Sounds on the Ground #7: Mika Miko
By: Dan Monsell
What's the deal? Yelpy, shouty party femme-punk to perfectly soundtrack any kickass messy drunken dance of a night in a sold-out venue or the basement of your house. Mika Miko are a hell of a good time to listen to, and although rockfeedback is yet to see this quintet of Americans (four ladies and a fella on drums) in the flesh, we reckon they're just as much fun live, if not ten times more. By no means a new band, they've been existence since forming back in 2003 in the deep reaches of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. Since then they've played literally hundreds of shows across their native America, all around Europe, and even in Japan.
It's clear that a band from LA they most certainly are, and the band's love for The Smell (the area's fast becoming seminal all ages home of the new wave of LA bands breaking through worldwide) is something they make widely known. They even volunteer there themselves on down-times from touring. Theirs is an attitude that harks back to a similar type present in bands in the area during the late 70s/early 80s such as Black Flag and other SST records/So Cal bands. It's a proud, almost regionally loyal attitude that's commendable, DIY, underground and punk rock as f**k. Yes WAY.
Anyhoo, coming on all Ramones meets The Adolescents, and then swallowing a whole bunch of leftfield dance records just like their closest comparison, Le Tigre - it's all kinds of head noddingly super. In short, we think it's GREAT. Actually let's just finish there so we can all just put their record on and jump around.
What can I listen to: The band releases their second full length We Be Xuxa (PPM) on May 4th. It promises to be a fine new album, and was recorded mainly by Mike McHugh (Black lips, Lightning Bolt) at The Distillery in Costa Mesa. Otherwise head over to www.myspace.com/mikamiko to hear 5 tracks on their space ('Capricornications' is an absolutely essential listen), or check links that'll take you through to purchase bits and pieces from their past discography directly. Previous releases have been on Kill Rock Stars and Post Present Medium.
When can I see them live? Only US shows like a Smell kick-off show for SxSw and about a trillion shows over the week in Austin. But then the band are coming on over currently for just Brighton's Great Escape and an Upset the Rhythm show in May. How long have we been telling you that Upset The Rhythm only ever put on amazing gigs?
13th May Upset the Rhythm @ The Luminaire
14-16th May Great Escape Festival, Brighton
We all know music peaked in 1994, so give me a sound-bite about how we could compare them to some kind of obscure Britpop band - Elastica if they'd just stayed in America when they were all buzzy there, then moved in with Ian Mackaye in DC, took some speed and regular trips cross-country to the LA valley and chilled with the kids/kidz.