No Filler Music Podcast - Ep 28: The Mercury Program - a data learn the language

Episode Date: January 27, 2019

Quentin is back from vacation and back on the mic with Travis to cover one of their favorite instrumental albums, "a data learn the language", by The Mercury Program. Drummer Brian Lebleu and bassist Sander Travisano showcase their skills and unique dynamic as a rhythm section, playing in tandem with Sander's brother Whit on keys and vibes and Thomas Reno on guitar to deliver one of the most memorable instrumental rock albums of the last 20 years. For more info, check out the show notes: https://www.nofillerpodcast.com/episode/ep-28-the-mercury-program-a-data-learn-the-language Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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My name is Quentin, and I'm back, brother. Feels good. Thank you for keeping the fort time while I was gone. I'm with my brother, Travis, as always. And let's get into some Mercury program, huh, bro? Well, we have to talk about because you told me, you said, hey, you know what, Travis, I really liked that metal song that you played last week.

I did, actually. I really liked it, dude. I was into it, man. I felt it. I felt the metal. Okay. All right. So what about it did you like?

Now, for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, go back and listen to last week's episode. I played a song called The Summoning by a heavy metal thrash group called Soulfly. And historically, Quentin does not like metal of any kind. So the fact that you liked it is intriguing to me. I want to know why you liked it. And what about it did you like compared to some of the other stuff that we played? Okay. Maybe I was just in that headspace, dude.

I was in the car when I listened to it. Maybe it was your delivery, you know? Like you set me up for it. A T. Yeah, dude. You prepared me for it. Okay. Okay.

I don't know, dude. I liked it. Okay. You've heard of a band called Red Fang, right? Yes. They're kind of a Doom metal band. Okay. If that's what Doom is, then that's what I love.

Well, they're kind of like... I don't know how to classify metal because I'm not a metal head. They're kind of a... I mean, they're more like stoner sludge metal. Stone, okay. Sludge metal. That's the thing, man. I've always liked Red Fang.

Okay. So, so we've established. then what we've established is you do like metal. You just, you don't know yet what it's like what type of metal that you like. And now we're starting to figure out that maybe you like. Of course, the funny, the irony is thrash metal is like the opposite of stoner metal.

So not to go on a tangent here, but what I'd like to do now that we know and if established that you like, or at least you like Max Cavalera, lead singer of Soulfly, I would love to do an episode on Chaos A.D., which is one of Sipiltera's albums. So we're going to do that. That'll be a metal album that we do down the line. We've established that you like that guy and you like the way that he approaches metal.

And so there you go. Now, is that going to be more sludge or is that going to be more melodic grindcore? It's going to be more songs like what I played last week. okay I just love how many like sub genres of metal there are I mean it's the same for it's the same for just rock music

in general you know there's so many for anything yeah yeah so many different genres well I appreciate how deep it goes man and how much and you're just in it dude you're but the funny thing is I'm really not

that that like if I was to walk into a metal you know club or something that, I would get left straight the fuck out of there, dude. I know enough to get by, but I'm by no means like a proper metal head. You know what I mean? But I love and appreciate the music. And, you know, I'm slowly getting more and more deeper into it. So anyway.

And you're slowly figuring out what I might be into. My, my, my, the entire goal of this podcast from day one for me was to make sure that you, you came out on the other end. metal head. So it seems like it's working. So I'm just going to keep bad. So that's the true motive. Okay.

So let's talk about, so as we just discussed last week was a heavy metal episode. And we are shifting gears this week and talking about an instrumental band called the Mercury program. So Q, I'm going to let you take the reins on this one. Okay. Let's pause real quick. And let's dive into our what you heard. I'll go first this week. I feel like I throw it over to you a lot.

Well, you've had two weeks without telling us what you've been heard. Okay, so I picked up a record for pretty cheap. It's by a band called Quiet Son, which is another one of those Prague rock bands, kind of in the same vein as King Crimson, which we played one of their tracks as to what you heard for our Black Sabbath episode. And definitely in the same vein. This was a band that was around in the 70s. And shit, dude, you know what?

I'm looking at their Wikipedia page right now. The album that I picked up was their only album as a band. It came out in 1975. It's an album called Mainstream. And again, we've, We've covered Prague rock bands in the past. We've covered can. We've covered yes.

And we've covered King Crimson. These guys are in the same vein. You know, it's that jazz fusion kind of, quote unquote, prog rock that kind of exploded in the 70s. So I'm just going to play a clip from the first track on this album. Again, it's called Mainstream. It came out in 1975. And this song is called Sol Caliente.

So is it all instrumental like that? For the most part. Like it surprised me when I heard vocals. It was like towards the very end of the record. Yeah, I really like that, dude. That's great. Yeah, that's cool, right? Yeah, that's awesome.

