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Meanderthals

London's Idjut Boys (Dan Tyler & Conrad McConnell) and Rune Lindbæk of Oslo are Meanderthals. As longtime friends and fans of each other’s music they have discussed the idea of working together in a musical context for years and in 2008, they finally began to make those ideas a reality. Throughout the year they traveled back and forth between Oslo and London to create their debut album Desire Lines (Smalltown Supersound, 2009).

A meanderthal is a theory by Matthew Tiessen about a human that is always in the way of others. Whether it be the person on the wrong side of the escalator, the person walking slowly, the person bicycling on the pavement, it is essentially the person that stops the flow of urban daily life. On the contrary, Lindbæk, Tyler and McConnell`s definition does not see this person as a threat, but as a person that is completely in his own world - a slacker, musically on his own. This could also be a good description of Lindbaek and the two Idjut Boys.

The title, Desire Lines, is also based on a theory. This theory is used by architects as they observe where people choose to walk before making a path. The chosen path is a desire line.

Meanderthals' Desire Lines is their chosen path of beautiful and mellow balearic disco. A warm and dreamy blend of dub folk, prog, kraut, psychedelia and 70s west-coast combined to invent an organic, slanted, and proggy feel. Recorded live, the album features contributions from good friends, including Pete Z (DJ Harvey) on keyboards, Des Morgan (YamWho?) on drums and percussion, Malcolm Jospeh (Grace Jones) on bass, Per Martinsen (aka Mental Overdrive) on percussion and Raj Gupta (Laj & Quakerman) as sound engineer.

Idjut Boys bio:
Idjut Boys (aka Dan Tyler & Conrad McConnell) hooked up in the late eighties through a shared love of the disco - not disco of Harvey and Francois K. Best described as eclectic, or, to the uninitiated, eccentric, their DJ sets are typified by an anything goes attitude. Disco, electro, R&B, soul, house, techno, hip hop, pop & rock. Anything works if it fits in the mix. From their North London studio they run three record labels and produce their infectious dub-heavy disco sampling house for many more. They formed their first label, U-Star, in '94 on the back of their successful club nights of the same name.

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Album Review

Meanderthals: Desire Lines

Read "Desire Lines" reviewed by John Kelman


While music of the dance floor is often mistakenly considered as lacking in substance--great beats, but nothing more--electronica artists and even cross-pollinating jazzers like Nils Petter Molvær, Bugge Wesseltoft, and Eivind Aarset are proving that it's possible to make music equally engaging for the mind and body. Certainly Wesseltoft's New Conception of Jazz Box (Jazzland, 2009) makes a strong case for music as weighty as it is booty-shaking. London's Idjut Boys (Dan Tyler and Conrad McConnell) and Norway's Rune Lindbæk ...

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Performance / Tour

Joe Albano and the Meanderthals Live at the Stone NYC!

Joe Albano and the Meanderthals Live at the Stone NYC!

Source: Michael Ricci


Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Desire Lines

Smalltown Supersound
2009

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