Mouse On Mars

When Mouse on Mars entered the musical landscape 18 years ago, the band's rich layering and melodic structures felt more in line with the fledgling indie rock scene. In 2004, a decade after releasing their much-loved debut, the Düsseldorf duo took the irony out of the "D" in IDM with the aptly titled Radical Connector. Their tenth LP (and first in six years), Parastrophics combines the head of early Mouse on Mars with the heart of the latter. Their first on Modeselektor's Monkeytown label, Toma and St. Werner finally sound as comfortable with guttural bass lines and distorted grooves as with polyrhythms and experimentation. Carrying over from their last few releases, tracks like the fractured "They Know Your Name" and the warm hum of "Polaroyced" feature vocals that work more like snippets than melody definers. As songs pulse and glow bright in the most dynamic of ways, it's almost bittersweet to see Mouse on Mars sounding so comfortable delivering house music, losing a bit of their identity with each passing beat.