Mofungo

Last updated
Mofungo
Years active1979–1993
Past members

Mofungo was a New York City-based band that was active from 1979 to 1993. [1] It featured guitarist Elliott Sharp and food writer Robert Sietsema. Members Chris Nelson and Jeff McGovern were also founding members of The Scene Is Now. [2] [3]

Contents

Robert Christgau described their last album as "basically unlistenable unless you grant it your full attention". [4] The New York Times described them as "not your typical rock and roll band". [5]

Sietsema listed Contortions and DNA as influences. During their career, they played with artists including the Fall, Minutemen, Nico, Pavement, Sonic Youth, and Yo La Tengo. [1] Sietsema believes that the band's track End of the World was an influence on the refrain of R.E.M.'s It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine). [6]

History

According to Sietsema, Mofungo was the successor band to another group called Blinding Headache, which featured Rick Brown, later of the band Run On. Brown's bandmates were Kym Bond, Willie Klein, and Jim Posner. Later, Brown left the band and formed another group called Information, and the three remaining members formed Mofungo with Sietsema, as well as brother and sister Michael McMahon and Amy Rigby (née McMahon). McMahon and Rigby left shortly after the band's formation. [6]

Mofungo, Blinding Headache, and Information were featured on Tape #1, a tape that was released in 1980. Mofungo later released their debut 7'', Elementary Particles, which was almost entirely instrumental. Their debut album, End of the World, was released in 1981. It featured drummer Jeff McGovern. Four songs on the album were mixed by Chris Stamey, founder of the dB's, and one was recorded by Anne DeMarinis, then a member of Sonic Youth. [6]

Mofungo reunited on December 6, 2010, to open for Yo La Tengo on the sixth night of their annual Hanukkah show, at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey. [7]

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonic Youth</span> American rock band (1981–2011)

Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City and formed in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo remained together for the entire history of the band, while Steve Shelley (drums) followed a series of short-term drummers in 1985, rounding out the core line-up. Jim O'Rourke was also a member of the band from 1999 to 2005, and Mark Ibold was a member from 2006 to 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yo La Tengo</span> American rock group

Yo La Tengo is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew. In 2015, original guitarist Dave Schramm rejoined the band and appeared on their fourteenth album, Stuff Like That There.

<i>Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star</i> 1994 studio album by Sonic Youth

Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star is the eighth studio album by American experimental rock band Sonic Youth, released on May 10, 1994, by DGC Records. It was produced by Butch Vig and recorded at Sear Sound studio in New York City, the same studio where the band's 1987 album Sister was recorded. Unlike its predecessor Dirty, Experimental Jet Set features a more low-key approach and references the band's earlier work on the independent record label SST Records. The album contains quieter and more relaxed songs that deal with personal and political topics.

<i>Sister</i> (Sonic Youth album) 1987 album by Sonic Youth

Sister is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in June 1987 by SST Records. The album furthered the band's move away from the no wave genre towards more traditional song structures, while maintaining an aggressively experimental approach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ira Kaplan</span> Musical artist

Ira Kaplan is a co-founder, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter in the American indie rock band Yo La Tengo. He is married to the band's co-founder Georgia Hubley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bowery Ballroom</span> Music venue in Manhattan, New York City

The Bowery Ballroom is a New York City live-music venue located at 6 Delancey Street in the neighborhood of Bowery in Manhattan. The Bowery Ballroom holds something of a cult status among musicians as well as audiences. Rolling Stone magazine has awarded it #1 Best Club in America. "It's both intimate and grand, with consistently great sound and sightlines, and touches of old-school class, like 84-year-old bronze rails." It has a capacity of 575 people. A detailed scholarly account of the venue and its place in the wider music and cultural history of New York City was published in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Flesh Eaters</span> American punk band

The Flesh Eaters are an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1977. They are the most prominent of the bands which have showcased the compositions and singing of their founder, punk poet Chris Desjardins, best known as Chris D. While Desjardins is the group's only continual member, the Flesh Eaters' lineup has drawn from some of the most famous bands of the L.A. punk scene, such as the Plugz, X, the Blasters, and Los Lobos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maxwell's</span> Former music club in Hoboken, New Jersey

Maxwell's, last known as Maxwell's Tavern, was a bar/restaurant and music club in Hoboken, New Jersey. Over several decades the venue attracted a wide variety of acts looking for a change from the New York City concert spaces across the river. Maxwell's initially closed its doors on July 31, 2013, and reopened as Maxwell's Tavern in 2014, under new ownership. It closed again in February 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Versus (band)</span> American indie rock band

Versus is an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 1990 by vocalist and guitarist Richard Baluyut, bassist Fontaine Toups and drummer Edward Baluyut. Richard Baluyut and Toups remained the two core members throughout the band's history. The band was noted for their marriage of indie pop songwriting and vocal harmonies to the "loud-soft" dynamics of grunge and alternative rock. They were also noted for their proficient and disciplined musicianship and for their credo of "meat, sports, and rock", none of which had much currency in the early 1990s American indie scene. The band was named after the Mission of Burma album Vs.

