Artist description Soft, silvery and highly reactive Mandarin is mood shifter. The contrast in styles creates is eerie at times and can jar a memory out of your head the same way a fleeting scent might remind you of your kindergarten teacher. Blend Pink Floyd, Tortoise, King Crimson, Nick Drake, and Polvo and the end result of a highly collaborative writing process which utilizes five unique and contrasting styles.

Music Style indie/post-rock

Musical Influences (not in order of importance) nick drake, pink floyd, king crimson, polvo, tortoise, can, steve reich, african percussion, electronica, dub, bob dylan, drive like jehu, elliott smith, this heat, ennio morricone- among many others.

Similar Artists we try create our own music, but we probably sound like we're ripping someone off...you be the judge!

Artist History mandarin formed in summer 1998. They have played shows with Low, jetscreamer, centro-matic, Drums and Tuba, Sub Oslo, Ohm, Stumptone, the Baptist Generals, Lift to Experience, Royal Trux, Storm and Stress, Paul Newman, Rainer Maria, the Falcon Project, Lift to Experience, Captain Audio, Pleasant Grove, the Lo-Fi Chorus, the ditch kids, the Helicopter, Slobberbone, Little Grizzly, rhythm of black lines, knife in the water, american analogue set, and 5ive style, among many others... In the summer of 1999, they recorded a full lentgth album, "driftline" for two ohm hop records. In March, they attended the sxsw 2000 music festival in Austin, TX, performing in the two ohm hop/last beat records label showcase. They appear on the Quality Park Records' compilation, "Band-Kits" released March 15th, 2000. The album "driftline" was released November 2000, and is available through two ohm hop- or you can contact us directly via email. We have recently been working on a soundtrack for an independent short film and may be collaborating in the near future on another project.We are attending the 2001 SXSW conference, performing in the two ohm hop label showcase on Mar. 17th! with labelmates SUB OSLO, YETI, and STUMPTONE... plans to release a 7" are in the works for spring 2001 and a midwest tour will follow. Follow up: We have just finished recording our new full-length at the Echolab with Matt Pence (drummer extrordinaire of centro-matic), and plan on having it ready by Fall 2002.

Group Members j. wortham///b. smith///p. salisbury///d. douglas///m. leer

Instruments guitars/bass/drums/steel/piano/organ/electronics

Press Reviews frEQuency e-zineA specific moodiness is immediately apparent on listening to Driftline. Pensive melancholia starts out right away and follows through to the bitter end. There are moments on the CD which could go quite Rock, but never really do which is odd considering it is almost completely dominated with guitar and percussive keyboarding, and highlighted with a beautiful slide weaved in here and there. This sounds comparatively very clean and minimal next to all the Electronica handed to me lately. Unfortunately for Mandarin, it often also sounds uncannily like Slint. Not an out and out copy, and not done worse or better, just like it though. I would love this more if it were more unique. Still and all, a few dozen listens has given me a good impression finally, and it does become easier to discern the differences. Jason Wortham sifts vocally through some pretty relevant poetics which are soft and strange, a lot of childlike bitterness, disillusion, questioning, introspection; he sounds a bit like a quiet Scott Weilan. I think it is finally this, the voice and the words, which save Mandarin from being Slint clones. The beguiling "Even Ghosts Wear Shadows" with its brain-stick chorus ("...keeping it all inside") is the stand out, with just the right amount of "can`t get it out of my head" quality to lead perhaps into a bit of pop success. In fact, either I have just listened to Driftline too much, or it all has kind of a rolling head echo, which hovers in a nice way. There is also one definitive moment, where the arrangement of shift between "Shackteau" and "Pressing Butterflies" escalates with such a lovely booming drama that I keep finding myself surprised, such is the emotive energy of that swirling climax. I think a lot of credit must be given producer and engineer of Driftline, David Willingham, for this and other such instances which do catch and light the listener's imagination on the album. This is probably a viable addition to collections, especially for lovers of Low, Labradford, Tortoise and the like. -Lilly Novak-dALLaS ObserverThrough much of Driftline, Mandarin--singer-guitarist Jayson Wortham, guitarist Brian Smith, drummer David Douglas, and multi-instrumentalists Peter Salisbury and Matthew Leer--sounds so laid back, you'd think they're laying down on the job. And that's when they punch you in the gut, waiting until your arms are by your sides, and you're not ready for it. The drums don't even really come in until the fifth song on the disc, "Even Ghosts Wear Shadows," and when they do, it's without warning, save for the subtle, split-second shift in Wortham's voice, like someone racking a shotgun. Same could be said for the guitars that knife their way through "Ignorance and Forgiveness," coming out of the shadows to attack and returning there just as quickly. By then, however, the damage has been done. At times, you may hear Nick Drake echoing in the thoughtfully strummed quasi-folk of Driftline, or Pink Floyd lingering near the edges of Wortham's voice and the band's extended, cascading instrumentals. And, well, you probably do, though they're just a few threads in a big quilt, not enough to start haggling over songwriting credits. The best trick Mandaring pulls off wouldn't even show up on the sheet music anyway: the ability play forcefully and quietly at the same time. Driftline is restrained without being relaxed, keeping the pressure on even when the sound's down and the pace slows. Wortham doesn't even step up to the mike until "Pure Led," the second song on the disc, is almost a memory, and it's only a brief appearance. He disappears again until midway through "Waterborne," retreating into the carefully layered guitars, the precise, unobstrusive drumbeats, the lush scenery the band creates on each song. Even when Wortham is there from the beginning--such as on "Ignorance and Forgiveness"--it's easy for him to get lost among the wispy songs, his almost whispered vocals floating between the bars. But it's worth paying close attention to what he's saying, because every once in a while, every few songs or so, he'll sing something that will make you pause, such as when he breathes, "Instructions don't come with fire," on "Siren." Dunno why it makes me stop everytime, but it does. -Zac Crain-Top 10 Texas Platters (austin chronicle) BY MICHAEL CHAMY January 5, 2001: Michael Chamy 1. Palaxy Tracks, The Long Wind Down (Grey Flat) 2. The Gloria Record, A Lull in Traffic (Crank!) 3. KVRX Local Live, V.4 1999: Refurbished Robots 4. Sub Oslo, Dubs in the Key of Life (Two Ohm Hop) 5. Search for Saturnalia, Four Letters (Has Anyone Ever Told You?) 6. Experimental Aircraft (Devil in the Woods) 7. Peek-a-Boo's Book of Spells (Peek-a-Boo) 8. Mandarin, Driftline (Two Ohm Hop) 9. Subset, Overpass (Post-Parlo) 10. Friends of Dean Martinez, A Place in the Sun (Knitting Factory)

Additional Info mandarin can be reached via two ohm hop's website or by email- mandarin5@yahoo.com

Location Denton, TX - USA

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