Biography
The electronic duo Mall, sometimes listed as MV77 due to the odd lettering in their insignia, developed in part under the wing of Flowchart's Sean O'Neal. Their debut outing took the form of a shared single with Flowchart issued in the opening months of 1997, after which O'Neal handled production duties on the pair's opening long-player, Special Education, from 1998. In contrast to O'Neal's Flowchart recordings, which fuse clear Stereolab leanings with a light shoegazer pop sensibility, Mall favors a denser and more exploratory sound whose sources range from Krautrock to the pioneering electronics of Silver Apples and 50 Foot Hose, as well as the musique concrète methods of Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage's ideas about chance operations.
The project began in New Jersey in 1996 when Rob Cantagallo and Mike Page joined forces, each contributing electronics, samples, found sounds, and occasional vocals. O'Neal offered immediate encouragement, producing both the duo's piece "Biggie's Star Theater" for the split single and their first independent release, the March 1997 cassette Four Tracks Max: The Slow-Fi EP on Cantagallo's TBTMO label. Strong response to the EP earned them a deal with Fuzzy Box, which put out Special Education in late 1998. That album's playful combination of dub-inflected beats, excerpts drawn from vintage Sesame Street records and Flash Gordon serials, and restless electronics drew considerable notice throughout the American indie electronica underground. Darla Records handled distribution, and Mall contributed tracks to numerous compilations on Darla and related labels in the United States, Europe, and Japan over the next several years.
Cantagallo and Page relocated to Philadelphia in 2000, drawn by the city's supportive creative environment and its thriving space rock and psychedelia community. Those currents surface clearly on the duo's follow-up album, the obliquely titled 05.17.2012 01.34.28 PM -0400 CD released in 2001. More shadowy and atmospheric than Special Education, the record features faint voices drifting through nearly every track and a disoriented, intoxicated haze that signaled a compelling change of course for the group.
The project began in New Jersey in 1996 when Rob Cantagallo and Mike Page joined forces, each contributing electronics, samples, found sounds, and occasional vocals. O'Neal offered immediate encouragement, producing both the duo's piece "Biggie's Star Theater" for the split single and their first independent release, the March 1997 cassette Four Tracks Max: The Slow-Fi EP on Cantagallo's TBTMO label. Strong response to the EP earned them a deal with Fuzzy Box, which put out Special Education in late 1998. That album's playful combination of dub-inflected beats, excerpts drawn from vintage Sesame Street records and Flash Gordon serials, and restless electronics drew considerable notice throughout the American indie electronica underground. Darla Records handled distribution, and Mall contributed tracks to numerous compilations on Darla and related labels in the United States, Europe, and Japan over the next several years.
Cantagallo and Page relocated to Philadelphia in 2000, drawn by the city's supportive creative environment and its thriving space rock and psychedelia community. Those currents surface clearly on the duo's follow-up album, the obliquely titled 05.17.2012 01.34.28 PM -0400 CD released in 2001. More shadowy and atmospheric than Special Education, the record features faint voices drifting through nearly every track and a disoriented, intoxicated haze that signaled a compelling change of course for the group.
Albums
Singles
