A Visit to San Narciso
MAAS


Information

MAAS is a pseudonym of Ewan Pearson, who produces music mainly in the genres of techno, house and breakbeat. Born in Kidderminster in the UK, Pearson has a BA (Hons) in English from Girton College, Cambridge (1993) and an MA in Postmodernism and Critical Theory from Royal Holloway, University of London (1995). As a teenager he played in several bands but his first record - Motorcade - was released in 1994 under the pseudonym Villa America. This was followed in 1995 by another single - The Reason - with DJ friend John Tyrrell under the name Dirtbox. His Maas pseudonym, taken from Thomas Pynchon's novella The Crying of Lot 49, was first adopted for his 1995 Soma debut 12" San Narciso. Since then Maas has released a number of recordings on the Soma label as well as remixing a host of other artists. Pearson cites musical influences as diverse as Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, John Lee Hooker, Steve Reich, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Carl Craig, Kenny Larkin, and Francois Kevorkian. "Although I love dance music I have a lot of other reference points too. Thanks to my parents I grew up listening to a lot of different sorts of music from Richard Thomson and Joni Mitchell, to Ry Cooder and John Lee Hooker, to Sonny Rollins and Carla Bley. I've discovered a massive amount of incredible American southern soul and country singers - like James Carr, Joe Simon and Tony Joe White. I get inspired by all this stuff even if lots of the music I end up making doesn't end up resembling it".


Maas Releases

Maas - EP01 - SOMA 022 (12")
Maas - Suture Self EP - SOMA 038 : (12")
Maas - Fallen Arches - on SOMA 050 - Soma Quality Recordings 2 x 12"
and CDLP
Maas - Latitude sampler - Soma Quality Recordings limited 12":
SOMALP 7P
Maas - Latitude - (Soma Quality Recordings: SOMA LP7
Maas - Look At Me Now, Falling - Soma Quality Recordings 12":
SOMA 54, SOMA 54CDS
Maas - Another Saturday Night (Soma Quality Recordings 12": SOMA 61)
Maas - Powers Of Ten (Soma Quality Recordings 12" SOMA 090)

Ewan Pearson Remixes

Aaron Carl - Crucified (Maas remix) - Sirkus Records
Chaser - Blue Planet (Maas remix) - Soma 12": SOMA 088, SOMA 88CDS
Christian Zimmeran - Diary Of A Lost Girl (World Of Apples remix) -
Giant 45 12": G45 002
Count Zero - Blue Boogaloo (Out Of The Loop) (Maas remix)
Love Music 12": OOL 002
DJ Rap - Good To Be Alive (Maas remixes) - Columbia US 12" 4479183
Jayrod - Space Travel (Maas remix) - Done 12": DONE 009
Nova Nova - Bewildered (Maas remix) - F-Communications
Primitive Urges - Primitive Translations (Maas remix) - Primitive 12":
PRIM 008
Two Banks Of Four - Skylines Over Rooftops (Maas remix) - Sirkus 12": SIRK 014
Uriel - Compulsive (Maas remix) - Beau Monde 12": BM 016

Other Releases

Villa America - Motorcade - Bosting Records
Dirtbox - The Reason - Athletico Records
Sulky Pup - Cardinal Numbers - Ideal 12": IDEALT 6
World of Apples - Chroma EP - Giant 45 12": G45 001

Book

Jeremy Gilbert & Ewan Pearson - Discographies - Routledge, ISBN 0415170338
Publication Date 31st July 1999, 224pp

Links

http://www.somarecords.com/?Artists/Biographies/ewanpearson
http://www.somarecords.com/?Artists/Profiles/maas
http://www.vie.gla.ac.uk/tom/Soma/index.htm
http://allmusic.com/cg/x.dll?UID=9:51:14|AM&p=amg&sql=B224613
http://users.yesmate.com/plastic/coa/maas.htm

All material for this page researched and submitted by Tom Irwin.

 

Anderson, Laurie.
Famous New York performance artist Laurie Anderson dedicated a song to Pynchon on her Mister Heartbreak album.

