Mudville

A duo from New York City via San Francisco, Mudville work primarily in the <a href="spotify:artist:6liAMWkVf5LH7YR9yfFy1Y">Portishead</a> tradition, mixing downtempo electronic beats with vintage soul and jazz influences underneath alternately languid and powerful female vocals. Mudville are producer, bassist, and keyboardist Ben Rubin and singer and lyricist <a href="spotify:artist:7JQndebvyWV2LMxqSxmT3D">Marilyn Carino</a>; native New Yorkers who first met while working in San Francisco in the early '90s (<a href="spotify:artist:7JQndebvyWV2LMxqSxmT3D">Carino</a> with former <a href="spotify:artist:1e9cOgMYTLJ0KFOjmTx13F">Rain Parade</a> leader <a href="spotify:artist:4LUsOLNfGznjQO8vRHoBBE">Matt Piucci</a>, Rubin as a bassist with various local jazz artists), the pair first started collaborating in 1995 as the leaders of a soul revue-styled pop band called Long Island Lulu, releasing a self-titled album in 1998. Returning home to Brooklyn in 2000, <a href="spotify:artist:7JQndebvyWV2LMxqSxmT3D">Carino</a> and Rubin transformed Long Island Lulu into the self-contained Mudville. The duo's self-titled EP was released on the Slurry label in 2003, with the full-length The Glory of Man Is Not in Vogue following the next year; both garnered deserved comparisons to <a href="spotify:artist:6FXMGgJwohJLUSr5nVlf9X">Massive Attack</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6bWxFw65IEJzBYjx3SxUXd">Morcheeba</a>. Following the 2005 remix EP Side Trax, Rubin and <a href="spotify:artist:7JQndebvyWV2LMxqSxmT3D">Carino</a> recorded 2007's Iris Nova with an expanded guest list adding strings, tabla, and pedal steel, among other instruments. Mudville also added drummer John Bollinger (<a href="spotify:artist:4fxp616ALtFWnXfwxnjLzW">Antony and the Johnsons</a>) and keyboardist/guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:0BDMJnvi2kFbQAUNUqt5om">Brian Charette</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:2BTZIqw0ntH9MvilQ3ewNY">Cyndi Lauper</a>) as secondary members for live shows. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi