Menomena!

More than just a funny song from The Muppets, Menomena is a unique band that formed in 2000 in Portland, Oregon. The band uses a computer program called the Digital Looping Recorder, or Deeler for short, in the song writing process. It was programmed by keyboardist Brent Knopf using a software program called Max. Drummer Danny Seim explains the process, "First, we set the tempo of the click, which is played through a pair of headphones. We then take turns passing a single mic around the room. One of us will hold the mic in front of an instrument, while another one of us will lay down a short improvised riff over the click track. We usually start with the drums. Once the drums begin looping, we throw on some bass, piano, guitar, bells, sax, or whatever other sort of noisemaker happens to be in the room. Deeler keeps the process democratic, which is the only way we can operate".

After giving away several different homemade demo CD-R recordings at local shows, the trio stuck with the DIY aesthetic of their early demos by recording their first album themselves. The result was their nine-song debut, I Am the Fun Blame Monster! (an anagram for "The First Menomena Album"), which was self-released on May 20, 2003. The album was elaborately packaged in an 80-page flipbook that Seim designed and individually hand-assembled while working at Kinko's.

A friend advised the band to mail a copy of their album to Pitchfork Media, a popular music website that Seim "had never heard of" at the time. Several months later, Pitchfork gave the album an 8.7/10 rating, and placed it in the "Best New Music" section. The band continued to assemble the flipbooks by hand and distribute them with the help of online retailer CD Baby until late 2004, when the album was released nationwide by FILMguerrero, a Portland-based independent record label.

On November 8, 2005, Menomena released Under An Hour, an album of instrumental music written for and performed with Monster Squad, an experimental dance company based in Portland. The release consists of only three tracks, each of which is over seventeen minutes in length. Stylus Magazine gave the album a somewhat lukewarm "B-" and described it as, "...an interesting view into a band that continues to evolve without really throwing down any breadcrumbs for them or us to follow".

Menomena released their third album Friend and Foe on January 23, 2007. As with their first two releases, Friend and Foe was entirely produced, recorded, and mixed by the band. It received relative critical acclaim, and Pitchfork gave the album an 8.5/10 and again placed it in the "Best New Music" section, calling it "...The first great indie rock record of the new year". On December 6, 2007, it was announced that the artwork for Friend And Foe was nominated for a Grammy award for "Best Recording Package".

"Cough Coughing" from I Am The Fun Blame Monster:



Live performance of "The Pelican" from Friend and Foe: