A New Concept in Electronic Song Systems!

Nick Currie launched his career in the music industry only a couple of years after Milton Bradley launched MicroVision, the handheld games console illustrated on the cover of the 10th Momus album, 'Ping Pong'.

In 1982 4AD Records signed The Happy Family, in which the thin young Scot was songwriter and vocalist alongside musicians recruited from the Postcard Records group Josef K.

The Happy Family suffered much the same fate as the MicroVision console. Milton Bradley went back to making board games. Nick Currie meanwhile re-invented himself as Momus, signing to el Records, an intense little R&D cell working on the style which would, years later, become known as loungecore.

Mike Alway's el label was a big success in Japan, but in the late 80s seemed at odds with the British market. Alan McGee signed Momus to Creation Records. The first album was The Poison Boyfriend.

If his excellent De Sade inspired debut EP, 'The Beast With Three Backs', bespoke the poetry in the anguish of sado-masochism and his first LP, 'Circus Maximus', failed through being weighed down by a surfeit of ideas and historical references, 'The Poison Boyfriend' fulfils the art Nick has always promised to produce. Jack Barron, Sounds

While Nintendo's GameBoy was making the electronic games market bigger than Hollywood and the music industry, Momus became a 'SongBoy', releasing a string of critically acclaimed albums which explored the very limits of role playing in the song format. He became The Poison Boyfriend and The Tender Pervert, casting himself in cyber-pantomime roles so evil they made Gary Oldman look like Sonic the Hedgehog.

One of the most provocative, intelligent songwriters around; someone who'll tackle sexuality, (im)morality, and the sins of the world with almost embarrassing sincerity Len Brown, NME

After scoring an indie hit with Hairstyle Of The Devil, Momus got frisky, friendly and playful, releasing albums like Hippopotamomus, Voyager, and The Ultraconformist. The music jumped from one style to another: toybox techno, widescreen 3D, futuristic vaudeville.

In 1995 Nick Currie moved to Paris where he recorded The Philosophy Of Momus.

One of the UK's greatest and most underrated songwriters... ambivalent, challenging, confusing, disturbing. If you need to exclude ambiguity from your life, you shouldn't buy this album. David Hemingway, Melody Maker

In Paris, following in the footsteps of his hero Serge Gainsbourg while extending his use of the 'song avatar mask', Momus began writing for girl singers. The Poison Girlfriend, Mari Hamada, Laila France and Kahimi Karie went on to sell half a million CDs in Japan, scoring a string of top ten hits.

It's 1997. Sony's PlayStation dominates the console world. Momus returns to London, where a new generation of pop groups - Jack, Orlando, Belle and Sebastian - are drawing inspiration from his work. He releases Ping Pong, his 'new concept in electronic song systems'.

Snap one of the characters (supplied) into the neat handheld console and enjoy many hours of gaming fun in role. Who will you be today?

A song by song introduction is here.

Click here for the Chinese press release, with more details of the songs

Lyrics.
Reviews.
Go back to the last album, 20 Vodka Jellies (1996).
Go forward to the next album, The Little Red Songbook (1998). Index