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My Woshin Mashin sounds like a goofy name. For Hugo Simons and his wife, Bibi Tulin, it's a name the electronic duo created for their band. They came up with it by using what they call their mythical language, known as Mawamian, mingled with English. And the result is a close cousin to "washing machine."
English, they say, is a melodic and clean language that works well with their hard accents. To get a better understanding of their made-up language, their Tango piece "Smell of Love" is sung in pure Mawamian. The name not only reflects their desire to integrate their alien language with a terrestrial (albeit English) language, but also their aspirations to produce eclectic sounds in conjunction with prophetic messages. If you listen to their new album, Evil Must Die, you'll hear techno, new wave, pop, industrial, trip-hop, punk, tango, and even gospel undertones.
This thing they do with language is also translated into their narrative about their made-up planet. Mawama is a place where all evil has been cleansed in one large universal washing machine. And the couple sees themselves as the Adam and Eve of their adopted home. However, their real homeland is Russia. But they love spending time in Germany where they have done a lot of their work.
Even though their album is peppered with a sense of humor, they are very interested in social statements. The concern is that earthlings, for the most part, operate in a comatose state. For the couple, the real monsters on planet Earth are human beings whose values and behaviors have gone to sleep. Unlike Russia, Germany has liberated them to do with their music what they want to do with it. More importantly, Germans love animals and treat them with a great deal of respect. In Russia, they say, dogs are killed at night and thrown into the trash like garbage and crows are used as target practice. Evil Must Die is dedicated to animals because the streets of Russia are filled with sad eyed animals that no one cares about.
The album cover for Evil Must Die was designed by Bibi Tulin. The animals in the image mimics Noah's Ark and the flying penguins are symbolic to a place where all things are possible. And of course, the full frontal nudity represents the opportunity to be free from outdated values and opinions. As far as the blue apple, Hugo and Bibi want us to figure out why the apple is blue and not red.
The first track on this album gets right to the point: "Riders On The Storm" is a warning of the coming apocalypse where those who have made the wrong choices will be punished. "They Live" reminds us that we are only livestock living on a planet which has turned us into unconscious consumers who watch too much TV. "Hobo Rap" speaks about what takes place after the earth rids itself of superficial stuff like patriotic declarations, guns, and fast and greasy food -- the utopian replacement being books, science, and rock and roll.
The last track on the album punctuates the utopian/dystopian theme. It is dedicated to the American author Ray Bradbury who also felt the disjointedness of humanity. Trickling off at the end Bradbury says: "The man who cannot laugh freely is a sick man. The man who cannot cry [...] is a sick man". Evil Must Die is an attempt to make sure humans continue to laugh and cry -- at will.
What is the duo from outer space doing now? The couple continues to create music that is important to them while nurturing back to life their injured crow -- Nina.
Evil Must Die can be heard on My Woshin Mashin's Bandcamp
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