I like how it started heavy with that piano. And it's very repetitive, which I feel like kind of goes in line with the Mercury program. You know, it's all in that same band where it's very technical, you know. And that's what I've always loved about Prague rock from the 70s, you know. Very technical, especially with bands like King Crimson and yes. That's my what you heard. So what you got, brother? What you've been heard?

So this might be the most fresh, the freshest, what you heard? because I literally just listened to this like a few hours ago. Like it was the last thing I listened to at work. We've got these. So we moved into a new building, my work. And every room has its own little Sonos speaker. And so each team can kind of play their own music in their room, right? Damn, dude.

I have to ask again, I feel like I've asked this before about your company, how many oversized beanbags are there? Zero, dude. Zero. There are none yet. So anyway, I've been sort of like, you know, DJing sort of, right? It's basically myself and the other front of developer. Funny enough, are the two guys that are basically competing to take over the Sonos speaker in my room, right?

So anyway, I just pushed, like I was basically looking for an album that I knew I could just push play and just let it go. and this is an album that you and I have had some familiar that we both have been aware of for years because we covered it on Newdest, but it's by a electronic musician named Architect, spelled with a cue at the end, not architect, architect. And it's really hard for me to find any information on this guy. I know that his real name is Sam Anand, but I don't see any bio anywhere. The record label website is like sparse at best, like it doesn't even have any information on this release. But either way, man, this is just such a great electronic album.

It does a really good job sort of sprinkling in different sounds and different genres. and sort of mixing it into the song. And anyway, so the album is called Gold Plus Green, or Golden Green, came out in 2009. This song is called Into the Cosmos. Dude. All about it. Just cue that, dude, cue the album up and push play. I'm telling you that.

Fantastic album. If you like that kind of stuff, this is one of those, you know, literally a no-filler album. So anyway. So we're going to dive into the Mercury program and their 2002 debut album, A Data Learned the Language. So like we said, Mercury Program is an instrumental group, but as, I don't know who that was that was interviewed at the moment, who was talking, but as they had said in that intro clip, they used to have vocals. and if you listen to their earlier stuff, so they've been playing together since 98, and their earlier works actually did feature vocals. And it's always been sparse, you know, it wasn't always like the main thing with the songs.

But over time, they realized that they can, you know, that they can be just as impactful as a band. without vocals that it that wasn't something that they felt like they needed so over time they just kind of lost it and they just slowly became you know a fully instrumental band and that's the thing about this album dude like it is so i mean really you don't need vote like this album it might as well have a vocal track you know with with how impactful it is um when you're listening to it you know with with um with what they can do with the instruments, they might as well have a vocalist.

Are you just, you're referring to how, how expressive the instruments are? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I agree. I agree with that. So I don't want to get into too much history right now. I want to listen to some tunes because I feel like we've kind of teed them up already with our past episodes.

So, uh, this song is called Tequesta. and this is the first track on the album, A Data Learned Language. Where do we begin, man? Yeah, I just love how quiet, the very, very beginning, how it just kind of like,

just slowly sort of like lead you into the song, you know, how like you just sort of tease that line just very quietly and then it, and then when everything comes in, like it starts to really build on top of that. But yeah, it's a very slow like uh guide into the album yeah this is one of those albums that there's no question we were going to cover it you know yeah well i was thinking that when like when this while the

song was playing like i was thinking man i'm so like i've listened to this song and this album so many times like this is like an old friend you know so many times dude i know i know so let's name off the roster real quick and we'll talk a little bit about like what instruments that you're hearing here. So I feel like the main hitter, like the, you know, the heavy hitter here is the drummer, dude. David LeBlue, or Leblow. I don't know how to how to pronounce his last name, but he's the drummer. He also hops on the vibraphone every now and then. Sander Travisano is the bass player. And dude, Sander and David, good God, through this album, the way that they play along with each other,

it's just, oh, dude, it's just perfect, man. Sander is playing alongside his brother, Witt, who plays the Rhodes keyboard.

He also plays vibraphone. And then you've got Thomas Reno on guitar. And, man, dude, the tone that he gets in this guitar, and, like,

I mean, he tapped into something special with this album. Well, it's, yeah, it just creates, It creates such a lush texture, you know?

