ManyMental Mistakes

From the urban battleground of Pam Haasen:

Music to weld to. I can accomplish many things whilst listening to Trois, such as rebuilding a motor, base-jumping or scrambling the shit outta eggs. Let ManyMental Mistakes take you over the edge of reason. Come screaming down from Mount Royal and fear no wrath, for you are a titan of the urban jungle with a battle-axe to shred and bleed onto. If MMM is your conscience, listen and run, jump, stab, flail, surf and Kill Kill Kill. Faster, Pussycat! You can’t outrun the devil forever but you can beat him at his own game. - Weird Canada

May 20, 2010 — mongrelzine
Clean the Bloody Tape! CD 2009

A confined breath with Chaotic Contamination is reciprocated when listening, similar to losing an extremity due to plague or gangrene aggression that turns blood cells from red to black. I get an uneasy swell of A type Nausea not to be confused with the annoying rigors of things mundane, but that of an enjoyable ride locked in to a linear descension as that of a 45 on a turntable that knows no end. This would be my only gripe of this EP, is that to really get you trapped, a vinyl viable solution would suit it quite proper. Brought in by the Equitus group of Eva, Vaan & MJ with Templar machinations exalting that imagery can be as prolific as that of lyrical prose & ohm structure. I think their videos are well suited. If you’re off medication & appreciate similar stylings to Lake of Dracula, then you’re there. (Valmont) - Mongrel Zine

ManyMental Mistakes : Trois fois plus
Julie Ledoux
3 octobre 2011

Côté logique, les membres de ManyMental Mistakes se sont vraiment donnés : leur nouvel album, paru fin août, s’intitule Trois et devinez quoi? C’est leur troisième album! (Outre leur démo… bon, à moins que je ne me trompe, mais ça sent pas mal le trio d’enregistrements, ici.)

Outre cette logique sémantique, ManyMental Mistakes revient avec six pièces de post-punk expérimental qu’on consomme avec plaisir. Le duo féminin et la part masculine se rejoignent en une série de pièces envoûtantes («Death Proof») et de mieux en mieux rendues, tant lors de la finition à la réalisation et au mix, qu’à la composition et à l’exécution, où le groupe semble plus en possession de ses moyens.

Comme quoi, on peut se mettre tout nu sur scène, tout en sachant jouer de la guit’.

Avec un surplus très appréciable de distorsion («CCC») et une voix principale plus maîtrisée, l’ensemble se fait plus pur, plus clair, et même parfois plus ambiant («Birthday Party») que sur Clean The Bloody Tape!, par exemple. En bout de ligne, les pièces de Trois semblent s’orienter vers un post-punk progressif qu’on se plaît à suivre, tout au long des 20 minutes qu’offre l’album. Si on détruit tout avec «Kill Kill Kill», on danse langoureusement sur «My Way». À vous de choisir.

Cote Ledoux : 7,9/10

manymentalmistakes.bandcamp.com

ManyMental Mistakes sera en spectacle le 21 octobre, au Divan Orange, avec Dekoder (À découvrir!) et UN, dans le cadre de la série de concerts «Total Eclipse» de CKUT 90,3 FM. 8$. - Bang Bang

2 October 2011
ManyMental Mistakes - Trois (ManyMental Records)
by Matt Lee

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2 October 2011
ManyMental Mistakes - Trois (ManyMental Records)
by Matt Lee
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This dangerous slab of flesh-covered vinyl is a visceral, punch-packed screamer of a tour through a morphing blend of dancepunk, noise-rock and a haze of shoegaze. Though the indie-herd seems to be passing through a trendy resurrection of these genres of late, some got it and some really don’t. Trois sits firmly with the former. All the right elements on the album click tight like Lego blocks, and as colorful and playful, delivering one heady chop after another. The salvo from side one, “Death Proof” establishes itself will a thundering tom run broken by a chromatic fuzzy riff counterpointing some octave-rising bass thunder, the whole thing pounding into a hot-stepping dance-rock bridge and returning to the hypnotic header with Stooges – like focus. A breath, then “CCC” crashes in with a riff saucily cribbed from Isn’t Anything era My Bloody Valentine and inverted it over a sea-sickness inducing proto-goth throb of oscillating bass, kicked up in the air over and over by the spartan drums. The vocals kill me on this track, sung with menacing precision and controlled intensity by singer/guitarist Eva Stone. She really channels the darkness a la Peter Murphy, no small feat or ability!
The end of side one stutters a touch for me on the uncertain loping of “Birthday Party”, perhaps it’s the similar tempo and tone of the previous track, but I find my attention wandering somewhat… until the flipside smacks me back to attention with the math-punk punch of “Kill Kill Kill” invades my ears like an icicle with it’s gloriously mean squall of noise. That sea-sick sense returns of the rolling and pitching dirge-y psych of “My Way”, busting out the cheap flange pedals and layering call/response/male/female vox over the top of lacerating jams by bassist Sylvain and drummer MJ. Album closer “Quantum” floats some echo-laden guitar ghosts over a march tempo, some more Bauhaus-ian vocal layers before glissanding noise-riffs break everything down again. Ballsy move, ending on an instrumental, especially one as obtuse as this, but that’s the appeal of ManyMental Mistakes’ first full release, it’s density, it’s ferocity and singularity of vision. Even though some elements could easily be seen as references, they sit firmly on the sleeve here as decorations, a brave, exciting and totally rock and roll from a promising new band!
- The Big Takeover

