múm

Mum is personally one of my favorite artists in the IDM/electronic/etc. genre. Their music sounds almost innocent, and childlike, while still remaining intelligent and beautiful. Their music varies from warm bright yellow sunshine songs to chilling yet gorgeous soundscapes. When vocals are in a track, they are reminiscent of bjork to a degree (both icelandic), but definitely have a feeling and sound of their own. I cant wait to see them live someday.

It should be noted that múm puts on a great live show. I saw them at the First Unitarian Church sanctuary in Philadelphia, and it was amazing. Imagine a chapel filled to the brim, the entire audience sitting attentively, all eyes and ears on this beautiful music. (I'm all for getting down, but this is *sitting* music, damnit!) Unlike some other good-but-boring-for-live-shows artists in this vein *cough*City Centre*cough*Morr*cough*, múm really didn't rely on their laptops. Sure, they had a laptop sitting in the corner to play some sequenced material, but they also had live drums, live analog synths, guitars, flute? (if I remember correctly), accordian, and... a musical saw!? And it sounded good. So cool.

múm doesn't just do great studio albums -- they also do great live shows that reflect the studio material. While I'm not all that thrilled with their most recent output, I'll be sure to see them if they tour again.