Mirror Mirror

FRKWYS Vol. 5 highlights Mirror Mirror, the Brooklyn based avant-pop duo of David Riley and Ryan Lucero.

Interested in examining the electronically-tinged savoir faire of their debut album, The Society for the Advancement of Inflammatory Consciousness, while also eager to document the new industrial direction in which Mirror Mirror are headed, we wrangled together a team of FRKWYS collaborators that was more born of workplace “what if…” than a back and forth between the label and band. Fortunately, David and Ryan were on board with our candidates, all decidedly culled from a post-punk pantheon of those who were busy dubbing up and dropping out while their contemporaries jaggedly jangled and angled away.

Stuart Moxham of Welsh minimalists Young Marble Giants, as well as the short-lived solo project The Gist, was first to deliver his mix of “Love is the Law” from Society, which deals in the same stunningly exotic and heady pop sounds that have helped mold his celebrated career (including that undeniable YMB guitar tone). Alig Pearce of notorious agit-punks Family Fodder next submitted a disciplined dub of “New Horizons”, also from Society, complete with meditative instructions for anti-inflammatory consciousness. Rico Conning, of the eerily dubbed out, lost-in-time group The Lines, auditioned early mixes of Mirror Mirror’s forthcoming album and transformed “Oddfellows” into a blissed-out, behind-the-beat mix akin to his production for Depeche Mode and William Orbit.

The final collaborative product on this record truly does serve as the bridge between Mirror Mirror’s first and second albums. With a musical legacy firmly yet obscurely rooted in NYC’s halcyon electronic music scene with ties to pioneering No Wave, hip hop, and electro projects (see Ike Yard, Death Comet Crew, and Dominatrix), Stuart Argabright helped craft “Nau Sau Ser Bil Uma Rah Rab”, a thrillingly melodic six minute original track.

Frkwys Vol. 5 is available in limited edition, packaged in thick black jackets with a two color adhesive wrap. 50 subscriber copies come in leatherette jackets. Digital download available 4/19/11 at igetrvng.com and through the usual storefront suspects.