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Album: MS MR - 'Secondhand Rapture'
Member Since: 9/16/2011
Posts: 735
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Member Since: 11/11/2011
Posts: 6,524
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I'm so excited for this. Their EP is flawless!
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 18,271
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Member Since: 11/2/2010
Posts: 20,295
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Not long now. Hope we get previews soon.
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Member Since: 1/14/2012
Posts: 1,582
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Member Since: 11/2/2010
Posts: 20,295
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10 days. 
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Member Since: 5/4/2011
Posts: 20,807
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Quote:
Originally posted by Michael
10 days. |
Let me just take a moment to realise we're so close to perfection.
UGH this is going to be the best release of 2013 YET.
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Member Since: 10/17/2009
Posts: 5,464
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Ugh, please leak already! Probably my most anticipated album of the year so far.
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Member Since: 9/9/2012
Posts: 3,106
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This iS going to be amazing!!
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Member Since: 8/20/2011
Posts: 9,381
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i can't wait
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Member Since: 11/2/2010
Posts: 20,295
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Quote:
This Brooklyn-based chillwave duo, consisting of Lizzy Plapinger (MS) en Max Hershenow (MR), is bound to be the next big thing. Their first EP ‘Candy Bar Creep Show’ received a lot of good reviews, their single ‘Bones’ was used for one of the trailers of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’, while ‘Hurricane’ is the new soundtrack to the summer 2013 Gucci-campagne. Also, Miss and Mister got to tour with Jessie Ware in the US for a few weeks.
With ‘Secondhand Rapture’ they’re releasing a debut that sounds like a vintage hodgepodge of mysterious electro-pop and soothing voices, soaked in a sixties sound. Think Poliça meets Florence + the Machine. The verdict? It’s hard to give an opinion on something you’ve only heard once, but we quite liked the flow of the album, although it’s not really innovatory. But then again, who is these days?
MS MR organized a little Q&A after the pre-listening session. You can read the result below.
How did you record the album?
Max Hershenow (MR): “At first, we recorded everything electronically in my apartment. That’s sort of the foundation of our music. Then our producer helped us out with the live recording of some instruments, like piano, organs and drums, and then we layered it all together. ‘Cause we wanted to combine the electronic elements with the more acoustic elements.”
Where did you get the inspiration for the album title?
Max Hershenow (MR): “There’s not really one theme throughout the album. But after we recorded it, we sort of looked back at what were the themes that inspired us the most whilst working on the album. And the main themes that emerged were our relationship towards the media -the way we consume media and music specifically-. So the ‘secondhand’ idea, is about the way we process things, the world, through our computer screens. ‘Cause it gives us this opening, this whole other world, but it’s secondhand, because it’s through your screen. That kinda gives us a sense of false intimacy. And through that, there’s maybe a sense of euphoria, and that kinda brought up the ‘Rapture’.”
Lizzy Plapinger (MS): “Yeah, it’s very much like that. It’s the removal of experience, and how you’re somehow brought closer to something by that. 2012 was a really specific time and place for us. I think we’re always trying to create music that’s timeless, and at the end of the day we hope our songs can exist through any time period. But I think that they are unique ‘cause they couldn’t have been made in any other time period, just because of the nature we created them in: with a laptop and a microphone. And that’s very specific to the 21st century. We like to embrace that, and we try to reference that in both the music and the visuals. When you’re making music on a laptop, it’s not that hard to create music that’s sort of clean and sterile. So, for us, it was interesting to inject it with an element of texture and dirty.”
Is that how you are gonna play it live? With a laptop and a microphone?
Lizzy Plapinger (MS): “No, and that was the challenge for us. Because it was sort of a unique 21st century album, and we had great ambition and inspiration for it. But how are we gonna translate it to the live stage? We were positive from the beginning that we were never gonna be the two people on stage with a laptop. I think it would really undermine the music, it wouldn’t do us justice. So we were clear from the start we were gonna work towards building a live band around it. And that’s what we’ve done: I sing, Max plays keys, we have this incredible percussionist and also a man who’s a multi-instrumentalist. Through all these combined forces, it very much highlights the organic elements that we added in later. It also allows us to play and morph the sounds that we are creating live. And that’s a really fun experience: to feel free to move within the music, and make it as unique as possible. In that way, every show is no cookie cutter of what you see the next night, and I think that’s an important element of live performance in general.
