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Malcolm Mooney (born 1944) is an American singer, poet, and artist, best known as the original vocalist for German
krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
band Can.


Biography

Mooney began singing in high school, and was a member of an
a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
vocal group known as the ''Six-Fifths''. He gained some fame as a sculptor in New York City, then moved to Germany where he became a friend of
Irmin Schmidt Irmin Schmidt (born 29 May 1937) is a German keyboardist and composer, best known as a founding member of the band Can (band), Can. Biography Schmidt was born in Berlin, Germany, began his studies in music at the conservatorium in Dortmund, at t ...
and
Holger Czukay Holger Schüring (24 March 1938 – 5 September 2017), known professionally as Holger Czukay (), was a German musician best known as a co-founder of the krautrock group Can. Described as "successfully bridg ngthe gap between pop and the avant-g ...
, who were forming a band. Mooney joined as lead vocalist. The band was originally known as "Inner Space", but Mooney came up with "The Can", later shortened to Can. An album of material was recorded, initially entitled ''Prepared To Meet Thy Pnoom'', although no record company was willing to release it; it was later released in 1981 as ''
Delay 1968 ''Delay 1968'', or just ''Delay'' (as the Super Audio CD, SACD version is titled), is an archival compilation album by German experimental rock band Can (band), Can during its work with singer Malcolm Mooney comprising previously unissued early r ...
.'' Can's second album became their debut, ''
Monster Movie A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under ...
'', released in 1969. It was successful in the German underground scene. Various other tracks that Mooney recorded with the band during this period appear on the compilation albums ''
Soundtracks A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...
'' and '' Unlimited Edition''. Mooney quit the band and returned to America soon after the recording of ''Monster Movie'', having been told by a psychiatrist that getting away from the chaotic music of Can would be better for his mental health. The liner notes from the album claim erroneously that Mooney suffered a nervous breakdown, shouting "upstairs, downstairs" repeatedly. He rejoined Can in 1986 to record a one-off reunion album, ''
Rite Time ''Rite Time'' is the eleventh and final studio album by the German rock band Can. It is considered a reunion album because of the time elapsed since the band's previous album, '' Can'', which had been released in 1979. The album consists of se ...
''. He also has released three albums with the San Francisco Bay Area band Tenth Planet, on the first of which, a new version of the song "Father Cannot Yell" from ''Monster Movie'' appears. For the second Tenth Planet album, a different line-up was introduced, and the album saw a limited release in Japan on the P-Vine label. Prior to its issue, the Unfortunate Miracle label issued a limited 7" picture disc single containing two early mixes from the forthcoming album. In 2002, Mooney was invited to sing on Andy Votel's "All Ten Fingers" album – on the song "Salted Tangerines", a version of Mooney's poem of the same name. The Tenth Planet released an album on Milviason Records entitled ''inCANtations''. Mooney now focuses on his visual art. In 2007,
Matthew Higgs Matthew Higgs (born 1964) is an English artist, curator, writer and publisher. His contribution to UK contemporary art has included the creation of ''Imprint 93'', a series of artists’ editions featuring the work of artists such as Martin Creed ...
invited Mooney to exhibit a piece at New York's venerable White Columns. In 2013, Mooney began to collaborate with drummer, songwriter and producer Sean Noonan, along with Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Aram Bajakian, to record ''Pavees Dance: There's Always the Night''. The group performed in February 2014 at the Sons D'Hiver festival in France in advance of the release of the June 2014 release of the CD and accompanying book featuring lyrics and Mooney's art work. In April 2017, Mooney appeared at The Barbican Centre in London as the lead singer of The Can Project, a reunion concert with
Irmin Schmidt Irmin Schmidt (born 29 May 1937) is a German keyboardist and composer, best known as a founding member of the band Can (band), Can. Biography Schmidt was born in Berlin, Germany, began his studies in music at the conservatorium in Dortmund, at t ...
joined by
Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
's Thurston Moore and My Bloody Valentine's Debbie Googe.
Jaki Liebezeit Jaki Liebezeit (born Hans Liebezeit; 26 May 1938 – 22 January 2017) was a German drummer, best known as a founding member of experimental rock band Can. He was called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral". ...
, Can's drummer, had recently died. The concert received mixed reviews and suffered sound issues, especially with Mooney's vocals. In 2021, Mooney's work was exhibited at
Aspen Art Museum Founded in 1979, the Aspen Art Museum (AAM) is a non-collecting contemporary art museum located in Aspen, Colorado. AAM exhibitions include drawings, paintings, sculptures, multimedia installations and electronic media. Aspen Art Museum Building ...
in the exhibition Winterfest. In 2022, Mooney had an exhibition at Ulrik in New York titled "Works 1970-1986." Mooney produced his first geometric works in 1970 as set designs for a theater play titled “Harlem Angel.” Shortly after he began work on a series of eponymous silk screens at his father’s print shop in Yonkers, New York. He describes the origin of these pieces as developed from an image of kente cloth viewed under a microscope. This image continued to inform his paintings and drawings of grids throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Mooney’s interest evolved further through his encounter with the 1972 exhibition “African Textiles and Decorative Arts” at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, his friendship with textile curator and shopkeeper Sara Penn as well as his own work in the mechanical processes of textile design. From experiments with utilitarian objects to stage and lighting design, from graphic design to work with textiles, clothing, and even runway shows, there persists an ongoing migration between the applied and “high art” in Mooney’s work which intentionally cross-pollinates both.


Discography

Malcolm Mooney appears on the following original albums: With Can: * ''
Monster Movie A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under ...
'' (1969) * ''
Soundtracks A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...
'' (1970) * '' Unlimited Edition'' (1976) – compilation, includes all the tracks on earlier ''Limited Edition'' * ''
Delay 1968 ''Delay 1968'', or just ''Delay'' (as the Super Audio CD, SACD version is titled), is an archival compilation album by German experimental rock band Can (band), Can during its work with singer Malcolm Mooney comprising previously unissued early r ...
'' (1981) – compilation * ''
Rite Time ''Rite Time'' is the eleventh and final studio album by the German rock band Can. It is considered a reunion album because of the time elapsed since the band's previous album, '' Can'', which had been released in 1979. The album consists of se ...
'' (1989) * ''
Anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
'' (1994) – compilation * '' The Lost Tapes'' (2012) – compilation, 3-CD and 5-LP box set With Tenth Planet: * ''Malcolm Mooney and the Tenth Planet'' (1998) * ''Hysterica'' (2006) * ''inCANtations'' (2011) White Columns: with Luis Tovar and Alex Marcelo *''Malcolm Mooney'' (2011) With
Andy Votel Andrew "Andy Votel" Shallcross (born 4 November 1975 in Marple Bridge, Stockport, England) is an English musician, DJ, record producer, graphic designer and co-founder of Twisted Nerve Records and the reissue label Finders Keepers Records. ...
: * ''All Ten Fingers'' (2002) With Dave Tyack * ''Rip Van Winkle'' (2003) With Sean Noonan * ''Pavees Dance: There's Always the Night'' (2014) * Tan Man's Hat (2019) With Jane Weaver * ''Modern Kosmology'' (2017)


Videography

*'' Romantic Warriors IV: Krautrock'' (2019)


Notes


Works cited

*


External links


Malcolm Mooney

Sean Noonan

Malcolm Mooney at Ulrik, NYC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mooney, Malcolm 1948 births American expatriates in Germany American rock singers Living people Can (band) members German rock singers African-American rock singers