Lee “Scratch” Perry & Mouse on Mars

Spatial, No Problem.

After the passing of Lee “Scratch” Perry, a deluge of recordings appeared claiming to be the “last” or “final” project of the Jamaican icon. However, his last official album project took him to Berlin, Germany where he landed on the doorstop of electronic pioneers Mouse on Mars. The resulting album Spatial, No Problem. will be released on June 5th 2026. 

Recorded in 3 days at Mouse on Mars' Paraverse Studio in Berlin in 2019. Lee, Jan and Andi conducted a revolving cast of musicians and collaborators throughout the complex's different rooms and spaces. Spatial, No Problem. finds the artists breaking new ground - the one thing Lee was sure of was that this shouldn't be just another reggae album. It covers everything from krautrock, ambient, dub, jazz, New Orleans brass and much more.

https://spatialnoproblem.com

HERZOG SESSIONS

In 2007 an Italian film festival invites Mouse on Mars to score a film of their choice. The organizers claim to be able to clear the rights for any movie the band chooses. Werner Herzog’s fictional documentary Fata Morgana, which merges footage of several desert explorations by Herzog and his team into one continuous association, has long been a band’s favorite. The film comes with a soundtrack by Mozart, Leonard Cohen, Third Ear Band and field recordings. Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner are sent a DVD to Düsseldorf and start working. The idea is to score the film in real time so instrumentation has to be readily at hand: guitar, percussion, electronics, mouth harp, pedals, software, tapes, samplers. Once the arrangement for the three-part film is sorted Mouse on Mars bring their score to stage. Herzog Sessions is performed twice: first when the band still thought the rights had been cleared, and a second time at London’s Southbank Center knowing that Herzog had never approved a new score.

Some of the most interesting points arose when the duo suddenly switched from solemn, ambient tones to glitchy, bouncing electro (reminiscent of their more upbeat work) whilst on the same film shot – causing the audience mood to flick from tripped-out bliss to attentive semi-wired, utterly subverting any idea of a narrative the film may have possessed. Clever stuff.

Ranging from sinister to surreal to humorous, all the moods portrayed in Fata Morgana were successfully matched by Mouse on Mars’ live rescore – no mean feat. The duo also went above and beyond the call of duty with their own soundtrack, adding a fascinating personal signature to an already unique film. 

Mouse On Mars – London Queen Elizabeth Hall soundtracking Werner Herzog.
By Mike Diver, 24.04.2009

Filmed in 1971, Fata Morgana is perhaps not one of Herzog’s best-known works (think Grizzly Man, Rescue Dawn, et cetera…), but then Mouse on Mars have never been ones to embrace the mainstream, quietly letting their modern, experimental take on krautrock do the talking over the years, thus producing some quietly brilliant electronica that far outweighs their modest profile.

The film itself is not altogether dissimilar to the wonderful, Phillip Glass-scored Koyaanisqatsi, with sweeping landscape shots and no obvious plot or narrative, though Fata is concentrated purely in one place – in and around the Sahara Desert, switching from images of barren wasteland to desert tribes and dead, skeletal cattle.

The obvious thing to do when soundtracking such powerful imagery is to vie for dreamy electronic soundscapes which can be sustained for a long period, and whilst this ambient shoegaze approach was present and correct (also carefully constructed and highly effective), Mouse on Mars added a human element to the performance, incorporating a live dimension by using and looping guitars, harmonicas, processed vocals and even a live horn player (quite possibly a flugelhorn. Look it up if you don’t believe me) for the final section of the film.

Artwork Rosa Barba, Art Direction Rupert Smyth

Mouse on Mars Areal Folds

silent green Kulturquartier Berlin
8.9. — 17.9.2023

»Areal Folds« by Berlin-based electronic pioneers »Mouse on Mars« is a multi-part composition of interlocking sound situations — a complex course that acoustically explores the silent green kulturquartier in Berlin’s Wedding district. The entire site is activated, the architectures inside and outside are animated with self-built, partly moving loudspeakers. Multiple reflections and refractions in the concrete hall, on the long ramp downwards, and in the inner courtyard of the venue challenge the audience to listen attentively. Completely new interactions between architecture and visitors are created.

The subterranean concrete hall forms the energetic center of »Areal Folds« – a spatial entity that is not only characterized by its sheer dimension but also by its exposed concrete architecture. Here, »Mouse on Mars« work with computer-generated, robotic loudspeaker objects. A large and active moveable horn loudspeaker, which can be aligned in the space with great precision, activates the architecture in quickly changing perspectives.

Extensive loudspeaker panels made up of up to 100 individual loudspeakers, on the other hand, accurately project sounds onto a special spot in the room in a similar manner to a light beam, creating an impression of an autonomous sound that is independent of loudspeakers. Robot-controlled percussion instruments are also used, enriching the entire sound event with their short rhythmic accents. Programmed light sequences continuously restage the acoustic setting.

Live performances along the long access ramp to the hall provide a contrast to the program in the main hall. Every day two performers, members of the group »Dynamic Acoustic Research (DAF)«, move across the surface in changing constellations and interact with the architecture and the audience. They, too, are equipped with loudspeakers – mobile panels with which they react to the surroundings situationally, improvising as they go.

Fotos Simon Vogel courtesy singuhr projekte

Curated by singuhr e.V.
In cooperation with silent green Kulturquartier

Spatial Jitter

Spatial Jitter is a dynamic sound and light environment at Kunstbau Lenbachhaus Munich April 9 - September 18 2022

https://www.lenbachhaus.de/en/visit/exhibitions/details/mouse-on-mars

The installation intends to challenge the audience to active listening, in which only the limits of attention determine the limits of what is acoustically possible. With targeted shifts of perspective, Mouse on Mars propose to demonstrate their conviction that there is no one valid composition: each listener produces his or her own “spatial compostruction.”

Composition Andi Toma & Jan St. Werner - Speaker Panels & Motorization Michael Akstaller - Percussion Robots Moritz Geist- Lights Matthias Singer - Sound Software Marcin Pietruszeweski, Dietrich Pank - Woodblocks Boris Müller - Percussion Dirk Rothbrust - Curated by Eva Huttenlauch

Along with the exhibition an LP will be published accompanied by a publication with contributions by Louis Chude-Sokei, Helga de la Motte-Haber, Eva Huttenlauch, Mouse on Mars, Patricia Reed, Susanne Witzgall. Artwork by Rupert Smyth, The booklet is bilingual (German/English) Price: 29,90€ Limited Edition Catalogue & LP

The accompanying program is developed in collaboration with BR / Hörspiel, Dokumentation, Medienkunst and Dynamische Akustische Forschung (DAF):

BR2 radio hör!spiel!art.mix: "spatial jitter"

Sound Talks/Spatial Jitter #1 Spatial Jitter: Raum, Klang, Körper

Sound Talks/Spatial Jitter #2 Klänge sind Geflechte, die antworten

Sound Talks/Spatial Jitter #3 Countersonics – Der alternative Klang

Sound Talks/Spatial Jitter #4 Mouse on Mars über ihr Hörspiel Spatial Jitter