Niche is a memoir in pastiche. One man’s life, six decades, 217 narrators, 105,000 words. 'A grand entertainment', Kirkus Review calls it, 'effortlessly blending pop culture and high culture.' Publishers Weekly says: 'This is that rare show-biz memoir that's both entertaining and a literary triumph.' Momus Popppappp Fiktion 2016 ebook novel Momus Somewhere There are People Like Me iMomus 2016 ebook journal: Momus Off the Beaten Track: A Year in Haiku Boatwhistle Press 2016 pb poetry - contributor Momus The Bertie Wooster of Alienation iMomus 2017 ebook diaries Momus Niche: a memoir in pastiche Farrar, Straus & Giroux: 2020 hb autobiography. His forthcoming memoir Niche: A Memoir in Pastiche will be available July 2020. Momus, born Nick Currie, is a Scot who makes songs, books, and art. He is the author of The Book of Jokes and The Book of Scotlands. In 2018, Cherry Red Records reissued his classic '80s and '90s albums for Creation Records in definitive and expanded editions.
Overview
Momus—named for the ancient Greek god of mockery, and described by The Guardian as “the David Bowie of the art-pop underground”—has recorded over thirty albums for labels like 4AD and Creation, published half a dozen works of speculative fiction, and written articles for The New York Times, Wired, ArtForum, Frieze, and The Wire. An unknown band called Pulp once asked him to produce their next album. (He said no.) An unknown band called Of Montreal once invited him to go on tour with them. (He said no.) He’s collaborated with fans Vampire Weekend and with the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merrit. He’s had an impression of his penis preserved by the notorious Cynthia Plaster Caster. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Probably you haven’t. This is his story. Or, rather, stories.
Rather than one avuncular tell-all relayed in his own voice, Momus has structured the narrative of his life as a typically atypical mockery of the rock-bio oral history. Instead of using living witnesses, Momus assumes the voices of 217 dead authors and artists and forces them to speak for and about him. From these dramatic monologues—sometimes unreliable, often comical—there gradually emerges a picture of one eccentric star’s life across three continents and in his own, remarkable, niche.
'Herein is spun the tale of the immortally fabulous life and glittering times of our dodgy Anthropocene’s greatest still-living songwriter, as related by a chorus of eerie, mocking, sometimes supportive, often judgmental post-mortem Raudive voices in a séance spanning centuries of ectoplasmic ‘I told you so.’ Here is why Momus may one day be canonized the first saint of a religion yet to be dreamed . . . Read, be enlightened, and pretend you always knew.' *—Grant Morrison, comic book writer and superfan
The career of Nicholas Currie is long, by any standards. Born in 1960 and starting to publish music in 1982, he has over 30 studio albums to his name, along with several singles, videos and compilations, including various special editions and extra tracks. There are also numerous collaborations and contributions to a wide – really wide – variety of artists and projects over the years. As such I am going to specify what I am and am not going to cover here, partly to scare myself and mostly to scare anyone coming to read the blog. There are things in the following list which I have not even heard yet. And I will listen to all of it…
By the Happy Family:
Puritans EP
The Man on Your Street
By Momus:
The Beast with 3 Backs EP
Circus Maximus (Which includes the “Nicky” EP)
The Poison Boyfriend (Which includes the Murderers EP)
Tender Pervert
Don’t Stop the Night
Monsters of Love
Hippopotamomus
The Ultraconformist
Voyager
Timelord
The Philosophy of Momus
Slender Sherbet
20 Vodka Jellies
Stop This
Ping Pong
The Little Red Songbook
Stars Forever
Folktronic
Oskar Tennis Champion
Summerisle
Otto Spooky
Ocky Millk
Joemus
Hypnoprism
Momus Niche Ideas
Thunderclown
Momus Niche Amazon
Bibliotek
Momus in Samoa
Sunbutler
MomusMcclymont
Bambi
Turpsycore: Dybbuk, Turpsy, Harvard
Glyptothek
Scobberlotchers
Pillycock
Pantaloon
Akkordion
Create 1 and 2
I will also probably cover books by Momus but will leave Niche (his memoirs) alone until the end in order not to spoil my unreliability. I will cover videos and singles for each album as they come up. So there you go, it’s always fair to know the length of your sentence. The prosecution rests its case…