MV&EE
Encyclopedia
MV & EE is a Vermont
-based group of musicians focused around Matt "MV" Valentine and his partner Erika "EE" Elder. Matt Valentine was in the neo-psychedelic group, The Tower Recordings and has also released music under his own name and the pseudonym, Matthew Dell. While the duo recorded under many different names, including MV & EE Medicine Show and The Bummer Road, most of the records center around both artists and feature a rotating cast of additional musicians. Their style is self-described as "lunar ragas", with many of the lyrics dealing with celestial imagery. They combine Indian raga
style composition with Appalachian folk
and post-psychedelic
electrical experimentalism. They use Western
and Eastern
acoustic instruments amplified and augmented with effects such as reverb, delay
, and flange
. Their compositions occasionally feature vocals, which are off-kilter and rambling, while seeming drugged
.
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
-based group of musicians focused around Matt "MV" Valentine and his partner Erika "EE" Elder. Matt Valentine was in the neo-psychedelic group, The Tower Recordings and has also released music under his own name and the pseudonym, Matthew Dell. While the duo recorded under many different names, including MV & EE Medicine Show and The Bummer Road, most of the records center around both artists and feature a rotating cast of additional musicians. Their style is self-described as "lunar ragas", with many of the lyrics dealing with celestial imagery. They combine Indian raga
Raga
A raga is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made...
style composition with Appalachian folk
Appalachian music
Appalachian music is the traditional music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. It is derived from various European and African influences, including English ballads, Irish and Scottish traditional music , religious hymns, and African-American blues...
and post-psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
electrical experimentalism. They use Western
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
and Eastern
Eastern world
__FORCETOC__The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures or social structures and philosophical systems of Eastern Asia or geographically the Eastern Culture...
acoustic instruments amplified and augmented with effects such as reverb, delay
Delay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
, and flange
Flanging
Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and notches are produced in the resultant frequency spectrum,...
. Their compositions occasionally feature vocals, which are off-kilter and rambling, while seeming drugged
Narcotic
The term narcotic originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with any sleep-inducing properties. In the United States of America it has since become associated with opioids, commonly morphine and heroin and their derivatives, such as hydrocodone. The term is, today, imprecisely...
.
Albums
- Tonight! One Night Only! MV & EE In Heaven 2001 (Child of Microtones)
- Ragantula 2002 (Child of Microtones)
- Daybreak Of Cocola & The Plumage Overtones Of Black Patti 2003 (Child of Microtones)
- Fantastic String Music 2003 (Child of Microtones)
- Moon Jook 2004 (Child of Microtones)
- Cosmic Dust & The Electrobeam Hermit Thrush 2004 (Child of Microtones)
- Lunar Blues 2004 (Child of Microtones)
- The Uranian Ray 2004 (Child of Microtones/Spirit Of Orr)
- Ragas & Blues 2004 (IDEA)
- Livestock Moon Forms: Rural Ragas Volume One 2005 (Child of Microtones)
- The Light Of Cocola Octo Escapes The Golden Dawn Of Blues: Rural Ragas Volume Two 2005 (Child of Microtones)
- The Suncatcher Blossoms A Nova And Is So Grateful It Is No Longer Willing To Dark The Sun: Rural Ragas Volume Three 2005 (Child of Microtones)
- Zone of Domes 2005 (Child of Microtones)
- We Offer You Guru 2005 (Child of Microtones)
- Suncatcher Mountain 2006 (Child of Microtones)
- Mother of Thousands 2006 (Time-Lag RecordsTime-Lag RecordsTime-Lag Records is an independent record label based in Portland, Maine.It has released albums by artists such as Phantom Buffalo, Elephant Micah, Fursaxa, MV+EE and the Bummer Road, Death Chants, Six Organs of Admittance, Wooden Wand, Charalambides, Espers, The Tower Recordings, Drona Parva, GHQ,...
) - The Cowboy's Road 2006 (Child of Microtones)
- Play Ellas McDaniel's "Who Do You Love" 2006 (Three Lobed Recordings)
- Rural Dimensions 2006 (Child of Microtones)
- Green Blues 2007 (Ecstatic PeaceEcstatic PeaceEcstatic Peace! is a record label based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, founded in 1981 by Sonic Youth member Thurston Moore. The premiere release was a split cassette featuring spoken word performances from Michael Gira of Swans and Lydia Lunch...
) - Goodbye Moonface 2007 (Wabana Records)
- Mars Delta 2007 (Child of Microtones)
- Eye in the Pines 2007 (Child of Microtones)
- Ragas of the Culvert: The Ground Ain't Dirty 2007 (Child of Microtones)
- Gettin' Gone 2007 (Ecstatic Peace!)
- Foxgod in Flight 2008 (Child Of Microtones)
- Pray For Less w/ Willie Lane 2008 (Blackest Rainbow)
- Total Loss Songs 2008 (Three Lobed Recordings)
- MV & EE Meet Snake's Pass & Other Human Conditions 2008 (Singing Knives)
- Drone Trailer 2009 (Dicristina Stair)
- Barn Nova 2009 (Ecstatic Peace!)
Singles
- Moment Spacing / Bong Judge 2008 (Golden Lab Records)
- Old Black Joe / Huna Cosm 2008 (The Great Pop Supplement)