The Morpholinos

"Recipe for happy home brew: Take your favorite eighties standards, erase the lyrics, and mix in a healthy dose of musak a la The Rocky Horror Picture Show and They Might Be Giants. Ta-da! Science pop enters the scene. The Morpholinos, New Yorkers in lab coats caught somewhere in the space-time continuum, is a trio that does the nasty with Rio and lives to tell the tale in For Background Use Only. No, better than just living to tell the tale, these guys take the tale and make it (and hits from Madonna, The Police, Kansas, Yes, Michael Jackson, The Band, and Bon Jovi) spin and spin in a web of handcrafted psychosis. Yep.

Using their trusty keyboard, bass, and shuitar (that is, classical guitar-turned-drumset), the trio and their 18 guest musicians wail. From the disco-synth beat of Rock with You to Billy Dont Lose That Prayer (on the trombone) to Carry On Wayward Son (viola and guitar) to the high school band version of Borderline, The Morpholinos take what once was good and pure and make it even gooder. And purer.

You just cant help but love this tongue-in-cheek tribute to the best and worst of our old standards. Proving that background music doesnt have to make us cringe is only the beginning for this twisted, talented group."-Adrin Fisher, 1340mag.com

"Great. Another new Brooklyn band, another first album of... instrumental soft rock covers of popular '80s classics?!

They might troll the same hipster bars as their shaggy-haired neighbors, but The Morpholinos' dental office waiting room froth is about as far from retro garage rock as is currently possible. There's definitely an element of irony...but like the album title, they're also half-serious. Their music is so much discardable fluff (a fact that they realize --- which is ironic), but that very same knowing approach yields frequently revelatory, and usually amusing, results.

Featuring a core trio of bass, piano and something called the shuitar (a "guitar-turned-drum set"?), For Background Use Only also overflows with dozens of guest musicians wielding all manner of wind, string and plugged-in instruments...For Background Use Only wears a smirk from start to finish, but it's so affable and occasionally affecting (the heart-tugging viola on "Carry On Wayward Son") that it never distances the listener. Everyone's having a good time."-Justin Stewart, splendidzine.com

"Wow! They describe themselves as "Muzak On Crack". I can see that! The Muzak part come from their doing softer instrumental versions of pop standards. The crack part is the cheerful, almost manic way that they do it. The sound is also atypical. Take for instance the "bastardized classical guitar-turned drum set" that they call the shuitar. I donšt know. The whole thing is pretty quirky. All I know is that it doesnšt suck as bad a most muzak does, so I guess that is good. Right? I get the weirdest stuff in my mailbox. *sigh*"-neo-zine.com

"This week`s pick is a highly curious (by their own admission!) version of 'Rio' by Duran Duran, from the debut album by The Morpholinos, entitled For Background Use Only, released today on NCM East Records. I laughed, everyone else in the office cried. I never realised what a funky bassline 'Rio' had until I heard this version. Way cool." - yourrelease.com "Pick of the Week"

"Many thanks...for a copy of For Background Use Only--I am particularly fond of Sidecar." - allmusic.com

"[He] gave me the Morpholinos CD. It's my new favorite album. I'm going back to school on Monday and I'm going to write Morpholinos Rule on my notebook." - Paul O.

"I am eating turkey bacon right now and listening to The Morpholinos CD. Let me tell you, the bacon pales in comparison to what I am hearing." - Brendan Lorber, editor of Lungfull Magazine

"I broke the rules by not using this as Background Use Only...A great lounge cd for parties. I played this during a martini party and the crowd loved it!" - Bobby Burbank, cdbaby.com