Yeah. Yeah, there's just something about it, dude. So I'm going to read a quote real quick here from pitchfork. So they gave, I doubt to learn the language, they gave him 7.15 out of 10. So it's pretty high rating. And he says, much of the time, it's hard to believe that humans are playing this music. not out of any excessive virtuosity or lack of emotion, but because of the celestial tones,

Thomas and Witt coax out of their instruments and the sharp focus of Sanders' bass and LeBlow's drums. I mean, that's it, dude. That's what makes the Mercury program so special, is, you know, Sanders and LeBlo and what they do in tandem with bass and drums. and what Thomas and Witt bring, you know, together themselves with guitar and wrote's keyboards. So let's jump into the next song. Going down the line here.

So the next song I'm going to play is track four, which is a song called Egypt. And as we'd like to do from time to time, if we can find a great live recording, we'll share it with you. I'm going to share two clips from Egypt. The first clip is going to be the beginning of the song as you hear it on the record. And then we're going to share a live clip for the second clip of this song. So here is the first clip from track four on the album. It's called Egypt. So here's what I like about this album.

And this is why I wanted to share this song. it's equal parts kind of uplifting and just kind of dark and sinister, you know? Well, it's a great sign to play after that first one that we play because it's such a huge juxtaposition, you know? Yeah. I feel like with this kind of music, with instrumental music, with down tempo, you know, edm or idium kind of music, I think it's. important to have those mood swings in the record, you know.

All right, so we've got another clip from Egypt. And again, like I said, this is going to be a live clip. So turns out they were interviewed by Morning Becomes Eclectic from KCRW. We played a few clips from that same show for our Kings of Convenience episode. So the host at the time, his name is Nick Harcourt. And he interviewed Mercury Program and they played a handful of tracks from the Mercury Program. I want to say that this interview was pretty much around the time of this release. I think it was in like November of 2002 and this album came out in September.

So this is fresh off releasing this album. And this is the Mercury program playing in a studio, you know, with legitimate mics and mixers and all that good stuff. It sounds fucking great. I highly recommend listening to the radio program. We'll link it in our show notes. So this is honestly my favorite. part of this song. There's a really cool thing that

Tom does with his guitar in this clip. And it sounds fucking great, live, dude. Well, let me just say that it is. It does a great job showcasing his

use of the delay. So we'll just say that. Yeah. Yeah. Dude, you know, you haven't even heard it and you know that it's about to happen. Yeah, because it's my favorite part of the song, too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, so here's clip two from track four, Egypt. Man, just the handoff, too, from the guitar to the vibraphone at the end. I know, right? It's just such a great moment. And that was live, man. Yeah, extremely faithful to the song. These guys are unbelievable, dude.

Yeah, yeah. All right, so let's just keep playing tunes, man. I got a few more clubs to play. So the next two songs that we're going to play is the last two songs on the record, which are I think maybe my two favorite songs. So the next song is going to be track seven, and it's called Gently Turned on Your Head. What I like about that song is how the guitar part is in line with the drum be. you know one of my favorite things

with the rhythm section of a band which is you know bass and drums is when they are playing in tandem with each other and they do that a lot where the bass player is basically mimicking

what the drummer is doing on the bass drum and yeah it's fucking cool that the guitar player plays along with them in this one that's what I'm saying so let's talk about those vibes again man so they play it in a way to where you almost don't realize that you're hearing vibraphones

in most of these songs. Like sometimes it'll kind of, you know, reach the forefront of the melody or whatever. But for the most part, it kind of mask it or not mask it, but you know, like the way that they add it in. It's just, it's so subtle. We talked about the textures, you know. And the vibraphone is sort of like a. like a nice bedding that everything sits on top of.

Yeah. So anyways, I got another clip from this song with this band. And, you know, we've mentioned this before in music that's similar to this where there's a lot of repetition. So in this song, it kind of repeats the same phrase as what we heard in clip one. So I kind of skip over that for clip two and focus on what changes, you know, like the next thing that that kind of changes in the song. So here is clip two from gently turned on your head. Yeah, I feel like with every, like, there's always like a resolution to the, like the change, like if the song starts to go toward a more like, I don't like using the word dark, but, you know, when it's not as pleasant, it's more. sharp and abrupt or whatever.

Yes. Like you said, there's juxtapositions throughout this album. Yeah. Yeah. So whenever, I feel like whenever they do that, Mercury Program always gives you like a resolution to that, you know? Like this song ended. Yeah, dude, that's great, man.

I'm so glad you said that, dude. That's such a good way to describe these songs. Yeah, man, you're absolutely right. Yeah. Like the way that this song ended, like it's just this very nice. It's beautiful, dude. Yeah. It gives you a sense of like closure to the song.

Yeah, yeah. And I hadn't mentioned this yet, but, and I mean, as you know, I'm all about the high hat, man. And I'm all about finessing it, dude. And he fucking finesses the shit out of the high hat. Yeah, he's great, man. And I feel like that's a thing that pops up a lot in, and that's, you know, we describe them as a math rock band. And I don't know if they agree. I don't know if they would put themselves in the Math Rock category.

