Mamanet

Mamanet are from Ukraine, specifically from the town of Kramatorsk in the eastern part of the country. The band has only been in existence for four years, but is already widely respected for its live displays of electronic jazz. The band members pride themselves on those shows: across Mamanet’s many websites or online community profiles there are virtually no studio shots - almost all the photographs document Mamanet both together and on stage. The reason for this emphasis, all financial logi...

Mamanet are from Ukraine, specifically from the town of Kramatorsk in the eastern part of the country. The band has only been in existence for four years, but is already widely respected for its live displays of electronic jazz. The band members pride themselves on those shows: across Mamanet’s many websites or online community profiles there are virtually no studio shots - almost all the photographs document Mamanet both together and on stage. The reason for this emphasis, all financial logic aside, is that improvisation remains at the very core of Mamanet’s raison d’etre: “It’s pretty boring sticking to just one genre, so the music will go from trip-hop into disco - then from drum & bass to lounge!” Given that Mamanet are a foursome - a very traditional arrangement of drummer, bassist, and two guitarists - they frequently joke that they’re mistaken for a rock or post-rock ensemble, at least before they turn the amps on. The one western parallel they invoke most often in order to lessen these misconceptions is with Hammersmith’s Red Snapper, given the English outfit’s equal willingness to mix jazz with breaks, hip-hop, and other non-canonical styles. When pressed to be more specific about these possible overlaps, Manamet’s members say the following: “Our music is charged with energy. We’ve got a vigorous, lively, and complex kind of sound; there’s not as much of a rock influence in there… but then there’s more indie, trip-hop, and dub than you’d expect!” This isn’t a style, it’s a relationship between them. It’s not a goal, but a process. Hence the preference for live work. The fact that Mamanet play almost exclusively instrumental works is something else that makes the slipping and sliding between genres a little easier. They needn’t worry about themes or terminology that are associated with a given style. This kind of decision-making or performative statement puts them somewhere in the region of nu-jazz, maybe in the realm of St Germain or Squarepusher. article by David MacFadyen for FarFromMoscow, Los Angeles http://www.moscow.ucla.edu/?p=…