In a genre like electronic dance music - where "faceless" is often used as a criticism - some of the sharpest minds make sure to have an image as arresting as their songs: Think Daft Punk’s featureless robots or Justice’s iconic glowing cross. Norwegian duo Mungolian Jet Set, however, more closely resemble the cast of U.K. TV cult hit The Mighty Boosh, given to elaborate robes and headdresses, not to mention a full complement of dancers in equally striking gear.

If they were only about the clothes, then Mungolian Jet Set could be dismissed as another bunch of chancers, but their sophomore full-length release makes clear why dance mavens worldwide have been going nuts for them. A double-CD of remixes plus some original efforts, it’s an astonishingly coherent and well-sequenced collection of three years of work that manages the trick of pulling a listener fully into its own exciting world.

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What makes the Mungolian Jet Set's decadently overstuffed productions so sublimely engrossing -- whether encountered individually, as they initially appeared, in piecemeal fashion, on 12"s and compilations over the past several years, or taken as a fluid whole on this gloriously epic trawl through their remix work to date -- is not simply their bent for inspired, unmitigated lunacy, but the surprisingly artful way they manage to fold their far-reaching, campy, perversely unexpected, and downright goofy musical ideas into cogent and highly nuanced (albeit undeniably maximalist) compositional structures. Restraint might seem like a foreign concept to these guys -- you can get a decent inkling of their comedic sensibilities by scanning the track list for grandiose remix titles and nutty monikers ("Pizzy Yelliott," the "16th Rebels of Mung") -- but at least they know how to take their time. With a luxurious two hours to fill and track lengths hovering ...
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Mongolia, a country located in East and Central Asia right next to Russia and is nearly blanketed by China. Mungolia? Apparently that's tucked away inner imaginations of two really way off Norwegian dudes. Actually a collaboration between Norwegian DJ Pål "Strangefruit" Nyhus and partner Knut Sævik, together as Mungolian Jet Set they kinda behind the normal concepts of dance and dive into something that's as lush as a tropical forest, but as deserted as Area 51. We Gave It All Away... And Now We Are Taking It Back is pretty what the album implies, literally, a collection of features, collaborations (including sets with the likes of Lindstrøm and the Shortwave Set), remixes that were once "given away" and are now "taken back to be presented in its full Mungolian context" (whatever that means). Within it's contents, We Gave It All Away manages to thinly tread between dance, jazz and even ...
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Mungolian Jet Set may well be one of the world’s hardest bands to pin down and decipher. Far from being actual jet setters or hailing the central Asian country of Mongolia, as the name may suggest, Mungolian Jet Set are actually Norwegian DJ Pal “Strangefruit” Nyhus and his collaborators Knut Sævik and Reidar Skår.

Mixing jazz, disco, afro-beats, techno and folk with a hefty dose of tongue in cheek prog-rock epicness, Mongolian Jet Set make unclassifiable and often conceptually insane records. Add to this a whole range of pseudo mystical vernacular coupled with a load of crazy far Eastern imagery and you get one of the most un-pigeon-holeable groups on the planet.

Their latest release is a collection of their finest remixes including their re-works of tracks from Lindstrøm, The Shortwave Set and Pizzy Yelliot – whose cover of Bob Marley’s ‘Could You Be Loved’ is nothing short of deranged. ...

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Score: 4.5/5.0

If you've heard anything about these psychedelic Norwegian disco oddballs, you've probably heard that their music is an eclectic mixing pot of influences. Pop sensibilities, funk, postrock, and '70s cop show soundtracks rear their heads at different times throughout We Gave It All Away, Now We Are Taking It Back. However, the flavour of We Gave It can (very roughly) be described as disco, filled largely (more or less) with Asian/world music instrumentals and keys, and progressive rock structures.

When I realised the extent to which the latter point was explored on We Gave It, I was one excited guy. As a fairly obsessive prog fan, and after years of listening to albums like Dark Side of the Moon, there's nothing like listening to an album that takes you on a journey: When it takes you up, teaches you a few lessons and then leaves you with a sense of ...
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