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![]() Mission Of BurmaYour Rating:Average Rating:Hometown: Boston, MA (USA) About:Related BandsReviewsRelated StoriesTours: Mission of Burma announce best-of, tour Boston's Mission of Burma have announced that they will be releasing a new "best of" album, titled Learn How: The Essential Mission of Burma, on… November 14, 2012 Tours: Mission of Burma: "Semi-Pseudo-Sort-of Plan" Pitchfork has premiered a new music video from Boston's Mission of Burma. The video is for their song "Semi-Pseudo-Sort-of Plan," which appears on the band's latest album, Unsound. You can click… September 13, 2012 Media: Mission of Burma: "Dust Devil" Mission of Burma will be releasing Unsound on July 9, 2012. The band has premiered the first song from the album, titled "Dust Devil." You can click Read More for… March 27, 2012 Media: Mission of Burma working on new LP Mission of Burma has entered the studio to begin working on their fifth full-length (and fourth since reuniting in 2002). The group has begun uploading photos from the studio to their… June 29, 2011 Media: Matador celebrates drinking age with 6 CD boxset Matador Records is celebrating their 21st birthday with a new, decade-spanning box set. The limited-edition box contains five CDs documenting the history of the label with remastered songs released from 1989 through 2010, and one CD of unreleased live recordings from the Matador 10th Anniversary concerts in New York City in 1999. All proceeds from the set will go to benefit three charities chosen by the label owners, enumerated at the… September 22, 2010 Media: Mission Of Burma (US East Coast) Matador Records has announced that Mission of Burma will visit Philadelphia PA, Richmond VA and Washington DC in February. The announcement follows their… December 29, 2009 Media: Ghettoblaster Magazine releases mixtape for Issue 23 Quartery music/entertainment magazine Ghettoblaster Magazine has posted their mixtape for Issue 23 online. The mixtape features thirty-five free songs from Lou Barlow, Califone, Vortis, The Oranges Band, Brother Ali, Mission Of Burma, Gift of Gab, a new song… December 24, 2009 Media: Mission Of Burma on Dirty Laundry TV Post-punk legends Mission Of Burma are the latest guests on Dirty Laundry. The critically acclaimed bands talks about signing to Matador Records, their retirement and reunion as well as their new album, The Sound The Speed The Light (. Check it out here.… December 04, 2009 Contests: Win a weekend pass to Fun Fun Fun Fest! Ever thought "Man, I'd like to see 7 Seconds, Face to Face, The Jesus Lizard, Ratatat, Of Montreal, Les Savy Fav,… October 23, 2009 Videos: Mission of Burma: "1, 2, 3, Partyy!" Post punk outfit Mission Of Burma have released the new video from their brand new album, The Sound The Speed The Light, released today on Matador Records. You can click Read More for the… October 06, 2009 |
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Mission of Burma is a post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts, USA comprising guitarist Roger Miller, bassist Clint Conley and drummer Peter Prescott, with Bob Weston (originally Martin Swope) as tape manipulator and sound engineer. They were first active from 1979-1983, then reformed in 2002. Miller, Conley and Prescott share singing and songwriting duties, with Miller perhaps being the primary contributor. Conley's "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" is arguably the group's best-known song.
Like many of their post-punk and no wave contemporaries, Mission of Burma's efforts are largely concerned with extending punk's original vocabulary without losing its essential rebellious spirit. What makes Burma's approach so distinct is their formal musical training and grounding in modern classical music (Miller had formally studied piano, tuba and composition in college) and to a lesser extent their faith in the sound of late 1960s and early 1970s proto-punk pioneers the MC5 and the Stooges, both from Michigan, Miller's and Swope's home state.
Using rapid shifts in dynamics, unconventional time signatures and chord progressions along with distinctive tape effects, Mission of Burma challenges the prevailing idioms of punk without losing its power and immediacy. On a purely intellectual level, Burma's approach is similar to that of Glenn Branca (another early Burma contemporary) and later Branca disciples Sonic Youth; however, the result is anything but a cold academic exercise.
While in early years Burma's audience was limited, today Mission of Burma is widely acknowledged as one of the first groups to achieve the potential of modern alternative/independent rock, fusing punk and experimental music into some of the most influential music to come out of the American punk/no wave scene.