- Momus (artist)
Infobox Person
name = Momus
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birth_name = Nick Currie
birth_date = birth date and age|1960|2|11
birth_place =Paisley ,Scotland
residence =Berlin ,Germany
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other_names = Momus
education =
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occupation =Author ,Journalist ,Songwriter
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website = [http://www.imomus.com/ www.imomus.com]
footnotes =Nick Currie (born
February 11 ,1960 inPaisley ,Scotland ), more popularly known under theartist name Momus (after the Greek god of mockery), is asongwriter ,blog ger and former journalist for "Wired". Most of his songs are self-referential orpostmodern .For more than twenty years he has been releasing, to marginal commercial and critical success, albums on labels in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan. In his lyrics and his other writing he makes seemingly random use of decontextualized pieces of continental (mostly French) philosophy, and has built up a personal world he says is "dominated by values like diversity,
orientalism , and a respect for otherness." He is fascinated by identity,Japan , theavant-garde ,time travel andsex .In the last two decades, Momus has lived in
London ,Paris ,Tokyo andNew York . He has madeBerlin his home since 2003.He wears a patch over his right eye because he lost the use of it after contracting
acanthamoeba keratitis from a contact lens case washed with Greek tap water. [cite web |url= http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=55357876&day=13&startmonth=10&startyear=2007 |title= Momus Revisited |accessdate=2008-05-29 |author=Gerry Visco |date=2007-10-13 |work= |publisher=New York Press] [cite web |url=http://imomus.com/matt.html |title=Story Of An Eye |accessdate=2008-05-29 |author=Momus |date=April 1998 |work= |publisher=]Career
He began by recording
post-punk material with various ex-members of Josef K in a group calledThe Happy Family in the early '80s, and was associated with the musicians aroundPostcard Records (although he never recorded for that label). His debut solo album "Circus Maximus" explored biblical themes in dark, almost Gothic acoustic style, and his debt to the influence of Gallic pop was clear from a subsequent, sardonically self-referencing cover of Jacques Brel's "Jackie" and portraits of himself in the style of early 60s Serge Gainsbourg.In 1987, by which time he lived inLondon , he signed toCreation Records , and began to record the hyper-literate, quirky pop songs for which he is best known. A trio of albums, "The Poison Boyfriend", "Tender Pervert" and "Don't Stop The Night" blended accessible dance-pop with such heavy lyrical themes as paedophilia, necrophilia and adultery. The latter album almost yielded a hit in the UK with "The Hairstyle of the Devil". Subsequent albums on Creation included "Hippopotamomus", a scatological tribute to Gainsbourg, as Momus continued to push boundaries of acceptability within accessible pop structures. By 1994, however, when Creation signed Oasis, his music started to sound out of place on the newer, more 'laddish' and commercial sounds Creation then started to produce, and he moved to Paris and signed toCherry Red records. Since then he has lived in various countries and, whilst less popular in Britain, has had a reasonable level of commercial success in a number of countries, especiallyJapan , where he wrote and produced records for successful singerKahimi Karie , including the hit single "Good Morning World".He has been sued by
Michelin UK, for the song "Michelin Man", which compared the mascot to a blow-up doll, on "Hippopotamomus" (1991); and byWendy Carlos for the song "Walter Carlos" (which postulated that the post-sexual reassignment surgery Wendy could travel back in time to marry her pre-surgery self, Walter) on "The Little Red Songbook " (1998). In response to the debt incurred from Carlos's lawsuit, which was settled by withdrawal of the song, agreement not to use Carlos's name for any purpose whatsoever and payment of damages and attorney's fees to Carlos, Momus wrote thirty songs about every person or group who commissioned a song at the price of $1,000, compiling "Stars Forever " (1999). Patrons include artistJeff Koons , Japanese musician Cornelius, and three-year-old animator/superhero Noah Brill. "Stars Forever" also features the winners of akaraoke contest started on "The Little Red Songbook" (1998).Other Momus activities include writing for "Wired", "Vice", "
Index Magazine ", "AIGA Voice ", andDesign Observer . Momus has also been a kind of guest instructor working on sound-art projects with students first atFuture University inHakodate ,Hokkaidō ,Japan during the early months of 2005, and then again in September at Fabrica, the Benetton "research centre" nearVenice ,Italy . In 2006 he was a featured artist in theWhitney Biennial inNew York City , serving as an "unreliable tour guide" to visitors of the exhibition. He also keeps an online blog, documenting his everyday experience, philosophies and fetishes.Momus is credited with the first documented instance of writing, in 1991, that "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen people", which has evolved into the popular
meme "On the web, everyone will be famous to fifteen people".cite web | title = POP STARS? NEIN DANKE! In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen people... | author = Momus | url = http://imomus.com/index499.html | date = 1991 | publisher = Grimsby Fishmarket | accessdate = 2008-10-07] The quip is a parody ofAndy Warhol 's famous prediction that, "In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes".The
Fotolog.Book with texts by Momus onphotoblog ging published in April 2006 by British publishersThames & Hudson .He is a cousin of musician
Justin Currie , the lead singer and songwriter ofDel Amitri , although Momus has been critical of his musical output at times.Discography
References
External links
* [http://www.imomus.com/ Momus's Official Site]
* [http://livejournal.com/~imomus/ Click Opera] (Momus'sLiveJournal blog)
* [http://www.whitney.org/www/2006biennial/artists.php?artist=Momus Whitney Biennial 2006: "Day For Night"]
* [http://www.myspace.com/nickcurrie A MySpace page falsely claiming to be Momus's,] and [http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70717-0.html his Wired article explaining it]
* [http://www.gloompot.com/DeepMag2003/Momus.aspx Interview (2003)]
* [http://www.creation-records.com/momus/index.html Interview (04/2003)]
* [http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/august_2002/momus.html Interview (2002)]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20061015204411/http%3A//www.silbermedia.com/qrd/thieves/momus.htm Interview (1998)]
* [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/41660-ocky-milk "Ocky Milk Review"] atPitchfork Media Listening
* [http://www.ubu.com/sound/momus.html UbuWeb: Momus and Anne Laplantine] featuring the song "Summerisle Horspiel"
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