Cycle World June 2017

It’s an almost hackneyed notion, the general life and times of many bands. The fortuitous debut album that strikes gold, the make-or-break sophomore effort and finally, that much-scrutinized third LP. Dutch art rockers Mister and Mississippi aren’t claiming to be the exception to the rule. Albeit from purely a musical vantage point, the band has – by all means – opted for a new creative trajectory. Third LP ‘Mirage’ employs a darker, heavier undercurrent of synths, bass and drums lurking beneath the group’s well-established sonorous majesty and crisp vocals. There’s a more ominous, acidic punch to the music’s structure, dynamics and growth, marking a radical stylistic shift from the palliative, simmering indie folk prevalent on Mister and Mississippi’s previous two albums.

Like the band’s past material, the new record is fiercely and unapologetically political. Writing for the record began while Brexit was first becoming a reality and concluded during the US presidential election’s unexpected outcome. “This album was recorded in a political environment that collapses the late 70s economic crisis and the looming onslaught of arch-conservative neoliberalism, via Thatcher and Reagan, into the late 1930s, a world riven by fascist nationalism and white power fantasies in the US and abroad,” bassist Ryan Mahan explained in a press release.

Two complete Rockpalast TV shows from Germany (1998 / 2008) plus a bonus concert from 2002, 12-page booklet. The Rockpalast performance of June 21, 1998 at the Loreley is a significant example of the first international phase of success. It was Tito & Tarantula's third concert in Germany and it shows that their musical reputation did not crumble to dust in broad daylight at all. At that time the violinist and mandolin player Lyn Bertles gave the band a more folkloristic touch. That and the simmering mixture of blues, rock and Americana with Mexican influences put the German crowd under the same spell as the shady spectators in the famous movie scene…