<i>I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One</i> 1997 studio album by Yo La Tengo

I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One is the eighth studio album by the American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released on April 22, 1997, by Matador Records. It was produced by Roger Moutenot and recorded at House of David in Nashville, Tennessee. The album expands the guitar-based pop of its predecessor Electr-O-Pura to encompass a variety of other music genres, including bossa nova, krautrock, and electronic music. Most of the songs on the album deal with melancholy emotions and range from short and fragile ballads to long and open-ended dissonance.

<i>Summer Sun</i> 2003 studio album by Yo La Tengo

Summer Sun is the tenth studio album by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released on April 8, 2003 by record label Matador.

<i>Painful</i> (album) 1993 studio album by Yo La Tengo

Painful is the sixth studio album by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released in 1993 by record label Matador, their first for the label.

<i>I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass</i> 2006 studio album by Yo La Tengo

I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is the eleventh full-length album by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released on September 12, 2006 by record label Matador.

Byron Coley is an American music critic who wrote prominently for Forced Exposure magazine in the 1980s, from the fifth issue until the magazine ceased publication in 1993. Prior to Forced Exposure, he wrote for New York Rocker, Boston Rock, and Take It! Coley is one of the first writers to have extensively documented indie rock from its inception to the present day. Coley was a contributing writer and the Underground Editor at Spin in the 1980s and '90s, and currently writes for Wire and Arthur with Thurston Moore. He has also run Ecstatic Yod, a record label and shop based in Florence, Massachusetts.

The Scene is Now is a New York City-based avant-garde no wave jug band from the 1980s. Its founding members were Dick Champ, Philip Dray, Jeff McGovern, and Chris Nelson. Influences included the Holy Modal Rounders, The Fugs, the no wave noise music bands DNA and Mars, and the traditional Americana of Bob Wills and Hoagy Carmichael.

<i>Master-Dik</i> 1987 EP by Sonic Youth

Master-Dik is the third EP by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on November 4, 1987, in the United States by record label SST, and on January 22, 1988, in the United Kingdom by label Blast First.

Robert Sietsema is an American restaurant critic. He wrote reviews and articles for the Village Voice from 1993 to 2013. He has also contributed to Gourmet magazine. After being let go from the Voice in a round of downsizing, he was hired the following week by Eater, the New York City-based food website, as a feature writer before moving into the role of senior food critic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Stampfel</span> American musician

Peter Stampfel is an American fiddle player, old-time musician, and singer-songwriter.

<i>Fade</i> (Yo La Tengo album) 2013 studio album by Yo La Tengo

Fade is the thirteenth full-length album by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo. It was produced by John McEntire, instead of Roger Moutenot, who had produced all their albums since 1993's Painful. It was recorded at Soma in Chicago, in the summer of 2012. It was released on January 15, 2013.

<i>This Stupid World</i> 2023 album by Yo La Tengo

This Stupid World is the seventeenth studio album by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released on February 10, 2023 by Matador Records. It was recorded and produced by the band in their studio space intermittently between 2020 and 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic and represents their first effort self-producing. This Stupid World has received highly positive reviews from critics for the lyrics and musicianship, with several reviewers commenting on how strong the release is decades into the band's career. The album has been promoted with three single releases and a concert tour that took the band worldwide, including playing several festival dates.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sietsema's Fond Farewell to Nightlife Legend Maxwell's - Sietsema - Eater NY". Ny.eater.com. 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  2. ↑ Lang, Dave (July 1998). "The SST Records story - Part 3". Perfect Sound Forever . Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  3. ↑ Gross, Jason (January 2001). "The Scene Is Now". Perfect Sound Forever . Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  4. ↑ "CG: Mofungo". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  5. ↑ Palmer, Robert (April 3, 1987). "Pop/Jazz; Raucous rockers add a message". New York Times. p. 21. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 Sietsema, Robert (August 1997). "Mofungo". Perfect Sound Forever . Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  7. ↑ BrooklynVegan Staff (2010-12-07). "it was Mofungo (Yo La Tengo Hanukkah night 6 setlist)". BrooklynVegan . Retrieved 2021-02-17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.