Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

The mysound.com link to Dead Condor...how did you stumble onto
that 'tron track? Pretty cool dialogue and drama sonic backdrop...yet
I wonder if it's really Mellotron. I like to do stuff like that
through a vocoder a la Deutsch Nepal (the Utopia spin-off version
instead of the Amon Duul 2 "Wolf City" version of course)

A pleasant Mellotron pop gem just released is the eponymous debut
from the duo known as Dissociatives out of Australia. Here in the
States the CD is on Astralwerks and promoted to the media via Pirate!
Daniel Johns was in Silverchair back in the '90s, and is married to
Natalie Imbruglia, if that means anything to you. Paul Mac plays
mostly flute 'tron (confirmed) and it's cleverly creative crafty pop
first class. The CD was recorded on a laptop.

And then also received in the mail today is the way overdue sophomore
effort by Hater. These guys are power strummers and this one is a
little unplugged compared to their first on A&M back around 1992, but
does accelerate a little as it get past the halfway mark & sticks to
their signature sound. The bio compares this one to "Brian Eno,
Pretty Things and Arthur Lee". Well, I hear Arthur Lee and that's
about it. Nonetheless, their huge musical family (Soundgarden, Mark
Lanegan, Pearl Jam, and all those post-grunge Washington State bands
that plied the I-5 and I-90 corridors between Olympia and Ellensburg
and even west to the Gray's Harbor area beaches). I bring this up
because I thought Hater's debut was a killer CD, even tho' is not
exactly prog and laced with old school keyboards. Maybe you remember
the "hit" Who Do I Kill, and their cover of Mona Bone Jakon. Being
from the Pacific Northwest--local radio was saturated with airplay
from these guys (and Built To Spill, and we know Doug Martsch is very
familiar with 'trons). Perhaps the most Mellotron usage can be
attributd to Steve Fisk, and the band Truly--especially on their
debut Kid Coma on Capitol.

Locally, there is a duo known as Tandem (or as their flyers say: "Tan-
Dem") which spews forth a gush of odd synth sounds, and hopefully
they can get some tracks up on myspace or soundclick or one of those
hosted unsigned talent websites real soon once they know how to get
their hours and hours' worth of lo-fi cassette noodlings converted to
wav/mp3 files. It's more of a percussive cerebral trance workout, but
there is Optigan, Mellotron and chord organs and all kinds of nifty
keys used.