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The Organ Grinder’s Monkey

The Organ Grinder’s Monkey Radio

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Testing The Theory Of Songs As Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
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Testing The Theory Of Songs As Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Album:
Released: Jul 1, 2011
Label:

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General Info

  • Genre: Electro / Indie

    Location Brighton, Un

    Profile Views: 10279

    Last Login: 4/16/2013

    Member Since 8/27/2009

    Website www.togm.co.uk

    Type of Label Unsigned

  • Bio

    The Organ Grinder's Monkey is a musical collaboration between man and machine, an unholy alliance whose aim is to combine indie-rocking guitars with glitchy lo-fi electro beats and a dash of retro 8-bit synth. ..The duo consists of Benjamin Sane: a human who sings and plays guitar, and Bill Murray: the laptop computer who provides the rhythmical backdrop for his organic counterpart. "Showery Matter" is the title of their latest EP, released in October and featuring remixes from last year's "Stormy Weather" EP, alongside TOGM's remixes of other artists. Early gigs in their adopted hometown of Brighton have been well-received, with the duo looking to build a local following before taking their live shows further afield. ..Bill and Ben met at school in Cornwall in the early 90's, where Sane was a promising young maths student, and Murray a lowly BBC micro, capable of running only the most basic software. The idea of forming a band didn't occur until over a decade later, however, when Sane's previous indie-rock outfit imploded and he was abandoned by all of his human friends – left to sink into a downward spiral of depression and self-loathing, which to this day shows no sign of abating. .. Having failed in his attempts to secure regular work as a sound engineer – and forsaking a glittering career in retail – Sane was approached by Murray with the idea of working on new material together. Initially in favour of writing simple melodic indie-pop songs, Sane was soon convinced that creating a "live band" sound inside a computer was pointless, and was instead encouraged to adopt a more carefree experimental approach – learning to abuse the drum machines, samplers and FX that Murray was now equipped to handle. ..By late 2009, the sound of The Organ Grinder's Monkey had come together – a sound that the duo themselves describe as being "ideally somewhere between Super Furry Animals and Aphex Twin, with a healthy dose of chiptune thrown in", but described by Sane's few remaining acquaintances as "more like Noel Gallagher throwing up on a laptop." Sane's guitars and vocals bounce along on Murray's broken beats, all the while being looped and twisted through banks of FX to create new shapes and unpredictable forms, but never sacrificing the underlying pop sensibilities. ..The last word on The Organ Grinder's Monkey must surely go to Sane's long suffering girlfriend Sarah, the group's staunchest supporter and sometime backing vocalist: "Sometimes I just wish he'd leave that fucking computer alone and come to bed. It's like he's married to the damn thing or in love with it or something. Freak."

  • Members

    Benjamin Sane (The Human) - Vox / Guitars ||||||||||||||||| Bill Murray (The Laptop) - Beats / Bass / FX

  • Influences

    Super Furry Animals | The Boo Radleys | Pixies | The Flaming Lips | Grandaddy | The Smiths | The Electric Soft Parade | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Radiohead | Aphex Twin | Venetian Snares | Squarepusher | Thomas Truax | Um | Patrick Wolf | Jeremy Warmsley | Early 90's computer games | Free VST Plugins ..

  • Sounds Like

    Find out below!

Reviews / Quotes

"Ben describes his current solo project as “lo-fi glitch rock”, which seems pretty accurate to me. It’s a man and his laptop – plus a guitar and more pedals than the Tour de France – having fun and experimenting with sound, mostly to great effect. I hate to use the word ‘clever’ about music, as I can’t help but think it sounds derogatory in some way, but this is clever music. I’ve rarely seen someone take such care in making the drama of their music fit the lyrics of each song, and it works beautifully (if usually distortedly too). From talking about losing control (while letting someone with a game controller distort what he’s playing) to singing about everything always going wrong (having asked us to boo him off at the end and then having the laptop glitch up at the end), this is as much about performance as it is the music itself (which is great in and of itself). Highly recommended."
Go Play Listen blog


