Mellotronists

The mysound.com link to Dead Condor...how did you stumble onto 
that 'tron track? Pretty cool dialogue and drama sonic backdrop...yet 
I wonder if it's really Mellotron. I like to do stuff like that 
through a vocoder a la Deutsch Nepal (the Utopia spin-off version 
instead of the Amon Duul 2 "Wolf City" version of course)

A pleasant Mellotron pop gem just released is the eponymous debut 
from the duo known as Dissociatives out of Australia. Here in the 
States the CD is on Astralwerks and promoted to the media via Pirate! 
Daniel Johns was in Silverchair back in the '90s, and is married to 
Natalie Imbruglia, if that means anything to you. Paul Mac plays 
mostly flute 'tron (confirmed) and it's cleverly creative crafty pop 
first class. The CD was recorded on a laptop.

And then also received in the mail today is the way overdue sophomore 
effort by Hater. These guys are power strummers and this one is a 
little unplugged compared to their first on A&M back around 1992, but 
does accelerate a little as it get past the halfway mark & sticks to 
their signature sound. The bio compares this one to "Brian Eno, 
Pretty Things and Arthur Lee". Well, I hear Arthur Lee and that's 
about it. Nonetheless, their huge musical family (Soundgarden, Mark 
Lanegan, Pearl Jam, and all those post-grunge Washington State bands 
that plied the I-5 and I-90 corridors between Olympia and Ellensburg 
and even west to the Gray's Harbor area beaches). I bring this up 
because I thought Hater's debut was a killer CD, even tho' is not 
exactly prog and laced with old school keyboards. Maybe you remember 
the "hit" Who Do I Kill, and their cover of Mona Bone Jakon. Being 
from the Pacific Northwest--local radio was saturated with airplay 
from these guys (and Built To Spill, and we know Doug Martsch is very 
familiar with 'trons). Perhaps the most Mellotron usage can be 
attributd to Steve Fisk, and the band Truly--especially on their 
debut Kid Coma on Capitol.

Locally, there is a duo known as Tandem (or as their flyers say: "Tan-
Dem") which spews forth a gush of odd synth sounds, and hopefully 
they can get some tracks up on myspace or soundclick or one of those 
hosted unsigned talent websites real soon once they know how to get 
their hours and hours' worth of lo-fi cassette noodlings converted to 
wav/mp3 files. It's more of a percussive cerebral trance workout, but 
there is Optigan, Mellotron and chord organs and all kinds of nifty 
keys used.