Max Hershenow (MR): “Yeah. As we are approaching the release of our first album, we’re starting to think about recording the second already. It will be like two years off, don’t worry. But we’re curious to see how our recording process will change as we have more experience with playing on stage and having a band around us. I’m curious to see if that will influence our writing process.”
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Member Since: 5/8/2012
Posts: 13,178
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i am ready. bones and hurricane are amazing
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Member Since: 1/19/2012
Posts: 452
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Quote:
Originally posted by RomaZzzRoma
i am ready. bones and hurricane are amazing
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Yes. And Destiny =]
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Member Since: 1/19/2012
Posts: 452
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I have a feeling this will be on Pitchfork Advance next week.
Anyone know if there is a way to check what albums they will premiere in the future?
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Member Since: 11/2/2010
Posts: 20,295
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Quote:
New York’s MS MR seemingly came out of nowhere. Releasing their first singles and EP just last year, their debut album Secondhand Rapture is polished and accomplished, especially considering they’ve only been actively making music for the last couple of years.
The duo, consisting of vocalist Lizzy Plapinger and producer Max Hershenow, are making exciting and bold tunes that are steadily accumulating popularity and critical acclaim, and you know what? They’re really deserving of the hype around them. MS MR are doing something different to most of the bands around them, and it’s fantastic to see them just doing their own thing. In interviews they’re charmingly modest (Plapinger doesn’t really consider herself as a singer), but honestly, this is a hugely talented band who have come out with a stellar first effort.
Lizzy Plapinger’s vocals really make this album special for me. I could listen to her distinctive, husky singing forever – her voice is like no other I’ve heard, which is something that contributes to MS MR’s constantly growing popularity.
Her vocal layers meld so well together, and each works on every level, creating these complex interlocking harmony-and-countermelody-filled songs that are effortlessly awesome and unique.
My favourite tracks on Secondhand Rapture include the three hits, “Bones”, “Hurricane” and “Fantasy” – I can’t tell if it’s because I’ve known them for a while, or because they’ve just picked the best songs to release as singles, but they’re all mesmerising songs. Hypnotic, graceful and magnetic, the vocals and the percussive elements at the backbone of these tracks create such an intoxicating atmosphere.
Apart from these singles, I really love “Head is Not My Home”, one of the angrier tracks on the album. Plapinger’s passionate vocals combined with the banging percussion and the unsettling piano ostinato ooze raw emotion, and the result is compelling. “Dark Doo Wop” is a little bit jazzy and a little bit fragile, and crunch and distortion is used really well towards the end. Throughout the album, but more noticeably in the second half of it, some more organic sounds such as piano with little reverb/echo (“Twenty Seven”) and pizzicato strings (“BTSK”), as well as the ever-present strong percussion contrast well with the synthesised textures.
Smoky, dark, complex, threatening, warm, alluring, mysterious, enigmatic and attitude-filled are just some of the words that jump into my mind when listening to Secondhand Rapture. It’s an album that dares you to describe it, to try and pigeon-hole the general vibe. As you move through the tracks you realise it’s pretty hard to confine the record to a stereotype. MS MR’s music has been described as dream pop, “Tumblr-glitch-pop” (that one comes directly from the band!) and dark wave, but I think that while they have certain features that string their tracks together, they hint at versatility throughout the record.
They skim the surface of a few different styles and genres in Secondhand Rapture and this leads me to wonder what on earth they’ll come out with next. I suspect that they’re a band that will continue to develop and evolve quite a lot over the next few years, while retaining their trademark sound.
They have an incredibly promising future – and Secondhand Rapture is a very strong start.
Review Score: 8.8 out of 10
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Good review 
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Member Since: 6/19/2012
Posts: 29,579
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The stuff in the OP sounded cute. I'll listen to the album.
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Member Since: 11/2/2010
Posts: 20,295
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Member Since: 4/17/2012
Posts: 228
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Quote:
Originally posted by Michael
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From what I can tell you can only play the songs that were on the EP
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Member Since: 11/2/2010
Posts: 20,295
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Quote:
Originally posted by wigsnatcher
From what I can tell you can only play the songs that were on the EP
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Oh.  Maybe it's only available in specific countries?
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Member Since: 4/17/2012
Posts: 228
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Oh that's possible. I'm US.
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