Benatar, Pat.
Believe it or not, she named a final album Gravity's Rainbow.

Benny Profane.
English hard rockers from Liverpool, they took their name from a character in V.

Blowtorch, Eric
Reggae influenced artist putting Pynchon's lyrics to music.

Cassiber.
An avant garde German group used Gravity's Rainbow to tell a different tale.

Corey, Prof. Irwin.
The man who was the infamous stand-in for Thomas Ruggles Pynchon.

Dangtrippers.
They recorded Maxwell's Demon Box on their album, Days Between Stations.

Einhorn, Richard.
Another rendition of music devoted to the Demon, and much more.

Fariña, Richard.
An long-time friend of Pynchon, this folkie named an instrumental work after a Pynchon novel.

Favorite Color, The.
A New Jersey band sets a selection from V. to music on their album Color Out of Space (1996).

Fool, The.
Surely not Slothrop's band, this was a short lived group which did, in fact, have a harmonica player.

Forked Yew.
Independent, highly experimental rockers and Pynchon fans from the American South.

Frith & Kaiser.
An instrumental pair with a piece called The Kirghiz Light.

Hall, Ed.
An early 90's band influenced by Pynchon, they named a song Roger Mexico.

Insect Trust.
This jazzy, psychedelic group mined V. for lyrics to The Eyes of a New York Woman.

Jazz Butcher.
AKA Pat Fish, who named a track Looking for Lot 49 on his Fishcoteque album.

Jones, Spike.
Pynchon himself wrote the liner notes for Spiked!

Knopfler, Mark.
The Sultan of Swing sails to Philadelphia!

Koron, Barry.
Weilding the Sjambok never felt so good!

Lot 49 (Ontario).
This now retired hardcore outfit hailed from the hometown of Spermatikos Logos' own Laurence Daw.

Lot 49 (NYC).
Indie NYC rockers named after Pynchon's second novel.

Lotion.
A New York group whose liner notes were penned by the Man himself.

 

Maas.
A visit to San Narciso.

Nirvana.
Was the famous tune Smells Like Teen Spirit acutally inspired by a song from Gravity's Rainbow?

Nova Mob.
A "Rock Opera" filled with references to Gravity's Rainbow.

Ocker, David.
Musical meditations on Eight Facts About
Thomas Pynchon
.

Okasek, Ric.
Ride The Rocket with the former frontman of The Cars.

 

Pere Ubu.
David Thomas' legendary, seminal band shows some Pynchon influences.

PopCanon.
These literate Indies hail from Flordia, and have a song about Wanda Tinasky which is highly recomm-ended!

Poster Children.
This group from Champaign, Illinois, covers a lot of Pynchon ground!

Radiohead.
English art-rockers who incorporate many Pynchon motifs into their work.

Rapoon.
An offshoot of Zoviet France, Robin Storey's group named Rapoon released an album called The Kirghiz Light.

Sauter & Dietrich, Moore.
More liner notes written by Pynchon !!

 

Six Finger Satellite.
Indie electro-rock futurists Six Finger Satellite make a reference to Gravity's Rainbow.

Soft Machine.
Seminal "proggies," they recorded a full-scale work called Esther's Nose Job in 1969.

Spock's Beard.
In memory of "the evil Spock," they do homage to V.

Time in Malta.
A California metal group with a name taken from V.

Ware, Tim.
Pynchon scholar, Web master, and MIDI Musician.

Whole Sick Crew, The.
Purveyors of pirate folk-punk, truly a gang like their Pynchon namesakes.

XXX Atomic Toejam.
F. Thorendal, from praised thrash-heroes Meshuggah, gets one in for the Vikings.

Yo La Tengo.
Making music indebted to The Crying of Lot 49.

Yoyodyne.
Related to New York's Lot 49, ths Florida group also takes their name from Pynchon's work.

Zevon, Warren.
He recently released an album containing work inspired by Pynchon.

 

 


All material for this page
researched and submitted by Tom Irwin.
July, 2001