With our upcoming performance on the Moogfest only a week away, I spent some time recalling my experiences with the late great Mr. Moog…

BEN NEILL – BOB MOOG DIARY

My relationship with Robert Moog began in 1982 thanks to a small ad in the back of Keyboard Magazine for Big Briar, Inc. In fine print it described how Robert Moog was accepting custom projects at a new company based in Asheville, NC. At that time I was just beginning to develop ideas for the mutantrumpet, my self-designed instrument which has been at the center of my work as a composer and performer ever since. I had just moved to New York from Ohio and had begun developing my first compositions. My conception of the mutantrumpet was always to have a strong electronic component, which I was already doing by connecting it to a Korg MS-10 synthesizer. The MS-10 had a patch panel which allowed me to insert an audio input from the mutantrumpet that could generate controls for the synthesizer. However, the prospect of an electronic system that could be integrated more fully with my expanded, multi-belled acoustic instrument was highly appealing. And the idea of having it built by the illustrious Moog was even more exciting.

As a result of the ad I contacted Moog in early 1983, first writing him a letter outlining my ideas for the mutantrumpet. Not long after that I visited with him for the first time at his circular mountain home in Leicester, NC, about three hours from my hometown of East Bend, NC, where I spent my first 18 years. To get to the house you literally had to drive through a cornfield; I can still remember the anticipation and astonishment to find Moog’s ultra-modern house and the adjacent workshop where he was working on a variety of projects in this remote corner of North Carolina.

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Our record was reviewed in Neu Futur Magazine this month

Mimi Goese and Ben Neill – Songs For Persephone (CD)
Posted by James McQuiston on October 1st, 2011

The interplay that is created by Goese and Neill on their Songs For Persephone ensures that the CD will remain in a purchaser’s player for months to come. This is not noticed only in the instrumental side of things, but also through the whole effort that follows from the disc’s initial track, Roma. The stylistic choices that are made during Songs For Persephone are nothing less than inspired; blending together disparate genres like 80s new wave and the deepest, darkest sides of indie rock, it is not surprising that tracks like “A Lovely Goodbye” stick with listeners long after the disc finishes.

What may strike listeners the most would have to be the differential threads weaved through the album. Rather than having different trends and topics that follow through the course of an album, Goese and Neill make different collections of songs shine in a slightly different context than one would have if they listened to the entirety of the album.

The final trilogy of songs – New Green, Cusp, and World’s End – create a miniature epic that stands out in stark contrast to the rest of the tracks encountered during Songs For Persephone. The duo may not be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, but what issues forth from Songs For Persephone could just be the most compelling music that I have heard this year. Pick this disc up at any well stocked indie rock store, or see which of your favorite online retailers carry copies of the release.

Top Tracks: Roma, Stargazer

Rating: 7.8/10

Our release show at the Cooper Square Hotel last week was a blast! Thanks to all who came out, you can see some pictures of the night here