The ( ) Moppers - Manifest Destroy (Slow Destiny)

The ( ) Moppers - Side B


The ( ) Moppers are a couple of mysterious dudes. Minimal to no internet presence. No MySpace or web page as far as I can tell. I think they're from San Francisco. Discogs lists them as having only two releases totaling 56 copies. That's about all I got. Manifest Destroy (Slow Destiny) is a cassette (37 copies released on Custodian, Color Zoo Containers) with hand made artwork, each one being entirely unique. Cut and paste collages with humans that have animal heads. That sorta thing.

The music on Manifest Destroy was recorded live in '04 and is, umm, pretty weird. It's droney and minimal but probably not the way you're thinking. As far as what instruments are being played, your guess is as good as mine. There's some super low end bass that wobbles back and forth, testing the elasticity of my ear drums. And I mean super low end. Like the depths of the ocean floor low.

While I would definitely describe this as minimal, there's tons of stuff going on. There's lo-fi crunches coming from god knows what. Maybe a shitty drum machine? It sounds kinda like that freak-folk all the kids are talkin' about these days. I mean, The ( ) Moppers aren't folky but there's that feeling that they would wander around the room, finding various toys/pots & pans/sticks/pipes/forks and record whatever sounds came out of them. Occasionally an actual beat shows up for a few seconds but then it disappears into The Nothing (I try to throw in Neverending Story references as often as I can).

I'm not totally sure what this is "about" or what their "goal" is. But does it really matter? It's highly experimental, simultaneously thick and sparse, and I'd give Manifest Destroy (Slow Destiny) a solid recommendation. If you can find a copy.