Mommy and Daddy

Married couple Vivian Sarratt and Edmond Hallas conceived their collective moniker when, frustrated at being interrupted in the midst of noisy, passionate activity, they said “Mommy and Daddy are practicing, leave us alone.” What keeps this story from being creepy (like, say, a once-married couple posing as siblings) is that the interloper was the duo’s mewling cat, Nishita, and the activity in question was band practice. Mommy and Daddy merge fuzzy garage-rock bass lines with low-tech sampler beats, alternating snarled (Hallas) and yowled (Sarratt) vocals. It’s (International) Noise Conspiracy meets Le Tigre, but whereas those groups would spin the phrase C&C Music Factory into a diatribe about warehouse working conditions, Mommy and Daddy would yelp in unison, “Everybody dance now!” This isn’t electroclash, to cite a genre from the group’s native New York that went from outré to out within a year, because clash implies conflict (or at least performance-art provocation). This is a pure groove band, and its members’ limited instrumental responsibilities allow them to boogie like your parents on crack. — Andrew Miller