Mudville

A duo from New York City via San Francisco, Mudville work primarily in the Portishead tradition, mixing downtempo electronic beats with vintage soul and jazz influences underneath alternately languid and powerful female vocals. Mudville are producer, bassist, and keyboardist Ben Rubin and singer and lyricist Marilyn Carino; native New Yorkers who first met while working in San Francisco in the early ’90s (Carino with former Rain Parade leader Matt Piucci, Rubin as a bassist with various local jazz artists), the pair first started collaborating in 1995 as the leaders of a soul revue-styled pop band called Long Island Lulu, releasing a self-titled album in 1998. Returning home to Brooklyn in 2000, Carino and Rubin transformed Long Island Lulu into the self-contained Mudville. The duo’s self-titled EP was released on the Slurry label in 2003, with the full-length The Glory of Man Is Not in Vogue following the next year; both garnered deserved comparisons to Massive Attack and Morcheeba. Following the 2005 remix EP Side Trax, Rubin and Carino recorded 2007’s Iris Nova with an expanded guest list adding strings, tabla, and pedal steel, among other instruments. Mudville also added drummer John Bollinger (Antony and the Johnsons) and keyboardist/guitarist Brian Charette (Cyndi Lauper) as secondary members for live shows.