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Matt Sims began startling audiences with his unusually provocative performances which were equal amounts political satire , surreal imagery and sensual debauch. With three dancers (à la The Fall), this performance group explored the contemporary connections between media, consumerism, sex, and entertainment. Gaining comparisons from artist Paul McCarthy’s food work to James Brown’s hip work, this show caused enough of a stir to get the attention of DJ Hell who quickly signed them to his International DJ Gigolo Records label alongside the likes of Tuxedo Moon, Terence Fixmer, CROSSOVER, Vitalic and Linda Lamb. The release of Mount Sims’s first album Ultrasex on Emperor Norton records, now a cult classic electro-pop album, put Sims on the map internationally with the hit song “Hate Fuck.”??In 2004, the follow up LP Wild Light was released. This album, with such songs as “No Yellow Lines” and “Urgent Not Urgent,” introduced a darker side of Mount Sims. Collaborating with artists David J. of Bauhaus, Roger Manning Jr. (Beck), Echo Angelica Danon (So Does The Fire / E.V.R.) and visual artist Elad Lassery, Wild Light was a landscape of made from themes which touched on the darker side of human nature: Obsession, isolation, horror and madness were to become a noted themes in Sims’s lyrical arsenal. Musically both noisy and melodic, Wild Light became the mark of a definite a departure form purely electronic music and from all which previous fans considered to be pleasant, to a very particular style of music influenced by post-punk and the LA underground.??After touring extensively throughout Europe as a three-piece band (as opposed to a performance art piece as was the case with Ultrasex) Sims decided on breaking the band up and relocating to Berlin, Germany. It is here that Matt began working on the new incarnation of the band with Randy Twigg on bass, Andre Lange on drums, and Thomas Stern of Crime and The City Solution behind the sound and production. A long-distance friendship between Matt and Hungry Eye Records (New York City/ Montreal, home of the Bellmer Dolls, Sixteens, the Holy Kiss) led to a collaboration and the release of a limited 12”, the A Grave EP. To the delight of his followers, Mt. Sims strays far from the formula of “How We Do”, as proved by the earlier release of a single for “Grave” on 12” format and now the third full length, Happily Ever After. This new album is an even further departure from electronic dance music and is creepier and more aggressive in its content than any other Mount Sims album, featuring guest musicians Jessie Evans (Vanishing, Autonervous, Subtonix) and Toby Damit (Swans, Iggy Pop). |
