About WFMU
Nat_Roe on 04/14/2010 at 01:33PM
10 Live at WFMU
When Japanese laptop noisician Marqido came through Rob Lim's Janitor From Mars program five years ago, Marqido probably never would have foreseen the musical direction he would take when returning to my program last week with his duo 10. South Korean crooner Itta began collaborating with Marqido several years ago after Marqido toured through Seoul's experimental venue Yogiga.
As 10, the duo is just finishing up their first American tour, promoting their recent album, Kitsch. Fans of 10 will be surprised by this live session (or by any of their live concerts for that matter), since 10's electro-pop is highly improvisatory. Each of the three performances I've seen personally in the past weeks have been completely different. Wave No Wave is taken at half tempo on this recording, for instance, and all the songs are significantly lengthened. Marqido makes great use of an optical theremin (which is already at the top of my Christmas wish list) and feeds Itta's vocals and both members' keytars through Logic on his laptop. 10 has been one of my favorite mutant-pop bands for a few years now (especially their album Nomad), so it's been particularly illuminating to see the free improv that underlies the pristine, taut pop on their recordings.
