Mome raths

Momeraths at the Sugar Refinery, Vancouver BC, March 2001. L-R: Michael Hamilton, Howard Gillam, Joel Cherney, Josh Blanchard, Colleen French.
Photo by Randi Johnsen

Discography: ARCH008 The Weather Control EP CD3 (July 2001)

Mome raths create dense pop-based songs in which the line between live instruments and electronic programming is blurred into irrelevance.Within these loosely- structured pop arrangements, Mome Raths opens up vast pockets of improvisation. They are notably one of Portland's few improvisational acts who do not practice the "frenetic Free Improvisation" aesthetic as a primary point of reference and draw heavily from rock-based and electronic forms of improvisation. Their style could be called electronic fragment improvised rock, but this wouldn't really do justice to the group's playfulness & diversity of interests.

The Weather Control EP is the first release by Momeraths. The CD3 was released as part of the 2nd installment of the archi3 series along with Nice Nice. The tracks on Weather Control were recorded by Andy Brown and Rex Ritter at Magnetic Park Studio in Portland, April/May 2001, with Strategy aka Paul playing a few percussion instruments and acting as objectivity-mascot/dub organiser. The group is currently taking a break from projects to travel, and will resume recording this fall.

The current lineup of Momeraths consists of Howard Gillam (electronics, synthesiser), Joel Cherney (prepared percussion, clarinet), Josh Blanchard (bass, voice), Colleen French (guitar, flute, voice), and Michael Hamilton (organ, bass clarinet). All members of the group are established in their own right, participating in projects such as Supersprite (Howard--forthcoming LP on Audiodregs)), Forms in Flux (Colleen, Josh), The Sensualists (Josh, also on Audiodregs), The Approachables (Joel), and One Human Minute (Michael). Other former/rotating members include Davis Hooker (A John Henry Memorial, Thanksgiving). Mome raths reside in Portand.

The group can be contacted directly at momepalace@meaningliberation.org
[eventually here there will be the link to the momeraths website]

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