But same with a drummer from Foles, Jack Bevan. These drummers are very expressive with how they play. And that's part of what makes Math Rock so enjoyable to listen to, in my opinion, is, you know, the drummer is able to just bring so much to the table. just with the drums. It's not just of keeping the beat, you know? And part of that is finessing the hi-hat, you know, with those accent

notes. And you could hear a little bit of that in clip two of gently turned on your head. So, let's play our last clip of the night, which is the final track on the album, Adada

Learn the Language. This is Sultans of El Ser. I'm starting to agree with you that the star of the show here, man, is the drummer. Absolutely, man. As much as I love every single instrument on this album, like it really is, that the drummer is just incredible, man. Dude.

He really is front and center. He is every single muscle and limb in his body is moving around the entire time in every song, dude. Yeah, it's incredible. And, man, that one especially, dude. And bass players just playing alongside them the whole time, you know. This is just, Sultan's of Ulcerr, like, everything that we've been talking about with this band, like everything that we'd love about them is showcased in this final song on the album, you know? Yeah, I agree with you on that.

And even, like, the vibraphones kind of show up front and center for a little bit of that. So I've got another clip to play And again, like I had mentioned in the previous track Gently turned on your head You know, this band will kind of repeat a phrase You know, and just kind of like it'll be a little bit more intense The second time around and then they'll go and do some different They do this again

So you know, I kind of skip over that And clip two is going to be kind of the change up You know, kind of the second. half of the song. So here is clip two from the final track on the album, Sultans of El Sur. I know you did this on purpose, but I'm really glad that we played the beginning and the end of this album. Yeah. And like you said, man, and I'm so glad you said it, dude, there's a resolution to every song. And there's a bookend, man. And, right. And obviously, that's how they resolve the album too, you know.

Like they do that, that's intentional, you know? Yeah, dude. And you know what? As many times as I've listened to this album over the last couple weeks, I guarantee you I'm pushing play on track one tomorrow on my commute to work, dude. This is one of those albums where you just can listen to it over and over and over again. Yeah, it's great, man.

And you appreciate it more and more each time you listen to it, dude. Yeah. It's incredible. All right. So that's a dad to learn the language. there's really not any other band like this, like the Mercury program you know. And

they just came out with another album not that long ago, you know, a few years ago in 2006. 2016, I'm sorry. In 2016, called New Myths. And if you listen to that one, dude, it's a

pretty short album, but it's just, dude, it's all the same. You know, it's all just those good fucking vibes, man. Yeah, it's good It's good So for our outro We're going to play a little bit

Of The works of Steve Reich Ever heard of this guy He's an ambient musician, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's Yeah, dude, I'm familiar with him Yeah, he's, so he's considered

One of the pioneers of minimal music Wow, dude, I'd never in a million years Would think that we would play Steve Reich on this podcast get ready for it, dude. And hey, I didn't know anything about this guy until a few days ago when I was doing research for this episode. So he's been doing his thing since the mid-60s. And he's a composer, really.

You know, I picked up on what he's all about. Every album, it's, you know, it'll be heavy on the stringed instruments or heavy on the piano. But each song is extremely repetitive. You know, you'll pick up on subtle changes the longer you listen to each track. But yeah, as far as, you know, minimal music goes, Steve Reich is all about repetition. And another thing, too, you will hear vibraphones in a lot of his songs. And apparently it was David, the drummer in the Mercury program, that he, you know, he was the fan. He was the fan of Reich.

and he introduced his music to the rest of the members of the band. And since then, they've all kind of, you know, jumped on the bandwagon. And, you know, after listening to enough of his music, it's not just because he also plays vibraphones. That's not the only reason that he is an influence to these guys. Again, like, you know, after just hearing what we played for you, Mercury program, they are very repetitive in their music, but it's very impactful on how they do it.

And it's the same for Steve Reich and his tunes. So the album that we're going to play a song from is called Music for 18 Musicians. And this is Section 3A. So thank you, as always for listening. And hop on our website, no-filler podcast.com. check out our show notes. And yeah, we'll see you next week. We're going to be covering David LeBlow's side project, textual.

Yeah, until then, hop back and listen to some of our older tracks. There's a lot of great tunes for you out there. So my name is Quinn. Let's say this, man. Let's say this real quick. If you've been waiting for us to get back to Radiohead, we will circle back to Hail to the Thief. in two weeks.

So we have not stopped our radio head deep dive. We will be getting back to them. So just stay tuned. Oh, dude, I'm so excited. All right. So until next time, my name is Quentin. My name is Travis. By now, you know that sound.

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