August 30, 2005 | Posted by mark at 1:08 PM

Connected to the Past

Mum!Mum - Smell Memory.

So, there's a backstory here. This song comes off of Mum's debut LP Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today is OK. It was recorded in 1999 and released in Iceland on the Thule label. Then a bunch of crap happened between the band and the label, resulting in the album not getting much distribution, if any at all. Years later, the band finally has the rights to the music, and gave it to their friends over at Morr Music to put out. And they did, thankfully. This album is amazing.

The track posted here, "Smell Memory," is long. Like, 9 minutes long. This is fine. I have a lot of work to do today, and I could use some long drawn out songs to keep me focused. One might argue that bands like Mum are a dime a dozen, and that anyone with a laptop could make similar music. Well, there's some truth to that, but Mum is way better than other folks. Plus, this is from '99. I don't know what you were doing then, but I was with my friends watching drum 'n bass implode and trip hop linger in limbo. So for these four folks in iceland to have the foresight to record an electronic album that sounds just as fresh six years later is really quite amazing.

And it's called Smell Memory! My favorite memory-related sense is easily smell.

Anyway, this album will be released in October on Morr. Morr Music is really on fire these days, what with Populous, that Lali Puna remix record, and that John Yoko 7". This is definitely a label worth following. You can pick up the rest of Mum's catalog at iTunes".

Comments

My favorite Múm song

Posted by: Kristján at August 30, 2005 2:27 PM

SWEEEEEEETTTT!!!!

Posted by: Severine at August 30, 2005 2:45 PM

Glad to hear that this album is getting re-released! Definitely a favorite of mine and perfect for fall, IMO.

In 1999, I was discovering The Dylan Group, which we now know was the american hippie version of Múm. Wish they're albums had more attention on them too.

Thx Robot Mark!

Posted by: --s-tephen at August 30, 2005 4:09 PM

oh, this is an awesome song. somewhere out there in the ether (it was a b-side on one of the singles from this album) there's a re-mix of one of these 99 songs by a guy called Ruxpin which you must check out.

Posted by: garrett at August 30, 2005 4:30 PM

surprisingly amazing

Posted by: ed at August 30, 2005 5:32 PM

my favorite Mum song also...nice choice!

Posted by: matt at August 30, 2005 5:47 PM

Good stuff

Posted by: Bobby Borg at September 1, 2005 6:25 PM

Thanks for posting Mum. I discovered them with "Finally We Are No One" - which I highly recommend to those who have more Mum to explore.

And your comment about Mum being a step above the dime-a-dozen laptop wielding bands is right on.

Posted by: collin at September 3, 2005 9:07 PM

If you like mum you should check out Torngat.
They are a band from Montreal with a member of the Arcade Fire
http://www.torngat.ca

Posted by: Chris at September 5, 2005 2:28 AM

This is amazing song:"We have a map of the piano"it's really delicate.wow

Posted by: Kate at June 7, 2006 12:47 PM
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