Disc review

by André Péloquin – September 1, 2011

Montreal post-punk project ManyMental Mistakes may have released their most "melodic" work of art with Trois, their new vinyl. That’s "melodic" with quotation marks, of course. While the project still canalizes a post-apocalyptic version of Sonic Youth, the professionally produced album, recorded by Marc Déry and Michel Dagenais, really emphasizes Eva Stone’s voice, which is usually muddled by the band’s powerful wall of sound, and simultaneously the boisterous singer also pushes her voice to another level. On Death Proof, for example, Eva alternatively evokes both Grace Slick’s shamanic chants and Kim Gordon’s growl (okay, the comparison is gawky, but the final product isn’t). Music wise, Trois loses a bit of steam on its second half, but the power trio’s new songs are still their most cohesive yet while remaining a grandiose mess.
- The Hour

Complètement éclatée, la formation s’est déjà forgée un nom par ses présences scéniques trash que l’on peut parfois coller plus près de la famille des performances que celle des prestations. Vous pouvez le confirmer en cherchant sur YouTube. Le groupe fait du grabuge et le post-punk que l’on retrouve sur September Sessions n’y fait pas exception. C’est sale, irrévérencieux et garroché à 100 milles à l’heure. Avec la voix poussée à pleins poumons d’Eva Stone et les amplis crachant tout ce qu’ils peuvent, c’est un disque qui plaira qu’aux amateurs du genre seulement. (Mike B)

This crazy band made a name for themselves with their thrahsy stage antics, which we could probably say that are sometimes more of a performance than a concert, you can really see this for yourself on YouTube. This band makes a lot of noise and the post-punk that we hear on September Sessions is no exception to this. It is really uncompromise, dirty and throwned at your face at 100 miles per hour. With Eva's voice being pushed as much as her lungs can endure, amps being cranked at 11, this disc will only apeal to the ones who like that type of music. (Mike B) - Bang Bang

From the padded-walls of Jesse Locke:
Throughout this short but sick five-song EP, Montreal noise rock trio ManyMental Mistakes seem to find perverse pleasure in eardrum shredding feedback damage, claws on chalkboard No Wave guitar scrapes and other high-pitched squeals. Thankfully (or unthankfully, depending on your tastes) there are moments of respite such as the woozily carsick rave-up “Call Me!” or the standout and longest track “Lame.” The latter finds frontwoman Eva Stone switching between icy monotone mantras and bloodcurdling screams over drummer MJ’s ritualistic tom-tom workouts plus wordless chants and blown-out atmospherics from bassist Vaan, conjuring comparisons to Magik Markers, Confusion Is Sex-era Sonic Youth or a terrifying low-budget remake of The Craft. Impressively oppressive stuff, and the fact that it clocks in at just less than 15 minutes should leave masochistic listeners craving more punishment.
[Levin's Note: Hands down the best named band in Canada.]

- Weird Canada

Before I hip ya to the upcoming shows this week, there were a couple of other local records that slipped through the cracks of my local release round-up a couple of weeks back, so buckle in. While perusing yer favourite indie-rock rekkid stores, keep yer peeps sharpened for Clean the Bloody Tape, the new one from local no-wavers Many Mental Mistakes. Five songs that recall early Sonic Youth, served up with the deconstructed and sinister edge of Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, but with an extra helping of psychedelic, delayed loops and a dollop of DIY distortion served up on the side. If you ever wondered what the stink was about this “Montreal weird punk” thing, this would be a good place to start, but hi-fi heads might want to stay away. Many Mental Mistakes play Petit Campus with Half Baked, the Sound of Sea Animals, Chicago Mint Club and DJ Doktor V on Sunday, Dec. 13. - Montreal Mirror