour of north america right now. I love playing live. We play with 2 drum kits, guitars, keyboards, flutes, samples, video synced to the whole show… it’s a bombastic fuckfest.

We’ve seen a lot to great alternative Canadian artists lately (Broken Social Scene, Stars, Dears, Feist, controller.controller, and more…), and from interviews with the mentioned bands, I get the feeling that all canadian musicians are a bunch of friends… Is this right? How do you feel that the music scene in Canada is at present? Any artists we should listen to?

- I think all those bands are very much friends, which is great. I’m friends with Kevin from BSS but I’ve always been a little bit of a loner with regards to that kind of thing. I’ve never been part of the music scene in Toronto. I’m happiest working off by myself!

CARIBOU will be on tour until the midst of june. The new album “Milk of human kindness” will be released on May 3rd on Domino Records in the USA and on April 25th on Inertia in Australia. It is out now almost everywhere else.
Caribou’s website is at http://www.caribou.fm