MUSIC REVIEW: MICKEY MOONLIGHT - TIME AXIS MANIPULATION CORPORATION
A Rare & Wonderful Electronic Bending of Beats, Time & Space
(Because Music) Mickey Moonlight & The Time Axis Manipulation Corporation is the debut album from Mickey Moonlight. The English DJ, remix-specialist, and producing maestro has turned focus from other artists' work to present audiences with an album that arrives as liquid joy. Having previously toyed with tunes from a diverse range of artists from the likes of Justice, Franz Ferdinand, and Tame Impala, there should be little surprise at the breadth of vision on display. However, this album is as surprising as it is optimistic. As the title would suggest, this is a collection that comes spinning in to further screw with expectations. A hotly anticipated release that many watched the horizon for has still arrived with an element of unexpected assurance.
This is an album that claims to be for home listening, never intended to be a club banger. It's filled with discrete details and subtle glances that suggest, nod, and whisper, rather than explicitly demand that you sit and jam or stand and shout. Released on French Because Music label -- home to Mr. Oizo, Jarvis Cocker, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Manu Chao, and Metronomy -- the company that Mickey Moonlight keeps displays an intelligent independence. There is humor and insight at every turn, but not the self-satisfied smugness that sometimes inhabits a cool indie release. Fun here is based entirely in inclusion. These are adults who know that there is more fun to be had when they share their toys. References are made to the kind of movies that never really existed -- intergalactic travel that really never happened, and the landscapes that never will be seen by human eyes. Or maybe all of this is real; it certainly should be.
Electronica never sounded so fruity or so organically joyful as it does on these 16 tracks. Tunes are mainly retro-futuristic and are laden with charm, not cheese. “Come on Humans!” -- the closing track -- is a processed robotic voice that sounds like lounge music for an interstellar strip club. The jokey swing and light-heartedness delivers a weightier perspective on how we fleshy beings treat and mistreat ourselves and the environment. “Come on you humans! / What are you thinking?! / Come on you Humans! / Is this as good as it gets?!” levels a finger and demands an accountability for our actions. It's deadly serious fun.
“Interplanetary Music” is a killer track. Percussive scrambles, addictive beats, surreal melodic drops, and “Interplanetary harmonies” Electronica is the core of the album, but floating about that here are handclaps, saxophones, chimes, bleeps, shakers, and celebratory sounds. Threads of this DNA may be related to previous Beta Band tracks; perhaps they passed through similar orbits, shared similar substances at inception. There is opportunity to dance here, but there's something more comforting in sitting with the rhythms, letting them pass you by like smokey stardust as you clap and nod.
Another passage of almost unbearable joy is “Simulation Crocodile Skin Handbag.” The thing comes alive. It's scaly, bubbly, and its teeth are coated in peanut butter. For all of its snap, this is a vegetarian, friendly beast. Coming in at only two minutes long, this represents a sighting in the wild, not a caged creature. Instrumentally, this presents the best example of overall theme. It's mainly crisp, loose, well-considered, and full of character.
The best albums arrive as musical artifacts that exist beyond the sounds. This album is one such release. It feels like an accessory -- an addition to a scene like a burning incense stick, a strange tea pot, or a specially bound diary. It's one thing, but it's also offering more in another subtle dimension. It's deeply personal and certainly unique, but it is also universal and appealing. The album cover -- showing ceremoniously dressed ancients, Stone Henge, and an unusual sky -- mirrors the sense of occasion within the tracks. The best element of this collection is that, for all of its intimacy, it is an audacious statement of intent. Mickey Moonlight and the Time Axis Manipulation Corporation are certainly bent on corrupting the future with all best intentions. They can only be massive. Or small. Or whatever they want, given they're in charge of entering all coordinates into their strange machine.
Share this thing with friends, but only the ones that deserve the good stuff, like secrets to a certain kind of universe.
Standout tracks: "Come on You Humans!”, “Interplanetary Music”, “ Simulation Crocodile Skin Handbag”
For Fans Of: The Beta Band, Big Pauper, The Flaming Lips
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