Who are they?

Mommy and Daddy is a electropunk duo from New York, USA, known individually as Vivian Sarratt and Edmond Hallas. They describe themselves thus:

"mommy and daddy are the leading new york power couple. with stripped down drum loops, fuzzed out melodic bass lines, and trade off boy/girl vocals, mommy and daddy sound like a tag team steel cage match between le tigre and liars on one side, and the b-52s and pil on the other."

from http://www.mommyanddaddy.com

Vivian "a half-Vietnamese flautist"¹ and Edmund "a 'white as laundry' punk guitarist"² met in a philosophy class at George Mason University, USA and bonded over "a mutual hatred of logic"³. That was five years ago. They've been making music together ever since, and married in June 2000. It's reported that they didn't 'click' musically straightaway and "intriguingly thrashed around in folk, then metal before settling into their current incarnation - a mish-mosh of grunting bass guitar, punk vocals and the ubiquitous thump of a cheap drum machine." ⁴ Edmund declares that their name came from a moment when he turned to their cat and said "Mommy and Daddy are practising!"⁵.

"'Ohhh, that’s it!,'" Hallas remembers. "The name just stuck. It’s kind of creepy, it’s kind of cool."

from http://www.nypress.com

The Sound

"the formula is simple: when she sings and pushes buttons, he plays bass guitar. when he sings and hits the machine, she is on bass."

from http://www.mommyanddaddy.com

That's all there is to it. mommy and daddy have a bass guitar and a sequencer, and take it in turns to push, pluck and sing. Each of the 7" singles has a mommy side and a daddy side. This means that mommy and daddy's music has two distinct sounds, one lead by Vivian's "faintly-bored sounding intonations"⁶ who in the opinion of one journalist "sounds like she'd rip out your throat and pour a Margarita down the gaping hole."⁷ and the other Edmund's staccato NYC whine.

Discography

'Paparazzi vipers!/Why can't I live a normal life?'/She says from behind sunglasses/Next year she'll be a Stepford wife⁸

• Permed Past Her Prime - Single - 7" vinyl
  • Permed Past Her Prime
  • Take it

• What Is The Function - Single - 7" vinyl
  • What Is The Function
  • All Time

• Live How You Listen - Début album
  • X Factor
  • What is the Function?
  • Seek You
  • Outside
  • Together
  • Roundhouse Robot
  • The Meeting
  • I Mean, Could He Buy Me This^*
  • Beachy
  • Fill in the Lines
  • Diguise
  • Take It!

• Mommy and Daddy - 4 song CDEP
  • I Mean Could He Buy Me This?^*
  • X-Factor
  • Together
  • Outside

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For current tour dates and to find out Vivian or Edmond's favourite movies, visit http://www.mommyanddaddy.com

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¹http://www.newyorkmetro.com
²http://www.newyorkmetro.com
³http://www.newyorkmetro.com
⁴from BREAKIN' POINT http://www.mommyanddaddy.com/press.html
⁵www.nypress.com
^6&7http://www.drownedinsound.com
⁸from Permed Past Her Prime
*These variations in title are from www.mommyanddaddy.com. As I am not sure which is correct, I have transcribed them verbatim.