"DIY electronic fusion from the South Coast influenced by the holy 90’s trinity of the Super Furry Animals, Radiohead and the Pixies. There’s more cross-fertilisation going on here than in a field of wild flowers. There’s a cheeky playfulness running through their fractured, ADD blend of lo-fi 8-bit electronics and organic rhythms. Never ones to get bored, their live show should be a fun-filled and anarchic experience."
Rich Hughes, The Line of Best Fit


"The sound of root canal dentistry."
Melita Dennett, BBC Introducing: The South


"The joint work of a man called Benjamin Sane and a laptop called Bill Murray, Man Against Machine is a head-spinning fusion of electronica and old-fashioned indie-pop songwriting. Bill and Ben take the electronic element far more seriously than the usual 'stick a drum machine under it and it'll sound dead modern' singer-songwriter brigade, yet at the same time they have no truck with lazy repetition. As a result, each of the three songs sends the listener on a bewildering bobsleigh ride, populated by glitchy beats, weird processed vocals, and continual twists and turns. It's as though they've taken several hundred albums' worth of production ideas, stuffed them in a centrifuge and compressed them until they're so dense that they begin to have their own gravitational pull. Exhilarating, but exhausting."
Sound On Sound Magazine


"Clearing the stage The Organ Grinder's Monkey was a two piece of person and laptop. Person played shimmering guitar in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of early Brian Eno, he also sang. The guitar was extremely shiny and seemed to have more than an expected amount of sliders on it, although I didn’t get to have the closer look I wanted. The laptop, as befitted its 21st Century status in the affair eschewed romanticised nostalgia and looked forward with beats at one moment straightforward and next twisting off unexpectedly. Along with the beats was a subverting backing track that included distracting backing vocals that seemed to mock the live voice. Against type they rounded the set off with a rousing, straight up, key-change-including Indie song that seemed to be throwing cheap shots at one of the audience. Very funny."
Spirit of Gravity writeup


"It's quite unusual to hear something that is convincing on both the electronica and the songwriting fronts. Usually you either get lots of flashy noises with no substance, or the sound of pop musicians dabbling, neither of which is much fun. This seems like a genuine attempt to apply some fairly full-on electronic production to proper songs. Which is nice."
A kind friend


"Noel Gallagher throwing up on a laptop"
A not-so-kind friend

Comments

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  • matthew mccartney

    cheers for the invite to dolphins and dovetails, it was my birthday and had family down, I haven't been able to go to any Spirit of Gravity nights of late as I've been working so much. hope you're doing well sir, catch you soon

    2 years ago
  • The Little Big Band


    likewise! It was great fun! and well done to Bill as well :-) Hope to see you soon!

    Vix
    LBB

    2 years ago
  • matthew mccartney

    Hey Man, How's it going? Been meaning to contact you. You should come to the next Spirit of Gravity night, the last ones have been great. Saw a band I think you'd really like last night called Medicine & Duty at the Freebutt. They are a Brighton band so should be able to catch them again pretty soon I hope!! Take it easy

    3 years ago
  • Kizzy Canham


     

    3 years ago
  • Brighton Student radio

    hey thanks so much for being part of Brighton Student Radio! We'd love to have you music played on our station, anything we can do to support you and your music please just let me know! Nige

    3 years ago
  • El Schlong

    Hey,
    We're playing at the Brighton Hobgoblin next weekend with some good bands.  Hope you can make it along.
    The Schlong

    Photobucket

    3 years ago
  • Daniel Flay & The Irrep…

    Hey, thanks for being my Myspace pal :)

    Hope you're okay and stuff, I still have to listen to the others properly but this third song is awes.

    Dan x x x

    3 years ago
  • Pete Um

    Nope (re. CD-R) but I won't keep you in the dark!

    3 years ago
  • J M C™

    ROCK IT TO THE TOP!!!!!

    3 years ago
  • man from Uranus

    hey benny, interesting stuff. Hope Brighton is doing you right.

    3 years ago
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