Mueran Humanos

Berlin-based duo Mueran Humanos consists of Carmen Burguess (vocals, drum machines, Synths) and Tomas Nochteff (vocals, bass, MPC) who together make propulsive, unfurling Spanish language songs using experimental and avant-garde methods with a punk attitude. For the uninitiated, Mueran Humanos can be a tough one to explain. You could list their influences and call them “a psychedelic-krautrock-post punk electronics duo who manage to capture the rich cultural history and excitement of their adopted home of Berlin and infuse it with a sophisticated South American chic imported from their native Buenos Aires”, but that would be doing them an injustice. The reality is that there isn’t anything to explain. They don’t need a pretentious description full of talking points that make music nerds get all mushy and gushy. Once you listen to them, it just makes sense. At their core, these are simple and catchy songs with a solid electronics foundation solidified by driving bass lines and textural keyboard parts (which could just as easily take you on an atmospheric journey as they could break out into a “Sister Ray”-esque Velvets freakout at any moment). Vocals are shared by both members, and they create an important dichotomy between the masculine and feminine energies that shape the band. Spanish speakers are in luck, because the lyrics are surrealist poetry of the highest order. Thankfully for the rest of us, they occupy that special place reserved for bands like Einsturzende Neubauten, (Jochen Arbeit of EN actually appeared on "Miseress" (2015, ATP Recordings), or Os Mutantes where they transcend language barriers and are capable of telling a story through the sheer power of the human voice. There is something magical about this band, and it oozes out through the cracks every chance it gets. Both born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2008 an exhibition of Carmen’s collage work took them to Berlin were they decided to stay. Willing to help each other and being a couple, penniless in a foreign land with no contacts, they devised the idea of Coum-Transmissions-style of art cell and they took the band´s name from Tomas little “art thing”’ (1) Their first work was an installation with live video and live music at NIU Gallerie (2) (1) A fanzine of poems made by cut up titles from newspapers (2) it was a funeral with an actual girl inside a coffin and the band inside the installation playing music made to accompany the soul’s journey after physical death. In 2011 the Mueran Humanos self titled LP was unleashed into the world by legendary industrial label Old Europa Cafe in Europe and boutique NYC label Blind Prophet Records taking them from small venues in the German capital to small venues all over the world. Followed by some further singles; Culpable (Southern Records uk, 2012) or El Cìrculo (Vanity Case Uk, 2013), and their second full length "Miseress" (ATP Uk, 2015) they released "Hospital Lullabies" in July 2019 through Cinema Paradiso Recordings. Hospital Lullabies is a companion piece to a movie of the same name directed by member Carmen Burguess, and without question their most refined and cohesive statement so far. While there is a darkness to some of it (fleshed out by imagery of nightmares, childhood terrors, and the trauma of mental institutions), it is balanced by feelings of romance and optimism and an overwhelming sense of childlike wonder. The highly personal sound and presentation -Carmen did all the artwork for the band- gave them a crossover appeal and they played big festivals like Primavera Sound, Corona Capital, Wroclaw Industrial Festival, Berserktown, Positive Education, Nrmal, Wave Ghotik Treffen, Les Tres Elephants and Pop Revo, amongst others as well legendary venues in Berlin like Berghain main room, SO36, or a session with Boiler Room at NRMAL Festival in Mexico and the Jake and Dinos Chapman curated edition of ATP. In 2017 they went on a full European tour with The Horrors for six weeks, hand picked by the band. Back in the days before they meet, they were musicians anyway, having played in cult post punk/experiemental bands in their native Buenos Aires. Tomas previous band, Dios, was in 2014 the subject of a documentary that was showed in Film Festivals in Berlin, Mexico DF, Mar del Plata film international festival among others. Also Tomas has released several experimental solo records ranging to noise/industrial to drone and experimentation with the bass guitar. HOSPITAL LULLABIES – THE FILM Hospital Lullabies has its companion piece in a DIY movie made entirely by band member Carmen Burguess, inspired by the synchronicity that sometimes when listening to an album and seeing an unrelated film, still, somehow seems to match. An artist in her own right, Carmen has been the designer for all the Mueran Humanos album covers and singles so far, including Hospital Lullabies (which is a frame from the film). If the previous artwork had its roots in the bands series of collages Seventeen, in which the mainstream feminine ideal got destroyed and attacked, in this film, made with female friends of Carmen, she has switched the narrative to a celebration of her own feminine ideal. Running for the duration of the whole record, the film is a visual accompaniment and Carmen applied her “synchronicity haunting” technique to compile and edit archival shooting made from ten years ago as well as newly shot footage made especially for the film. Hospital Lullabies is an experimental film of chance encounters that comments and complements the album in a non linear way.