May 3, 2006 | Posted by Blair at 12:15 PM

Great Lake Music

proper

Mason Proper - Chemical Dress Eliza

Mason Proper, a five-piece (Chris Abden, Jon Visger, Brian Konicek, Pat Stafford and Matt Thomson) from somewhere along the Detroit/Ann Arbor Michigan axis, is a tough nut to crack. I've been listening to their new full-length album, There Is A Moth In Your Chest, on and off for a few days now and I still haven't really figured them out.

I don't really know that much about Michigan, besides its peninsular, predominantly oven-mitt geography. I know about as much as the average person regarding the music scene there: MC5, the White Stripes (duh), Dirtbombs and other lo-fi garage punk goings on in Detroit, and on the other side of the fence there's the heritage of Techno via "The Belleville Three" (Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson), and the current technolust of Ghostly International/Spectral Sound in Ann Arbor. Then there's hip-hop, which is a whole 'nother scene. Basically, there is a lot going on up there.

Anyway, from what I can tell, Mason Proper have got their own thing going, and this is one of the many reasons I appreciate their music. The songs on Moth cut a pretty wide swath, stylistically speaking, from sweet synthesizer-lead pop, to pretty ballads, to scream-y angular rock, and more songs like this one, that sits somewhere inbetween all those things. The band calls what they make "schizophrenic pop" and that seems about right. I have it on good authority (thank you Jeremy) that these guys are close with a bunch of other good local area bands worth checking out, like Canada, Joiya, and Starling Electric.

You can buy There Is A Moth In Your Chest from the band, via CD Baby, or grab one from them on their tour - which is what they're doing all month long, with local-area dates in the mid-west first, then they'll be out on the east coast for a number of dates in New York City, so you should try to see them if they come thru your town. Visit their Myspace page for all of the tour dates and to hear more of their songs. There's also a few other songs you can download on their website, and a video for the song "Life's Cornucopia" so check that out too. Oh, and random fact, the cover art for the record is by Aaron Burtch of Grandaddy.

Happy Wednesday!

Comments

I posted about these guys yesterday! Good stuff

Posted by: Culley at May 3, 2006 12:20 PM

don't forget about the ever wonderful 'his name is alive' from livona, michigan who have been creating some of america's finest music since 1990.

Posted by: talbot yancy at May 3, 2006 1:32 PM

glad someone said it before i did. warn defever is a god. i saw hnia live many moons ago and it was magical. i might add they're on tour again! don't forget his record label/musical collective time stereo and the glorious noise project princess dragon-mom: http://www.timestereo.com/pdm/

Posted by: bikefridaywalter at May 7, 2006 2:40 PM

hahah! it's SO OBVIOUS that his name is alive is posting about themselves on blogs about other michigan bands, trying to piggyback on their sucesses. how lame! perhaps there is a reason why the blog ISN'T about his name is alive.

that being said, mason proper is incredible.

Posted by: kaylan at January 17, 2007 12:18 PM
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