M

by Mark DemingMixel Pixel plays music that's smart and willfully naïve at once, combining simple, dreamlike tunes that suggest the smirky younger siblings of Beat Happening with an aggressive but playful embrace of cheap keyboards, samplers, and electronic toys that allows their music to pulsate or drift at will. Mixel Pixel (sometimes billed as Mr. Mixel Pixel) began life in 1995 when Rob Corradetti (who cites Beck, Ween, the Vaselines, and Royal Trux as early influences) began making four-track cassette recordings and collaborating with like-minded friends through the mail while working on a farm in Minnesota. Two years later, Corradetti had relocated to Delaware and began making music with Matt Kaukeinen; while their primary focus was home recording, the duo did play house parties and the occasional club gig. By 1999, the two had pulled up stakes again and landed in New York; the recording experiments continued, and in 2001 Corradetti and Kaukeinen completed the first Mr. Mixel Pixel album, Mappyland. The duo moved their headquarters to Brooklyn, began performing live shows after the album was released, and added Kaia Wong to the group. The trio formalized their recording techniques by building a studio in their shared loft, and in 2004 issued a second album, Rainbow Panda. By 2005, the group had developed a growing following in both the United States and Canada for their adventurous music and imaginative live performances, and Kanine Records, a New York-based indie label, signed them for their third album, Contact Kid. Music for Plants followed in the fall of 2006, by which time the addition of Matt Snee swelled the combo into a quartet.