poptimists | Oh smiling damned villain. Oh smiling. Damned. Villain.

OK this is a pretty random post; I just put on An Discovery made last year and was bleeewn away yet again. Mona Mur apparently debuted on record in 1982, with a single where she collaborated with some Neubauten guys and was awarded NME Single of the Week for her troubles. Then an album or two produced by all-time major boss man Dieter Meier (I still regret a bit not going to Kassel for the standing event as I vaguely planned), before in abt 1990 recording an album with the Warsaw Symphonic Orchestra –––-- whence "The Man on the Satellite".

"The Man on the Satellite". It is a baffling and wondrous thing. The narrative starts out fairly cohesively (and possibly even somehow nostalgic for oldsters starved of culturally-critical poptext), but then it goes on into a mode where almost every line or two delivers a "wtf" moment, while certainly keeping to the theme. "Practicing the salvation of America"? "Not dead enough to please me like in Egypt"? "Teach me as the Jews teach their sons-in-law"? The word "striking" is overused, but consider me struck.

This wouldn't amount to everything, of course, if the orchestral arrangement and playing wasn't so (cliches ahoy yes yes) fucking sumptuous and gorgeous etc, coupled with a ridiculously OTM vocal performance. Daaaamn.

Oh a link? I'll just direct you to the myspace page and urge you to click on "The Man on the Satellite". You may not necessarily want to listen to all the other songs there, but "Jeszcze Polska" is the 1982 NME SOTW if you're feeling historically inclined.

Someone will probably feel this is the archetype of badly pretentious eurogoth cabaret nonsense rubbish. I feel it is a unique and precious piece of work. I suspect we may both be right.

(It is also one of the reasons I was a bit miffed at not being drawn in the "Religion" group in Round One of the *koffkoff*Pop Open*koff*. (The other one was "The Garden of Eden" by Anthony Adverse.))