Folktronics: The Songs of Momus 1996-2008
The life and songs of singer-songwriter Momus during his time at Le Grand Magistery and beyond.
Momus – the stage name of musician Nicholas Currie – is one of the most prolific and talented indie songwriters of the last forty years. His work is controversial, influential and highly regarded. From aspiring indie pop star of the 1980s to Japanese chart success in the 1990s through many experimental works to the present day, he has been a constant in the search for intelligent, thinking person’s pop. Jarvis Cocker asked him to produce his band Pulp, the NME memorably awarded his Hippopotamomus album a 0/10, Creation Records dropped him when he proved too dangerous for them, and his more controversial work led to astounding legal tussles. His personal life has involved scandal and heartbreak and he lost an eye to infection, resulting in his distinctive eye-patch. His songs including The Hairstyle of the Devil, The Guitar Lesson and I Want You but I Don’t Need You are acclaimed and have been covered by artists including Amanda Palmer and Steven Wilson.
Folktronics is a history of his life and career from Japanese chart success in 1996 through his acclaimed Berlin “O” trilogy to the 2008 collaboration that would mark the end of his glitch period. The story is told through detailed examination of every studio album and song, examining their ideas and references, and relating them to the political and cultural worlds from which they emerged. By turns serious, hilarious, absurd and moving, Folktronics is based on the blog at fifteenpeople.com.
“I recommend this entertaining account, which has even taught me things about my own songs.”
Nicholas Currie (Momus)
“I’m delighted to see the return of John Robinson’s engrossing, brilliant analyses of every Momus record since the mid-’80s.”
Grant Morrison
John Robinson
John William Daniel Robinson is a writer from Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire. He gained a BA (Combined Hons) in Radio Film and Television Studies with Mathematics from Christ Church College, Canterbury and took a post-graduate course in Journalism at Sheffield College before moving to Poland to teach English.
He moved into website design and programming, eventually becoming a lecturer. For ten years he has taught Computing and Contextual Analysis at North Lindsey College in North Lincolnshire. He lives with his wife and two children.
John’s writing mainly takes in music, technology and media analysis and has been published on websites such as outsideleft.com and in publications including Langue Pendue. His book Famous for Fifteen People (Zer0 Books) is the first of an intended series about the work of the songwriter Momus. Folktronics (P&H Books) is the second.